Roy Jones Jr (USA) vs Julio Cesar Gonzalez (Mexico) | Boxing Fight Highlights

Remember to obey my commands at all times. Good luck to both of you. Shake hands. Let's go to your corners. Do that name because I can't pronounce it every time. Here we go. Round 1 scheduled for 12. Jones in the powder blue trunks. Gonzalez in the white trunks with the Mexican colors. There's that first flash of left jab from Jones. You saw the quickness. Sometimes you don't see it. I've got a fighter in front of me who's going to fight. And that's going to bring out the best in me. Talented power to shock the world. Jones throwing from all angles. He knows all about Jones. He knows how fast. Staples Center is packed tonight. Boxing fans here to see the best in the world, Roy Jones Jr. And there's a punch inside to the jaw of Gonzalez. Tremendous left hook. It didn't look like it traveled very far. Maybe a foot. Gonzalez certainly knew it was there. Gonzalez right back up. And the cause of the silence tonight, even though Gonzalez knew he would have a quick knockout. Exactly right. Because there's the same angle that he threw it at. That one just missed. Gonzalez trying to bear in, but he's going. He's got an uppercut just hit him. And then a left hit him in the face. And Gonzalez is now just at. Gonzalez is here to fight. He thought he had survived the first round. Some tough punches, Rich. All right. It was like lightning. There it is. Just a short, little left hook inside. Traveled. It looked like about eight or nine inches. Boom. The short, little, crisp, concise punches like that often do the most damage. Ask the fighters who fought Joe Louis. From one angle, you could even see it in slow motion. But when you got behind him and saw it, there it was. It looked fast in slow motion. What a devastating punch. Forget about that he's got Roy Jones Jr. in front of him. Hopped inside, and he felt that one too. That guy has stopped that, Rich. It comes and it's there before you can even react. There hasn't been anybody yet who has. Roy's 32 years old, but his fists are still blazing fast. Taller guy. And if he can get in there and force him back a little bit, maybe land a body blow. There was one where he held up on. There's some body shots. As Roy just covers up now. And Gonzalez kind of backs off from him. He's not going to buy it. In that case, you're probably not going to land head punches, you know, on his shoulder. You hit him somewhere that maybe, you know, Marciano used to hit you all over your body. Arms, knees, everywhere. Yeah. And it hurt. Gonzalez trying to right hand. Keeping his head back a little bit now, first round. Round 2, schedule 12. The light heavyweight champs in the world. There's one that whizzed by the nose of Gonzalez. Good body shot from Gonzalez. You hear that solid thumping sound. Gonzalez chasing Roy around the ring now. Fans was told by his trainer, Alton Murchison, between rounds, don't load up. Let the knockout come naturally. So they didn't appraise him with Ben Gonzalez. And Jones has fought a disciplined round. Another punch that landed on the chin of Gonzalez. Gonzalez is going to have to get in there and get more aggressive. There's the quickness of Jones. Gonzalez pressing the ax a little bit. He's landing some body punches. Good right hand from Jones. So quick. Until someday he slows down, you know. Gonzalez getting his directions in the second round. We're in the third round, schedule 12. Ice didn't do much damage. Moves a good right hand. Here's Jones countering. Speed, quickness, balance. You name it, he's got it. With the possible exception of heart, I know Gonzalez, a real crisis situation yet is for Belair. So it becomes a little harder to judge that way. What would Roy do if he was batted around the ring or cut? Well, he's having to deal with the size of Gonzalez here. A natural light heavyweight. Now Gonzalez really mixing it up and chasing Jones across the ring. He wants to fight now. Trying the uppercut, trying the body shot. So in that way, he's adhering to a fight plan. You have to wonder when Jones is going to jump out. That's the end of the third round. We'll see if he can do a round four, scheduled for 12. The only blemish on Jones' record was a disqualification. Gonzalez forcing Jones into the corner now. Always had tremendous defense. The ability to even hit while going away on some occasions. Gonzalez willing to try to throw things. That one kind of smarted a little bit, right on the nose. In this sport, when you can just stand back there and load that up and then land it like that, that's scary. Body shot to Gonzalez. Punch to the body. He knocked out Virgil Hill with one shot to the body. And Hill just laid there paralyzed, couldn't move. Jones pot shotting him. And he can get away with doing that because he's so quick. And that's what his corner was telling him to do. And he's doing exactly what they told him to do. At some point, and he might want to do it while he's still relatively fresh, Gonzalez is going to have to go in and engage. It's just so difficult when a guy's that quick and just hitting you from every angle that you can't see. He's in against just the whole package. That was a good right. You just step back is what I'm saying, Richie. If you can just step back and then land a right like that, and you can't even stop it, then you've got