FightFranchise | Will Roy Jones Be The Wizard Of Oz?

On the unusual fighting day of Wednesday, 40 year old multi-weight champion Roy Jones 54-5 (40) fights in Sydney, Australia against Australian Danny Green 27-3 (24). Green’s IBO cruiserweight title is at stake.

It is an interesting match up, especially considering Jones has already signed up for a (10-15 years too late) rematch with Bernard Hopkins in March 2010.

So what can we expect? Well the 36 year old “Green Machine” is a tough come forward fighter with decent power (at lower weights), and is the owner of a good chin and good stamina. Green first came to prominence in 2003 when controversially losing to Markus Beyer for Beyer’s WBC super middleweight crown. Green had Beyer down in the 1st and 2nd rounds but was disqualified for use of the head in the 5th. In Green’s 2 other defeats he was narrowly out pointed in a rematch with Beyer and then in 2006 was out pointed clearly by fellow Australian Anthony Mundine. However, Green was persistent and in 2007 finally became a world champion with a one sided points win over the decent Stipe Drews for the WBA light heavyweight crown after which he announced his retirement. However after 18 months out he came back and after a routine warm up win beat the Argentine Julio Cesar Dominguez in 5 rounds for the lowly regarded IBO cruiserweight crown.

Well onto Jones jnr. Regardless of what you think of him as a person, I cannot see how Jones greatness as a fighter can be called into question. Yes, it can be argued that he didn’t fight certain fighters such as Dariusz Michalczewski but he has beaten (and with ease) such other top fighters such as Virgil Hill, Mike McCallum, James Toney and of course Bernard Hopkins. He also went to heavyweight and eased past John Ruiz for the heavyweight title. However, that Roy Jones has long gone and has been beaten by Antonio Tarver twice, Glen Johnson and Joe Calzaghe in the last 5 years and was stopped by both Tarver and Johnson.

Much has been made of this fight being at cruiserweight but I do not see this having any bearing on the result. Green only weighed in at 179lbs for his IBO title win and will certainly not be a natural 200 lb fighter come Wednesday.

I feel it is always difficult to tip this older version of Jones Jnr to win a fight against a tough opponent with any certainty as his chin and legs have certainly seen far better days. It must be said though that Jones still looks pretty damm good against the right opponent. Fighters who come forward without great foot and hand speed are still pretty easy picking for Jones Jnr. Omar Sheika and Jeff Lacy both fit this bill and in Jones Jnr’s last 2 fights were both beaten with ease.

Green is better than Sheika and certainly more suited to the weight than Jeff Lacy was and fighting in his home country against an aging boxing superstar could mean this is the best Green we have ever seen.

I wouldn’t be overly surprised to see Green get to Roy and stop him, but I feel this is going to be another win for Jones Jnr. I feel Jones Jnr has handpicked Green and Green’s lack of speed will be the deciding issue. I feel Jones will dictate the pace, rest when he needs to but flurry with still quick hands and gradually bust up Green to win either by a mid to late rounds stoppage or a wide points decision.