LAS VEGAS -- Roy Jones Jr. isn't a happy fighter.
A little more than a week before he fights Antonio Tarver for
the light heavyweight titles he once held, Jones says he's still
feeling the effects of losing enough weight to get down to 175
pounds.
"It's one of the worst times I ever had," Jones said. "You
sacrifice so much you want to kill somebody."
Jones has good reason to be upset. For most of his career he had
little trouble making weight as he won championships from
middleweight to light heavyweight.
That changed, though, when he ventured into the heavyweight
ranks in March, bulking up to 193 pounds to beat John Ruiz and win
the WBA portion of the heavyweight title.
Now, he has to get back down to 175, and Jones said Wednesday it
hasn't been easy. The most difficult time, he said, was getting
back beneath 195 pounds, but it wasn't until last week that he
began feeling comfortable at his lower weight again.
"I had to run more, diet more," Jones said. "You're hungry,
thirsty half the time. You're mad. You start taking out your
frustrations on everybody you come across."
That could be trouble for Tarver, who won the light heavyweight
titles Jones vacated when he moved to heavyweight. The two meet
Nov. 8 in a scheduled 12-round fight with the WBC and IBF 175-pound
titles on the line.
"He's going to pay for this," Jones said. "I wouldn't go down
to this weight for nobody else but him. I wanted him to have the
best opponent he could have so I came down for him to his weight."
Jones, who will decide what to do with his heavyweight title
after facing Tarver, is fighting for the first time since he won an
easy decision over Ruiz to become only the second light heavyweight
champion to win a heavyweight title.
He's favored to beat Tarver in a fight that has become personal
to both boxers and was nearly derailed because of an impasse over
whether Tarver would enter the ring last as champions traditionally
do.
"I'm going to utilize his big mouth for a big target all
night," Jones said.
Tarver, a southpaw who beat Montell Griffin in April to win the
vacated titles, is a 1996 Olympic bronze medalist who is 21-1 with
17 knockouts as a pro. He once sparred with Jones when both were
13-year-olds, and credits watching Jones getting robbed of a gold
medal in Seoul with returning his interest to boxing.
Tarver claims Jones has been ducking him for three years and
that beating him will bring some excitement back to boxing.
"I'm approachable, I'm fan friendly. I'm what the boxing world
needs, a breath of fresh air," Tarver said. "My goal is not just
to become a champion. I want to be a superstar in this game."