Sad

[beakdoctor]

I saw that Roy Jones Jr is having another exhibition boxing match this weekend.

He's taking on a guy known as NDO Champ. NDO Champ is supposedly a bodybuilder who came to the states from Liberia and after doing time for some gang related crimes turned his life around by lifting.

I had to look up Roy Jones to see how old he is. Roy is 54 years old. I saw that a few months ago he had a real, sanctioned,  boxing match. An 8 rounder against a 36 year old guy who had NEVER fought before. No amateur fights, no professional fights, never fought a single boxing match and turned pro against Roy Jones Jr. And Roy lost!

Its hard to believe.  If you were to go back to 1997 and someone were to tell you that Roy Jones Jr would be in his 50's, reduced to a sideshow, getting slapped around the ring by absolute nobody's  (no offense) you wouldn't believe it.

Why? Why do these guys do it?

[IroNat]

I saw that Roy Jones Jr is having another exhibition boxing match this weekend.

He's taking on a guy known as NDO Champ. NDO Champ is supposedly a bodybuilder who came to the states from Liberia and after doing time for some gang related crimes turned his life around by lifting.

I had to look up Roy Jones to see how old he is. Roy is 54 years old. I saw that a few months ago he had a real, sanctioned,  boxing match. An 8 rounder against a 36 year old guy who had NEVER fought before. No amateur fights, no professional fights, never fought a single boxing match and turned pro against Roy Jones Jr. And Roy lost!

Its hard to believe.  If you were to go back to 1997 and someone were to tell you that Roy Jones Jr would be in his 50's, reduced to a sideshow, getting slapped around the ring by absolute nobody's  (no offense) you wouldn't believe it.

Why? Why do these guys do it?

They need the money.

[OneMoreRep]

Its hard to believe.  If you were to go back to 1997 and someone were to tell you that Roy Jones Jr would be in his 50's, reduced to a sideshow, getting slapped around the ring by absolute nobody's  (no offense) you wouldn't believe it.

Why? Why do these guys do it?

Sad to see.

The fight he had in April of 2023 was against Anthony Pettis who is a former UFC Lightweight Champion. While Anthony Pettis had no boxing experience (took a debut fight against Jones), at least he was a professional athlete with real fight experience who cross-trained in MMA and had good striking experience via his training and UFC career (3rd dan black belt in Taekwondo & Black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu). With Pettis, I can look past the fact that Jones took that fight and lost, as Pettis is practically 20 years younger, has great stamina and ridiculous cardio. Here (below) is a video of Anthony "Showtime" Pettis doing his "legendary" showtime kick off the cage (from the 0:06-0:10 mark):

The fact that Jones is relegated to taking fights against bums who should not be in a boxing ring like that "NDO Champ" makes me believe that much like IroNat suggested he is probably hurting for money. A lot of these guys are terrible with money and in their prime live only for the moment never considering that father time will catch up to them and their wallets.

Back in the mid 90's, Roy Jones Jr. was unstoppable. He had 37 fights from Jan 1990 - Jan 2000 and only lost 1, again unstoppable. To see him prancing around as a former shell of himself is simply sad. But hey, I remember when I saw Evander Holyfield recently make a fool out of himself by fighting a washed up (albeit roided up) Vitor Belfort. I also suspected that Evander was hurting for money. Evander could barely piece together a simple sentence without heavily slurring his speech. His neck appeared to be fused to his skull in that he could not pivot his head from side-to-side without moving his entire torso from left to right. He appeared like a stroke victim that had just regained mobility to his extremities and had decided to go into a boxing ring for one last attempt at permanent paralysis.

It's sad to see what happens to many professional athletes.

"1"

[Hulkotron]

RJJ made an estimated $55 million from his professional fights.

[oldtimer1]

So many fighters get the brains damaged one too many times. Jones is one of the greatest fighters of all time. He just can't function as an elite athlete anymore and that's okay. 

Yes, like somebody mentioned.  They blow their money having no concept that it could all be gone.  Tell a poor black kid he has a million and that will be gone in a few years. The oldest story of this is the NFL. The overwhelming majority are all broke a few short years after they leave football.  Plumbers, cops, pharmacists, opticians, nurse practitioners and other upper middle class jobs make a million every 9 years or so. These kids from the hood think they are set for life when they hear they have 3 million then they buy a mansion, one for their mom and several very expensive cars.

[beakdoctor]

Sad to see.

The fight he had in April of 2023 was against Anthony Pettis who is a former UFC Lightweight Champion. While Anthony Pettis had no boxing experience (took a debut fight against Jones), at least he was a professional athlete with real fight experience who cross-trained in MMA and had good striking experience via his training and UFC career (3rd dan black belt in Taekwondo & Black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu). With Pettis, I can look past the fact that Jones took that fight and lost, as Pettis is practically 20 years younger, has great stamina and ridiculous cardio. Here (below) is a video of Anthony "Showtime" Pettis doing his "legendary" showtime kick off the cage (from the 0:06-0:10 mark):

The fact that Jones is relegated to taking fights against bums who should not be in a boxing ring like that "NDO Champ" makes me believe that much like IroNat suggested he is probably hurting for money. A lot of these guys are terrible with money and in their prime live only for the moment never considering that father time will catch up to them and their wallets.

Back in the mid 90's, Roy Jones Jr. was unstoppable. He had 37 fights from Jan 1990 - Jan 2000 and only lost 1, again unstoppable. To see him prancing around as a former shell of himself is simply sad. But hey, I remember when I saw Evander Holyfield recently make a fool out of himself by fighting a washed up (albeit roided up) Vitor Belfort. I also suspected that Evander was hurting for money. Evander could barely piece together a simple sentence without heavily slurring his speech. His neck appeared to be fused to his skull in that he could not pivot his head from side-to-side without moving his entire torso from left to right. He appeared like a stroke victim that had just regained mobility to his extremities and had decided to go into a boxing ring for one last attempt at permanent paralysis.

It's sad to see what happens to many professional athletes.

"1"

Thanks for the context for Pettis. I never heard of him. Im not really into mma but the way boxing is going with obviously fixed officiating I may have to start paying more attention to MMA.

Boxing is on the ropes with the best fighters not fighting each other,  or only fighting once every year or 18 months, obviously fixed decisions and even referees now stopping fights for no apparent reason to ensure the more marketable/ promotable fighter wins.....its all killing the sport. Now these exhibitions are just making a mockery of the once great sport.