[As told by John Scully] I remember when Roy Jones and Gerald McClennan fought, and to be honest with you, there are very few people in the world who can say they were actually there, and the ones that were there, only about half of them were watching it. They had 3 rings going at the same time and I'm guessing less than 100 people on the face of the earth even saw that fight. Gerald won the fight; 3-2 split! Roy had won nationals two years in a row and he was going for his third, and he was looking good up until the semifinals and he lost to Gerald. I remember something interesting from that fight. About 3 weeks later after the fight, all of us was at Sugar Ray Leonard's training camp before the Olympic Trials. Gerald was there, Roy was there, I was there; a lot of the top amateurs was there. I remember specifically Gerald wouldn't spar because he said his jaw was still messed up from his fight with Roy. That always stayed with me. He couldn't spar and he didn't spar anybody that whole camp because his jaw was messed up from the fight.
It was a great fight though and the decision was legitimate. It was a good back and forth fight. A lot of people get on Roy about boxing too much and being careful, but when Roy wanted to dig down and fight, he could. I remember I was fighting that day. I was gonna fight like two fights later and I was supposed to be loosening up, but the fight was so good. Hell, I remember I had my gloves on and was suited up, but I actually sat there and watched that fight because it was so good. I remember Roy was on the ropes for a lot of the fight, especially in the 2nd round. Gerald had him pinned to the ropes, but Roy was giving just as much as he got off the ropes. He was bombing Gerald with combinations. It was definitely...I would say in my life, it was probably...certainly top 5 amateur fights I've ever seen; maybe even top 3. It was a war. Anybody that was there will tell you that it was a fight. Roy didn't box. Roy was a great boxer as an amateur. Speed was his thing, just like as a pro. I don't know if Gerald made him fight or if he chose to fight, but he fought.
The thing that stood out to me about that fight is the way Roy would explode off of the ropes. I'm talking it looked like 6, 7, 8, or 9 shots...bang, bang, bang, bang, bang...right off the ropes. Gerald was right there with him, it's just Roy's explosiveness and speed was more apparent than Gerald's at the time. And I tell you what gets lost over the years. No one ever mentions this because they probably don't realize it or it never even occurs to them, but Gerald actually lost the next day to Ray McElroy. I'm assuming Ray was a good fighter because he had beaten Gerald before, but Ray had actually lost to Roy twice. So it's kind of funny that Roy beat Ray, Ray beat Gerald, and Gerald beat Roy. But I'm sure that fight with Roy took something out of him because it should have been the finals in terms of the level of competition that it was and level of excitement. It was definitely a war.
Everyone wanted to see Roy and Gerald fight as pros and if they would have fought, honestly, you know I love Gerald, but I think Roy is one of the smartest fighters out there and he knows how to beat a style. He's not trying to impress people and show his toughness. I gotta tell a quick little side bar that would illustrate exactly what I mean, and I always tell this story about Roy Jones because it illustrates his mentality. If you remember when Terry Norris was on a knockout spree for awhile in the early 90's. Terry fought Simon Brown and he went for the knockout and Simon decimated him. That was a vicious knockout. Simon worked Terry Norris. What was impressive is Terry Norris came back in the rematch and put on a boxing display; to me, an all-time great boxing display. He toyed with Simon in the rematch. I was excited about it because I love to see fighters come back from a loss and beat the guy who beat 'em, especially when they had to make great adjustments in the rematch.
So the next day, we were in training camp in New Jersey and Roy was out there. I can tell you it must've been '94 because Roy was getting ready to fight Thomas Tate. I went to Roy the next day and I say, "Wow, that was crazy. Did you see the fight last night?" I'll never forget, his exact words on cue was, "I wouldn't have had to fight Simon Brown twice because I know how to beat him." That always stuck with me. He never would have fell into the trap of trying to knock Simon out or anything like that. He would have beat Simon the way that Terry did the second time. He would have done that the first time and I'll never forget that. That was his exact words. If Roy and Gerald would have fought as pros, Roy would have never looked to make this a war or fan-friendly or anything. The name of the game is win. People gotta realize, even though it was early in his career, Gerald got beat early by some good technical boxers in Dennis Milton and Ralph Ward; two fights in a row. The thing about those guys were they had boxing ability, and very few people had boxing ability like Roy. When he wanted to get on his toes and not get hit, he wasn't going to get hit. So for my money, I would have to go with Roy by decision as a pro.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]