problems. I don't think he wants to wait on Jones that way. He's telling him, you doubt yourself. This was Roy Jones Jr.'s round. Inside Jones is very smart. Look at that uppercut. That's a guy who knows how to fight. That was experience right there. There's that right hand, Rich. That's the pot shotting I talked about. Because he's so quick, he can get away with that. Not many guys can do that. I think maybe Mosley can do that. He trained too hard. Let's see what happens. Round 5. We'll see if he can get up from this one. He'll get up. He just went out and unloaded that left hook and threw some punches. I guess he figures at this point, what else can he do? Well, he actually ran into the left on the way in. Exactly. There's a left that landed on Gonzalez. Gonzalez showing some heart here, Rich. He's all heart. Been down twice. Gonzalez has been in this situation. He was knocked down three times, remember, against Julian Letterloh. But that's not Roy Jones Jr. No. Jones just walked right across and bang. That's another punch. Look at this. Here's the thing of beauty. That's the one we saw in the last round. But still he fights on. And still adheres to his fight plan. Get close, bang, body punches. He's still there. He's not wobbly, to say the least. It's almost like he expected to have to go down a couple of times. Now Roy's taking a little time off here. There's that quick little left. Nice body punch. Remember that Virgil Hill body punch you were talking about. Punches, uppercuts inside. Very powerful punches. He's trying hard. He's throwing a lot of punches, Gonzalez. But the crowd doesn't go crazy. Because they don't really believe that he's doing any damage. Let's take a look at the knockdown. Look at that left hook, just so quick. And he never saw it. He just never saw it. So the first you realize what's happened to you is, when you're down on the ground, you realize that you've been knocked down. And you're asking yourself, how did I get down here? Here's where I was talking about him. Just the three little quick lefts right there. That hurts. Matt Kurohara whispered something to Julio. And Julio whispered back, it's difficult to say. Maybe want to give Julio one last shot. Go out there. Give it your all. Throw everything you've got here. And see if you can make something happen. Endeared himself to a lot of folks, by the way. Bounces right back up. Those two punches that put him down are just wicked. Roy comes back with that left. It's been so effective tonight. It's sort of a leaping hook. And there's the right hand over the top. And what he does, he kind of picks you off like a sniper, doesn't he, Rich? The thing is, is when you've been hit by a sniper, you don't expect it. You don't see it coming. Exactly. Gonzalez continues to throw. It's just devastating. Uh-oh. Gonzalez holding his hand up his jab, almost a backhanded out it. He's really puzzled here. He's confused. He's getting a little dizzy from all the head punches he's taken. Good uppercut from Jones. Whatever he wants to throw seems to land. Gonzalez keeps pressing. And he initiates. He can't be stopped. So what are you going to do? Looking good. Way to keep your control. Take a look at some of these great Roy Jones Jr. actions. You see him get that little, again, the little left short. There's that kind of backhanded jab. And look at the way that Jones countered off it and nearly turned him around with it. Yep. Just wanted out of there. Looking at Julio and he seemed to have a real hard time actually getting off the stool. Gonzalez has been down twice in this fight. The straight rights over the top of his left glove. And some combinations. Julio's legs are giving way here. I'm watching those legs. They're skinny legs anyway to begin with. He doesn't have a real strong foundation underneath him with those legs. So far, he's pitched more than a shutout, I'm sure, in the judges' cards. Maybe Julio got one round, the second round. A little bit here. Jones covering up in the corner, countering. Look out for the heads. You don't get much of a clean shot on Jones in these situations, even when you're unloading. But you've got to keep throwing. I mean, it's better than being an agent missing and getting hit with counters. When you see Jones back out in the center of the ring, you get the feeling he's ready to try to force something. Because that's where he does the damage out there. Now he's back over on the ropes. A lot of people didn't think it might go this long. Rich, now we're inside the middle of round seven. Julio trying to put some... He never seems to get a clean shot. And when he does, he gets up open. Quick right to the chest at Gonzalez. You should also keep in mind, you think that Jones should be able to go out there and finish the show as quick. Remember what he said about his hands, about how his fists have been hurting him, how they're brutal. Merkison asked him, is his punches light, any lighter? He said, no. There's that punch. Julio's head came almost into your living room, folks. We go to round eight. Roy Jones, Jr. He sealed the deal in this round. He goes uppercut, then he goes over the top. And Jones, two rights to the body by Jones. Try to throw body punches from long range. There's a right-handed guy in. Stand out there and throw him against a taller fighter, right? That's right. I mean, the normal