Roy Jones Jr. Vs. Jeff Lacy

Granted, boxing isn’t nearly the draw that it was back in the day. Mixed martial arts is the new kid on the block, marketed superbly by UFC president Dana White and taking an ever-increasing share of the combat sports marketplace. Last month’s UFC 100 pay-per-view event reportedly drew 1.72 million buyers. Only two boxing events in the history of PPV did better:

May 5, 2007: Oscar De La Hoya vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr. (2.40 million)
June 28, 1997: Mike Tyson vs. Evander Holyfield II (1.99 million)

The UFC’s numbers are only going to go up from here as the sport expands internationally. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a large and thriving audience of boxing fans out there. At press time, betting lines were up at Bodog Sports for over 20 fights taking place between now and November.

One of the biggest names in the history of the sport is in action this Saturday night: Roy Jones Jr., once considered the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. Those days ended in 2004 when Antonio Tarver delivered Jones the first KO loss of his career. It’s been all downhill from there, but Jones is still trying to make a buck. On Saturday, he’ll fight Jeff Lacy in Biloxi, Miss. for the Square Ring promotion – which is owned by Jones.

Making that buck won’t be easy. Lacy is eight years younger than Jones at age 32, but his career has also been in sharp decline since getting his clock cleaned by Joe Calzaghe three years ago and dropping the super middleweight title. Neither fighter has much of a fan base at this point. Nor was there a betting line on the board as we went to press; keep checking the boxing odds as they develop.

Even with his natural skills and showmanship, Jones never pulled in the number of eyeballs that De La Hoya and Tyson generated. Getting bigger was a part of the problem – Jones went from fighting (and beating) names like Bernard Hopkins, James Toney and Vinny Pazienza to seven years of fighting substandard opponents as a light heavyweight. Beating John Ruiz in 2003 for the WBA Heavyweight title earned Jones some extra attention: 602,000 PPV buys, according to HBO reports. But Jones vacated the title without ever defending it, returning to the light heavyweight division.

Jones has already demonstrated he can’t keep up anymore with the best fighters in the game. In the past five years, he’s lost to Tarver (twice), Calzaghe and Glen Johnson while beating the likes of Prince Badi Ajamu and Omar Sheika. Lacy falls into that unfortunate second camp. But even if Jones can compete at this lower level, at some point it doesn’t become worth the meager PPV income for him to continue. That point could be this Saturday night.

Let’s remember Jones instead for those great moments he delivered in the ring. We leave you with our Top 5 Roy Jones Jr. fights.

May 22, 1993: Over Bernard Hopkins (unanimous decision) for the IBF Middleweight title
Nov. 18, 1994: Over James Toney (unanimous decision) for IBF Super Middleweight title
June 24, 1995: Over Vinny Pazienza (sixth-round TKO) to retain IBF Super Middleweight title
Aug. 8, 1997: Over Montell Griffin (first-round KO) to win WBC Light Heavyweight title
Mar. 1, 2003: Over John Ruiz (unanimous decision) to win WBA Heavyweight title

Bodog Sportsbook knocks out the competion every time. Check out our sportsbook for the latest lines!