Picture growing up and watching one of your idols on television over and over again. Picture working hard and training religiously to become just like, or even better, than your favorite idol. Picture yourself eventually becoming the best at your craft and staying atop of the food chain for nearly two decades.
After you accomplished all of your goals, what would continue to motivate you to continue to achieve even more greatness?
For Roy Jones Jr., the answer to that question is simple. In fact accomplishing goals and setting distinct goals to Jones is comparable to breathing. “When you have God given talent it’s kind of hard to just sit on that and not use it to the fullest….If you want to fight, you got to have a goal” said Jones.
Goals are difficulties that Jones has overcome his entire life. That God-given talent that he was blessed with is what propelled him into becoming the Muhammad Ali of our generation. Growing up in Pensacola, Florida, Jones was often involved in street fighting. Jones fought for pride in order to show to his friends and the local neighborhood that he was the best fighter around. Little did he know, that street fighting desire is what fueled him into becoming a monster in the boxing ring.
Jones sought out for more reputation with fighting and the person he looked up to Muhammad Ali. The influence for boxing in his life mainly came from Ali, so it’s only appropriate that Jones has also inspired a generation of younger boxers just as Ali did before him. Jones started wanting to emulate Ali and craved to enter the ring because he was confident he could become extraordinary. “I knew I had the talent. I didn’t really understand it until I was about 13-years-old. I wanted to start boxing because I saw Muhammad Ali fight Joe Frazier….I thought if I can move my hands like that, I could do that” said Jones. Jones not only started moving his hands like Ali, but he also adopted his character on his way to becoming one of the prominent boxers in our generation.
The go hard or go home work ethic that he possesses is incredible. It’s why that at 46-years-old Jones is still one of the most fearsome fighters. Like Ali, Jones has accomplished ridiculous feats in his career. He’s won championship belts in four different weight classes (Middleweight, Super Middleweight, Light Heavyweight, Heavyweight). In addition at one point, he managed to amass a thirty-four fight winning streak. Moreover, Jones has knocked out 44 of his opponents and has a record of 61-8.
That record though is going to get challenged this month. Jones has two fights scheduled in August which will yet again add more pages in his resume. The first fight is against Billy Bailey on August 15, at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut. The latter fight is against Danny Santiago on Aug. 29 in Philipsburg, Sint Maarten, a Dutch island in the Caribbean. “{Bailey} He’s a guy who’s going to come at you all night long. I need to get him out my way. I’m going to grind to get him out of there. {Santiago} I’ll be ready for the fight in Sint Maarten. I’ll be showing out down there and it’s on to the next one” said Jones.
If there was one more fight we would want to see in Jones career it would require a time machine. If we could pin-up our beloved athletes from separate eras against each other one of the fights that many people would enjoy watching would be Jones Jr. in his prime against the new head of boxing Floyd Mayweather Jr.
“I would have killed him. In my prime, it would’ve been a wrap. I didn’t play any games” said Jones.
We may never get to see that matchup. However, what we will see is Jones Jr. leave an imprint on the sport of boxing for another season of athletes.
For Jones Jr., the craving for more may never get filled. The real question is should we ever want it to?
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