One of the greatest boxers in the sport’s history, Roy Jones Jr., apparently believes a boxing match with former UFC pound-for-pound king Anderson Silva could still materialize.
Despite being in the worst rut of his career and well out of his athletic prime, the soon-to-be 45-year-old Jones continues to plead his case for a future scrap with “The Spider.”
Whether he believes he can resurrect his career with a win over Silva, he feels he has something to prove, or he just wants another easy payday, Jones still is genuinely interested in this endeavor.
In the latest development in his saga with The Spider, Jones told John Dennen of Boxing News that he plans to use his December bout with cruiserweight Bobby Gunn as a warm-up for Silva.
If [Silva] beats [Chris] Weidman, then we’ll do a boxing match, which is what he wants to do. The Gunn fight would give me a tune-up so I’m ready for the fight in case he beats Weidman. So if he beats Weidman, I’ve got to be ready for it because he’s going to be coming for me and I want to be ready when he comes for me. I want to give him what he wants.
Although he’s a winner of his last two bouts, Jones (56-8) has prevailed in just seven of 13 fights since losing via TKO in his rematch with Antonio Tarver in 2004. In that span, Jones got knocked out three times.
The 38-year-old Silva, on the contrary, has tasted defeat just once since 2006. In fact, before losing to Chris Weidman by KO at UFC 162 in July, The Spider had racked up a 16-0 UFC record, winning 11 straight title bouts.
Their career trajectories seem radically different, but Jones still contends he represents Silva’s dream opponent.
“He said that’s his lifelong dream. We’ve got to make that happen. He’s a great striker and a great defender,” Jones told Dennen.
For now, Jones should concentrate solely on his match with Gunn (21-5-1), a former cruiserweight world champion who lost his last bout to James Toney in 2012.
If Jones can’t dispose of the 39-year-old Gunn, who failed to answer the bell at different points in each of his last two losses, then the former multi-division world champ should nix the idea of fighting Silva.
As for The Spider, he should zero in on regaining his footing in his rematch with Weidman. After all, if he drops a second straight fight to Weidman, will Silva really entertain the idea of fighting Jones?
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