For a period of time there were concerns that UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva wanted to take time off from mixed martial arts and pursue a boxing match with Roy Jones Jr. That bit of nonsense eventually died down, Silva signed a new UFC deal and it appeared to have been forgotten.
Except that Silva is bringing up wanting to fight Jones again, stating that he’s more interested in that then a superfight with Jon Jones:
“I think everyone’s got something they’re focused on and that’s my own desire, something I’d like to do,” Silva said through a translator. “Maybe one day when I’m done my UFC career I will box Roy Jones.”
Silva said he’d be interested in taking on Jones Jr. twice – once in a bout with MMA rules and another in a boxing ring. He said he knows Jones Jr. and calls him “a great champion.”
When the potential crossover matchup was first proposed back in 2009, Jones Jr. was coming off a win over Jeff Lacy in a WBO NABO light heavyweight title bout. Now, Jones Jr. is 44 years old and has lost three of his past five fights. He’s well past his prime.
“Past his prime” is some generous phrasing.
I’ve been a huge fan of Roy since I was a kid, he’s a large part of cementing me as a massive combat sports fan. But he is shot. In 2009 I’d have still said that Jones would have boxed circles around Silva — something I stand by — but at this point Jones has nothing left.
Jones’ official losses haven’t come to bad competition, but his recent two fight win streak came over Max Alexander — who was on a 0-5-1 run coming into the fight — and a controversial split decision over Pawel Glazewski — who probably should have won the fight.
I get that it’s something Silva has thought about for a long time, but he’d be well served to just drop it as it’s simply a sad idea at this point.
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