BOXING Slow, sluggish Jones escapes revenge bout against Tarver

The fighter blamed his weight loss for his struggles.
LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Roy Jones Jr. likes to lay claim to being the greatest boxer of his time. For one fight, at least, he certainly wasn't the smartest.
A decision to drop down in weight to fight a grudge match against Antonio Tarver very nearly cost Jones the first real defeat of his brilliant career. He escaped to fight another day -- possibly against Mike Tyson -- but Jones was slow, sluggish and a shell of his former self.
Entering the ring Saturday night as the unquestioned master of his art, Jones left with one big question not answered: Did he look so bad because he had to lose so much weight, or is he suddenly an old fighter at the age of 34?
Not surprisingly, Jones blames the weight.
"It was a tough task to come down from 200 pounds to 175, tougher than I thought it would be," Jones said. "With everything out of me, though, you still saw the heart of a champion out there."
That heart came out in the final two rounds, when Jones finally started throwing punches in combinations and got the best of a tiring Tarver.
Reputation boost
But for much of the fight he was beaten to the punch, pummeled on the ropes and treated -- somewhat shockingly -- like just another ordinary fighter. He still won by comfortable margins on two scorecards and was even on a third, but it might have been his reputation more than his performance that saved the night for Jones.
"If he's the great Roy Jones, pound-for-pound fighter, we exposed him tonight," Tarver said.
The fans at Mandalay Bay hotel-casino agreed. They began the night cheering wildly for Jones, and ended it rooting for Tarver. As the boos cascaded over the ring when the decision was announced, Jones was a loser no matter what the ringside judges said.
The Associated Press scored the fight even, 114-114.
"They took the decision, but I'll be back," Tarver said. "I didn't feel like a loser." He didn't look like one, either. At the press conference after the fight, in fact, it was hard to tell who won and who lost.
Jones, his face puffy and marked, talked softly about weight problems and how he gutted this one out. Tarver, meanwhile, was unmarked and almost giddy as he basked in the knowledge he came closer than any of Jones' previous 49 opponents to actually beating him fair and square.
"Roy Jones understands what happened tonight," Tarver said. "His bubble was definitely burst."
If it was, it may have been because Jones was arrogant enough to believe his skills were so great he could bounce up and down in weight without having to worry.