In 1993, Roy Jones Jr. stared his trainer Alton Merkerson in the eye and told him not to worry about the boxer's health. Jones had injured his right hand in preparing for Bernard Hopkins, but refused to even consider backing out of his first world-title fight.
"I tried to pull him out of the fight," Merkerson said. "I told him, 'Look, let's not take a chance. Let's pull out of the fight because you've got an injured right hand. We can do this later.'
"But he told me, 'You only get an opportunity like this once in a lifetime. I can beat him.' You know, if your athlete thinks he can do it, you can't try to pull him back and say he can't."
Jones went on to box beautifully and defeat Hopkins by unanimous decision for the vacant IBF middleweight belt.Seventeen years later, Jones (54-6, 40 KO) is again reassuring Merkerson that everything will be fine. The former champion will look to defeat Hopkins (50-5-1, 32 KO) a second time Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.
Concerns are high for Jones considering the 41-year-old fighter has been stopped three times during the last six years, after having never been stopped in his career before that point.
When asked about his medical status for this fight, Jones played coy during the open workouts and said he remembered beating Hopkins with an injured hand the first time so this second fight should be a breeze.
"I remember I beat him with one hand," Jones said. "My right hand was injured and I had to overcome that. I didn't have a right hand in that fight against him. So why should it be so hard now that I got two hands?"
Whether it's true or not that Jones has lost a step competitively, he appears at least to be medically fit to step into the ring Saturday.
According to Chief Operating Officer of Square Ring Promotions Bobby Goodman, Jones passed a comprehensive physical laid out by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
Even Merkerson, who says part of the reason he's still cornering Jones is because he's unafraid to stop a fight from the corner, says that medically, Jones is ready to go.
"Like I've stated before, yes, I'm concerned because Roy is like one of my own kids," Merkerson said. "But he has decided that he's going to fight and I'd rather be here with him than without him, because I'm always going to look out for his best interests.
"We have had brain scans. We have done everything that we're supposed to. He doesn't have any brain damage. He hasn't had any major injuries to him from the knockouts. Yes, it's getting close to the time where he'll have to give this thing up because you can't do it forever. But right now, from a medical standpoint, he's fine."
Jones recognizes that many people are still down on him given his performance in his last fight — a first-round TKO loss at the hands of the relatively unknown Danny Green in December in Australia.
The loss doesn't stick out as a red flag to Jones, however, as he says Green used illegal hand-wrapping procedures and never was asked to take a urinalysis test, despite the fact it was a championship fight.
"It's not a matter of what I said, it's the fact the that's what happened," Jones said. "It's not in my head, but the fact that he was able to do it and get away with it bothers me. How are you going to let him do that when you know he's wrapping his hands? It's not fair to me."
Merkerson says he regrets allowing his fighter to get in the ring that night, as he had been aware of both infractions. When Merkerson brought them up to commission officials, he was told Jones would forfeit the bout if he refused to fight.
Jones's camp has filed an appeal to get the result of the fight turned around.
Both fighter and trainer are aware that Jones opened as a 5-to-1 underdog to Hopkins for Saturday's fight and that time may be running out on his storied career.
But as history has shown with the two, the decision of hanging up his gloves will fall squarely on Jones's shoulders and Merkerson will support him no matter what.
"You know, a person has to make that decision on his own when it comes to that," Merkerson said. "It's like drugs and alcohol. All the counseling and all the rehab in the world, you're not going to stop doing drugs until you're ready to stop yourself. "
Brett Okamoto can be reached at 948-7817 or brett.okamoto@lasvegassun.com. Also follow him on twitter: LVSunFighting.
Source: lasvegassun.com
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