Roy Jones Jr. says there needs to be a rule for fighters who just move around and refuse to engage. He thinks it’s bad for the sport to have fighters like that not throwing punches and just moving endlessly, as seen during the Times Square event in New York City last May.

Fighters Refuse to Engage

Roy points out that Turki Alalshikh is paying “crazy money” for his events, but some fighters aren’t delivering great performances. They’re just taking the money and doing the minimum to win. There’s no shame on their part, and some are spoiled from years of being paid well for lackluster performances.

“Now, these guys [Turki Alalshikh] are spending crazy money, but the fighters aren’t giving crazy performances,” said Roy Jones Jr. to Secondsout, reacting to the lackluster performances on the Times Square card last May in New York City.

Interestingly, Jones Jr. isn’t mentioning the names of the fighters who used a lot of movement during the Times Square event. I’ll do it for him: Devin Haney and Teofimo Lopez. Both fighters rank around the ring their entire fights, boring the fans at ringside, and angering the ones who ordered the event on DAZN PPV.

Bad for Boxing: No Punches

“It hurt my heart [Times Square performances]. These guys go and go, and they didn’t care. ‘We’re in Times Square. It’s just another fight,” said Jones Jr. about the boring performances from the safety-first Haney and Teofimo. “No, it’s not. You’re in Times Square. Not necessarily,” said Jones Jr. when asked if it’s good for boxing that Turki Alalshikh has a no-running rule for his events, and he’s reduced the ring size to 18 x 18 for the July 12th event in Queens, New York.

The no-running rule doesn’t work if Turki Alalshikh continues to use runners for his events. He can’t change fighters like Haney and Shakur Stevenson by telling them not to run, because that’s their style. You take that away, they’ll fall apart if they’re forced to be stationary, because they lack the power and offensive skills to match up against brawlers in a fight without movement.

Ring Size Won’t Stop Runners

“I say it because if a guy wants to run, he’s going to run in a 16-foot ring,” said Jones Jr. “So, if he wants to run, he’s going to run regardless of how small the ring is. He’s going to have to run harder. So, I don’t think that makes any difference.”

Roy Jr. is right. Narrowing the ring size down to 18 x 18 for the July 12th event in Queens, New York, isn’t going to prevent Shakur Stevenson from using that space to run from William Zepeda. In the 2016 Olympics, Shakur ran from Cuba’s Robeisy Ramirez, and that fight was in a 16 x 16 ring. It didn’t prevent Stevenson from running. He lost the fight, but he moved nonstop just like he’s been doing in the pros in 20-foot rings.

Select Engaging Fighters Only

“I think what you got to get is guys that want to be the best, and they’re willing to prove they’re the best,” said Jones Jr. “If they’re the best, you can’t run from a guy for 12 rounds and say, ‘I’m the best.’ No. You might be able to outsmart them and make an ugly fight for him if he’s a super strong puncher. But we should see that coming a mile away.”

What Turki should do is select only fighters who have a track record of mixing it up with their opponents in entertaining fights. Exclude all runners from his events. So, that would mean Devin Haney, Shakur, and Teofimo wouldn’t be picked by Turki.

“These guys start moving around, and they don’t want to engage. That’s not good for boxing. That’s the problem. They don’t know when to do it and when not to do it. Yeah,” said Roy Jr. when asked if there should be a rule against fighters who don’t engage.

There will not be a rule change to prevent runners from using that style. But if Turki weeds those fighters out, he can select the top guys that come to fight. That’s the simple solution to the problem.

“You can’t go 12 rounds and not engage. There should be a rule for that, yeah,” said Jones.