Dariusz Michalczewski wants Roy Jones
On 18th July WBC "champion in recess" Roy Jones Jr. and his WBA counterpart Lou del Valle unified two of the four main titles in the light heavyweight division, when Jones won a unanimous decision over his former sparring partner from the Bronx.After the fight American Roy Jones once again pretended that he is pound-for-pound the best boxer of the world. This statement is extremely questionable, because Jones mostly did not even prove that he is the best in his own division. In the last five years Jones was hurrying through three different weight classes winning a title in each of those divisions. But the man from Pensacola was always reluctant to face tough opposition and was hiding his hesitation behind unrealistic high purse demands. Jones: "For $10 Million I come to Germany and fight Michalczewski."
The hesitation of Jones now led to a confusing situation: Right now he has to share his WBC light heavyweight title with German Graciano Rocchigiani because Jones didn't want to fight against his mandatory challenger Michael Nunn. So the German stepped in, defeated the man whom Jones avoided, and now both, Rocchigiani and Jones are holding one half of the WBC's title.
In contrast to this confusing situation there is no doubt who is the WBO champion in the light heavyweight division for almost four years! There is also no doubt who has done the most title defenses in this weight class since 25 years! And finally there is no doubt who is the only light heavyweight champion in history who unified three world titles, when he soundly defeated WBA/IBF champion Virgil Hill in summer 1997:
Dariusz Michalczewski
Unified WBA/IBF/WBO Light Heavyweight Champion 1997
WBO Cruiserweight Champion 1994
Undefeated WBO Light Heavyweight King 1994 - 1998To find out the class of a fighter it is important to look at the quality of his opponents. "I always like to face good opposition. Only the best opponents bring out the best in me.", Michalczewski (37 wins, no losses, 30 KOs) comments - a stark contrast between Michalczewski and Jones. It's apparent from Jones' selection of opponents that he does not want tough competition. So far he left all weight divisions without facing the best possible opposition: Jones ignored Gerald McClellan at middleweight and made no serious try to fight Nigel Benn, Steve Collins or Frank Liles at super middleweight. After Michalczewski had defeated Virgil Hill, Roy Jones (37 wins, 1 loss, 32 KOs) didn't choose to fight the victorious German. Instead he took the easy way boxing the demoralized man from Bismarck, who had been inactive for almost a year since he had suffered the most damaging defeat of his career against Michalczewski.
"It's my great aim to face Roy Jones jr.", Dariusz Michalczewski affirmed, who had as many successful title defenses at light heavyweight as Jones had titlefights in all his weightclasses together. The German WBO champ will neither change his weight class nor make any other try to avoid the biggest showdown of this division. Dariusz Michalczewski finally wants to give the answer to the question "Who is the best light heavyweight boxer in the world?".
Hamburg, July 22nd 1998
Fabian Weber--
Fabian Weber
International Press Spokesman
Universum Box-Promotion GmbH
7.29.98 [Return to Top]
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