thing, the normal M.O. is if you're a shorter fighter, throw those body shots from outside and the man can't react against it. From Los Angeles, Roy Jones putting on a boxing exhibition. Fans a little bit restless at times tonight. He's going to do what he has to do, when he wants to do it. Right hand, left. Jones picking up the pace a little bit here. Gonzalez boring in. Hey, the guy's still standing. Jones is looking to catapult from this fight into a fight with Felix Trinidad, because I don't have anything to say about it. That's the end of round eight. Thank goodness. Jones fought Tony in 1994, and that was a super middleweight title. So, here he is fighting light heavy. Did they have a deal signed with Buster Douglas at one time? He had a deal. The fight's a loose atteries took over for him and knocked out Douglas in one round. Maybe discouraged, but he's still on his feet. Jones said that his dad told him, in fighting Gonzalez, because Gonzalez is so big and strong, you've got to do it bit by bit. And he says, look, I'm not Rocky Balboa. He just took another hard left. Yeah, and it ends. There's enough to cut. And a right. Those punches are too clean and too stunning. Roy's just chipping away like you said. It didn't help Julio's confidence to be knocked down in the first couple of minutes of the fighter tonight. Oh, now he's staggered. See if Jones actually tries to finish. I just did the bolo punch, putting on a show. And Gonzalez, as you were pointing out, Rich, I mean, he's just standing there, but he's throwing. Oh, wow. Tragically, well, he's falling to the canvas. Bless him. Look at him. He's wobbling. All right, as you can see, Julio Gonzalez really was getting hit. Roy Jones actually leaping with that punch. Leaping in. Much in the manner that Floyd Patterson used to do it when he was heavyweight champion, when he threw the leaping left hook. That was the leaping right hand from Jones. There. Ends with the linebacker, Matt Carrara, basically telling 71 fights between the two and only one defeat. And that by disqualification. Gonzalez has lived up to the billing of a guy who's got a lot of heart. Well, you saw that left hook to the body from Jones. That's a largely underrated facet of his attack. Again, the left hook to the body. Well, you were talking about the doubt that he had over in this duel. Because he doesn't want to go down. I think his goal right now is not to go down. And he's been unable to mount the kind of pressure I think that he had hoped. Under one minute left in round 10, Jones firing the right and going back with the left. He is outclassed. There's no question about it. But he keeps trying. He's taking a... Oh, good right hand. Smiling in his corner. I think Roy's going to step it up here. Yeah. I think this is a more impressive performance by Jones than against him in recent fights. He's fighting a better opponent here tonight. And fighting better. You're excited when you're fighting Eric Harding and Reggie Johnson or Derek Harley, those type of guys. That's what he has to do. And doesn't really... care to... good right hand there. The question would be, if you have brittle hands and bad hands, is it more difficult on those hands to go 12 rounds and have these long fights or just take care of business in 3 or 4 rounds and get out of there? Yeah, that's an interesting point. Especially after that 5th round. Gonzalez tried to counter there a little bit. What I'm seeing, Rich, is that Gonzalez is not able to wade in at all. Even though he might want to take him to TJ or he wants to take him, but he just can't go in there. He can't get in there. Little exchange there. We're in the final round here at Staples Center. Julio Gonzalez is still standing. It's not because he doesn't want to. It's basically because he can't. That has done so much damage in this fight. You've got to always remember Jones' philosophy. He doesn't believe he's in there to get hit. It's not, you hit me and then I hit you. No. My philosophy is, I hit you and you don't hit me. Not a bad way to go, I would think. Two years old now, and it might prolong his career more than most people when they start going downhill not to have to take so many punches. So, a clash of heads there? Yeah, Gonzalez is a little frustrated there as he has been since the first round when he realized he probably didn't have enough in the first round. Right. He actually throws the jab out there and kind of brings it back a little bit because he's so afraid of releasing it. He's just afraid to throw it. There's a right-handed guy, that's what I'm talking about. He'll get up and do everything he can to finish this fight. That's what his goal was, I think. There's where I thought he... Yeah, this is what people were hoping they'd see more of. Oh, he's in a bad way again. They finally started mixing it up toward the end here. Round 12, and there you go. Gonzalez, big smile on his face. ...round that he could have given him another one. There's the left-right combination. It is a knockdown. He went down to one knee. So, even though it's a flash knockdown, it is without question a legitimate knockdown. Left, right. Like lightning. Robert Byrd scores the bout 119-106. Larry Rosadia scores it 118-107. Peter Tramattera scores it 119-106. All for the winner by unanimous decision, and still the undisputed light heavyweight champion.