After trying to get a fight with Mike Tyson, Roy Jones instead accepted the rematch with Antonio Tarver. The bout was set for May 15, 2004 at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, and I definitely planned on ordering the pay-per-view card.
I watched this one alone, and was rooting hard for Roy. Tarver annoyed me more than anyone had in a long time, and I wanted Jones to shut his big mouth. I sat in my recliner to watch it on my big screen tv, and hoped for the best.
After a pretty good first round, Roy came back out confident in the second. Halfway through the round, incredibly, Tarver closed his eyes and knocked Roy down with a left hand. It was obvious he was hurt, and couldn’t beat the count. As Tarver leapt in celebration, I was in complete and utter shock. I had never even seen Roy hurt, and to see him knocked out left me speechless. I walked up and down the hallway of our house, repeating “I can’t believe it. I can’t believe it. I can’t believe it.” I was numb and couldn’t sleep for hours after this nightmare of a fight.
It was bad enough that one of my favorites had been knocked out, but to Tarver, who to me was not that good, made it worse. The best I could hope is that Roy could take a rest, regroup and get back on the winning track in the fall. Unfortunately, nothing would be further from the truth. To me May 15, 2004 was ‘The Death of a King.”
