It looks as though boxing legend Roy Jones Jr. will have to call it career without that oft-teased Anderson Silva super fight, which as hard as it is to believe, has been on the table for over a decade.
Taking the place of “The Spider” is someone with actual experience in the “sweet science.” Not that it’s a requirement in the modern age of prizefighting, but at least Jones Jr. will go out against an actual pugilist.
Cruiserweight journeyman Scott Sigmon.
That said, he’s not completely ruling out a return to the ring, but it would be more of an “event” and less of a “boxing match,” according to Jones, who is prepared to let Silva stay on the gear to get it done.
“I’m not here to keep going for a regular boxing match, but that’s not really a regular boxing match; that’s more of an event,” he told UFC.com. “So for an event like that, I would probably be coaxed out because it would be stupid to leave that kind of money on the table when you know that kind of money could be made.”
Not as much as this, but still plenty to make both fighters happy.
As for Sigmon, he doesn’t really care that Jones Jr. is 49, or that the public perception is that he’s being “fed” to the aging fighter. That’s because a win could potentially set him up with bigger paydays down the road.
“I feel like this is my Micky Ward moment,” Sigmon, 30, told UFC.com. “He (Ward) had 11 losses, he hadn’t made a huge amount of money, and if I can beat Roy, I can make more than I ever made. Mike Tyson fought Kevin McBride at the end and McBride beat him and in his next two fights, Kevin made a huge amount of money. I’ve got the wins, I’ve got the durability. I’ve been tested at that level and if I can pull this off, it would obviously change my life and my family’s life.”
We’ll find out tonight (Thurs., Feb. 8, 2018) inside Florida’s Pensacola Bay Center, airing live on the UFC Fight Pass digital network at 8:30 p.m. ET.