"I believe that Roy, in the second half of his career, is going to shock a lot of people. The man was put on earth to box. Everything he tells me he needs to work on, we work on and it happens in the fight...I would love for them to have a tournament with Tarver, Hopkins, Johnson and Calzaghe and I know Roy would come out the winner. I know Roy would whoop all of them. I know what he can do in the ring and if he trains right, I know he will win...Don't count Roy Jones out just yet," commented Alfy Smith, friend and assistant trainer of Roy Jones Jr., as he talked about the the career and future plans of the future Hall of Famer. Check it out!
JA: How is everything going Alfy?
AS: Everything is well James.
JA: There are a lot of questions that I want to ask about Roy and his career after Ruiz. First, let me ask you what happened with Tarver in the third fight?
AS: He had his father back in camp and Roy was dealing with how everyone would get along with each other because I was coach Merk's assistant trainer and his daddy had his own assistant trainer. Roy was wondering how we would all get along during camp. Let me say this, when you're in the fight business, a lot of things can get on your mind and repairing the relationship with his father was on his mind. I do know that Roy has love for his father and that he was trying to get that relationship back going again. I also think that he overtrained for a few of his fights. Also, I believe if he never fought heavyweight, he would have never lost the fights that he lost. He would still be the same dominant fighter he always was. You look at all of the fights Roy has lost compared to other fighters, Roy has not taken nearly as much punishment as compared to other fighters.
JA: After the Ruiz fight, it seemed like everything began to unravel with Roy. Why the sudden decline?
AS: A lot of people don't realize that Roy beat Tarver the first fight on pure will alone. What happened was Roy got up to 200 pounds for the Ruiz fight and to drop 25 pounds completely shocked his body. Remember, he lost muscle weight, not fat. He took the weight off properly like he always do, but it was muscle, not weight. Remember, when Tarver did the Rocky movie and he had to lose all of the weight to fight Hopkins, it drained him out.
JA: I felt that Roy should have never taken the fight with Tarver at 175. Instead, he should have fought at 190.
AS: That would have been the right weight for him because him moving down to 175 dehydrated him. You're right, 190 would have been the proper weight for him.
JA: What went wrong in the Calzaghe fight?
AS: We took good vitamins and he got cut. I don't think it was the medicine that the doctor gave him that made his blood so thick that it kept flowing. He fought the second half of the fight with one eye and Calzaghe still couldn't stop him.
JA: I felt in the fight, Roy couldn't get off with his punches after the first round, even though he scored the knockdown.
AS: He didn't catch Calzaghe flush with the punch, but if he did, I don't know what would have happened.
JA: Why didn't Roy stay at Heavyweight with all of the momentum he had after beating Ruiz.
AS: Believe me James, Roy tried calling all of the heavyweights and no one would call him back. All of the heavyweights who saw Roy against john Ruiz and how sharp he was didn't want any part of him, so when Tarver kept calling out Roy, Roy decided to give this cat a shot. We would have loved to stay up at heavyweight and fight, but you can't force people to fight.
JA: There were reports about Roy fighting Evander Holyfield.
AS: As much as I love Evander, I wouldn't want to see him fight Roy after that Ruiz fight. I been in the locker many times with Roy and the night he fought Ruiz and the night he fought Griffin the second time, he could have destroyed anybody those nights.
JA: How do you think Roy has changed the fight game for a lot of the fighters coming up?
AS: Roy has changed the fight game in many different ways for the fighters. Roy was the first fighter to wear the matching gloves with trunks. Roy was the first boxer to be branded by "Air Jordan" and also started his own promotional company, Square Ring. Roy has always been about helping the fighters. Roy has been on the board of directors for the Brain Research Institute and goes to meetings regularly. The reason why Roy has been doing this is so he can help out other fighters down the line with brain injuries. Personally, I know a lot of other fighters that I will not mention by name that shouldn't be fighting.
JA: One of the many rumors surrounding Roy is the fact that he takes performance enhancing drugs or steroids. Is there any truth to that?
AS: Roy doesn't deal with that stuff; he takes natural supplements. Roy never took steroids.
JA: If there is one thing that you want the fans to know, what would it be?
AS: I believe that Roy, in the second half of his career, is going to shock a lot of people. The man was put on earth to box. Everything he tells me he needs to work on, we work on and it happens in the fight.
JA: Who would you like to see Roy fight?
AS: As a friend, not as a trainer, I would love for them to have a tournament with Tarver, Hopkins, Johnson and Calzaghe and I know Roy would come out the winner. I know Roy would whoop all of them. I know what he can do in the ring and if he trains right, I know he will win.
JA: Roy has been commentating lately. How does he like being back behind the mic?
AS: If you look at the fights that Roy commented last weekend, he called each and every one of those fights from the beginning, middle and to the end. He will go down as one of the best commentators in the history of boxing because he knows the game. Me and Roy worked in the locker room before the Jeff Lacy fight. Me and Roy watched Jeff Lacy fights and we knew everything that Jeff was going to do in the fight. The stuff that we worked on with the mitts, he went out there and did the same exact thing to Jeff Lacy. Roy predicts what's going to go on. The day before the James Toney fight, we were all in the suite and he told me that he was going to hit James Toney with a right hand all night long and he did it. When we were in the locker room getting ready to go out for the second Hopkins fight, Roy told me that Bernard was going to stay away from him the whole time. This is what we do, James, he will tell me what we needs to do to work on for each fighter and we will go in the gym and work on it. They should do a reality show with Tarver, Jones, Calzaghe and Hopkins and if we go off and train like we know how to train, we will beat each and every one of them. I would bet my house on it.
JA: Is there anything that you would like to say in closing?
AS: One of the things that I want to get across is that Roy didn't have the luxury of fighting in the era of Leonard, Duran and Hagler. Roy has done everything that has been asked of him by fighting the best fighters in his weight class, beating all of his mandatory challengers, and then moving up to heavyweight after clearing out the light heavyweight division. Remember, Roy fought James Toney when James Toney was considered to be pound-for-pound the best fighter in the world and won easily. Don't count Roy Jones out just yet.