The fight was billed as “Unfinished Business” and expected to be a prolonged struggle. But Roy Jones Jr. finished his business with Montell Griffin in less than three minutes.
“I’m still No. 1. I deserve to be the best pound-for-pound boxer until somebody beats me,” Jones exuded after avenging his only defeat–a loss by disqualification to Griffin last March. He knocked down the Chicagoan twice in the first round Thursday night, and left him struggling but unable to regain his feet as referee Arthur Mercante Sr. finished his 10-count.
Mercante waved the bout to a halt at 2:31 of the first round. The stunned crowd of 4,300 in the makeshift arena inside Foxwoods Resort-Casino Bingo Hall had anticipated a longer fight.
“I couldn’t get going,” said a downcast Griffin, departing the ring quickly, even as Jones straddled the ring ropes celebrating for his fans in the bipartisan crowd.
“I was slipping and trying to get in. I tried my best,”. Griffin said. “Things didn’t work out the way I wanted. I don’t have any excuses. He caught me with a good shot. I tried my best. It didn’t go my way.”
Jones, who had snubbed his opponent at a Tuesday news conference, was gracious in victory, calling Griffin a “game warrior” who “will be a world champion in the future. I’m glad he was man enough to stand up and fight.”
The once again World Boxing Council light-heavyweight champion even seemed to back down from his and attorney-adviser Fred Levin’s declaration that Jones would likely take an extended sabbatical, and would not make a WBC-mandated defense against No. 1-ranked Michael Nunn.
He hugged Nunn, who was at Thursday’s fight, and said Nunn “has got a shot coming. Automatic.” Asked if that meant he wouldn’t take a hiatus, Jones teased, “I don’t know what I might do. I might do anything I feel like doing.”
That said, Jones insisted he was curt at Tuesday’s prefight conference because he was focused on the “unfinished business” from March. That’s when his unbeaten record dropped to 34-1 because he illegally punched a kneeling Griffin twice and was disqualified in the ninth round.
“I’ve been waiting in the eighth round for five months,” Jones said. “I just had to come out and refight the ninth. All I did tonight was refight Round 9. It was not Round 1, it was Round 9.”
Throwing vicious left hooks from the opening bell, Jones sent Griffin reeling into the ropes in their first serious exchange. After referee Mercante gave Griffin a standing eight-count because the fighter’s right glove touched the canvas, Jones sized up his opponent for a quick finish.
It came with 29 seconds left in the first. And again, it was a left hook, brought from below his waist, that caught Griffin flush on the head and put him on his back.
Griffin struggled to regain his feet, but it was futile effort, looking almost like slow motion. He struggled to all fours, tried to rise but pitched forward instead back onto his face, as Mercante counted him out.
Within minutes of the finish, Jones donned the WBC title belt he’d taken back from Griffin.
“I’m still No. 1,” he exclaimed. “I came here to get one thing. You can beat me, but don’t steal something from me. If you take something from me, I’m coming to get you.”
Although Griffin won the title by disqualification, he had pressured and pushed Jones around early, giving him more trouble than any previous opponent and raising expectations for a good rematch.
Jones, who stepped into the ring wearing a formal black suit, white shirt and vest over his trunks, and left after standing on the ring ropes to display the WBC belt around his waist, dashed those hopes early.
It took Jones only 37 punches. Only 10 were jabs, and all of which missed. But he landed 12 of 27 power punches, including the two devastating left hooks. Griffin threw only 18 punches, landing four jabs and five power punches. Although he caught the seemingly reckless Jones with a solid right, it was nowhere near enough to keep Jones at bay.
Thell Torrence, Griffin’s trainer, said Jones’ early aggressiveness didn’t surprise his fighter: “He did exacty what we thought he was going to do. He needed to get out early and get the early rounds. He was trying to get lucky.”
Bingo!
“When you get hit cold like that, it’s very difficult to handle,” Torrence said. “If Montell gets back to the corner, it would have been OK.”
Griffin, whose record dropped to 27-1, entered the ring wearing a red and white robe, with black letters reading, “The Sequel. . .” Jones quickly changed the punctuation.
