Roy Jones Jr. and Kevin Mitchell: A Tale of Two Retirements

By Thomas Gerbasi

At one time or another, we've all been guilty of putting our nose in where it doesn't belong. In the world of boxing, that usually equates to the topic of retirement; more specifically, when a fighter should or should not exercise that option.

It's not necessarily a bad thing, and it often comes from a good place when you don't want to see someone take that extra punch or compete in one more fight. But is it ever our place to tell that someone he or she shouldn't do something if they are legally allowed to do so and pass all the tests necessary to fight?

Evander Holyfield used to be the one everyone wanted to see leave the sport before he got hurt. Today, it’s Roy Jones Jr., the same fighter who inspired me to keep my mouth shut on such matters.

Jones was in a hotel room in Atlanta in December of 2011, preparing to face a 14-5-2 fighter named Max Alexander. New Jersey’s Alexander had lost three in a row heading into his bout with one of the most dominant boxers to ever grace the ring, but in late 2011, Jones, who had lost three straight of his own, was probably an even match for Alexander.

But Jones had received a clean bill of health from the Mayo Clinic and he was going to keep fighting despite already doing more than enough to be considered a slam dunk first ballot Hall of Famer five years after he threw his last punch. That didn’t stop any of us from asking us when enough was enough though, and each time the question was asked, the fighter in Jones emerged.

“What does being a first ballot Hall of Famer do for me when I still want to fight?” he bristled. “You think I’m gonna stop like that because of something five years down the line? I might be dead in five years, who knows. You think I’m gonna save my life for five years down the line? Who knows what the hell might happen to me in five years? I still got it, I still feel good, so am I gonna stop now, so I can be safe and careful and hope that I don’t mess up my chances? What if I better my chances of going in the first time? So there are two sides to that coin and I understand that. What if I do go capture the cruiserweight title and have the greatest comeback in the history of the sport?”

I asked him if he understood the concern people had for him?

“I totally understand the concern,” Jones said. “But do you understand my concern? How can you expect me to change now? That’s just who I am.”

Jones defeated Max Alexander that night, kicking off an improbable eight-fight winning streak that ended when he was frighteningly knocked out for the fifth time in his career, this time in December of 2015 by Enzo Maccarinelli.

It should have been it for Jones, now 47, and many thought it was when rumors circulated this week that he had retired. But on Wednesday, Jones tweeted the following:

“No official retirement yet. Maybe coming, but hasn't came yet. That will be MY announcement to make.”

And that was that.

On the same day, February 10, there was a retirement in the sport, as England’s Kevin Mitchell decided that he had enough of the sport that didn’t garner him a world championship, but did earn him respect and love from his countrymen over the course of a nearly 16-year pro career.

The reaction to the 31-year-old Brit’s walk away from the sport was an encouraging one for those who only view the world through skeptical eyes. As those in the United States harangue Jones for staying in the sport as an active fighter and use words like “embarrassment” to describe his current bouts, England celebrated not just Mitchell’s career in the ring, but his decision to leave it.

Scheduled to fight Edis Tatli in March, Mitchell had a chance to win the European lightweight title, get a payday and put himself back in the running for another world title shot. Instead, he made a tough decision only a fighter can make for himself.

“I was in the gym training for the Edis Tatli fight and I just didn’t really feel that I have enough to go through the training once again,” Mitchell said in a statement from his promoter, Matchroom Boxing. “I’ve been fighting for 22 years, it is a long time to be putting your body through all you have to do to get right for a fight and my body has said ‘enough is enough.’”

Mitchell, who retired with a 39-4 (29 KOs), won’t be getting a call from the International Boxing Hall of Fame in five years, though maybe that’s a fault of the system and not the fighter. Maybe there should be a place for fighters who do nothing but fight, who show up on the night and leave everything they have in the ring every time out. Put a hard hat and a pail outside the venue as a sign that you are entering a place where blue-collar workers are celebrated. Put Arturo Gatti and Ray Mancini in the wing where current Hall of Famers go, and add folks like Mitchell, Diego Corrales and Micky Ward.

It would be something to see. And you can expect that fans from the U.K. would line up to see such a hall because they’ve always embraced the underdog and the fighters who simply fight. So maybe Kevin Mitchell felt that it was safe to retire now. He had fought the good fight, gave his best, and now he could pass his knowledge on to the next generation as a coach, even though the traits he was best known for – heart, determination – are in your blood and can’t be taught.

Nothing is as cut and dried in the States. If you’re on top of the sport, you’re overrated or fighting bums. If you’re on the slide, you were never any good to begin with. There are those that dismiss Roy Jones’ career because of everything that happened after his rematch loss to Antonio Tarver. It’s ludicrous, but a prime example of how fans here treat their sporting heroes.

So Jones keeps fighting. It’s probably not to prove anything to anyone. It’s just how he’s built. A fighter isn’t a fighter at all if he doesn’t have a stubborn streak, and while it was also what made Mitchell special, Jones’ is bigger than most. But when does it all end? When Mitchell made the call, he did it at a time when no one expected him to. On the other side, Jones has stuck around longer than anyone expected or wanted him to.

But why?

A little over four years ago, the former best fighter in the world told me the answer to that question.

“How many people wish they knew what their gift was from God?” he asked. “When you find out what your gift is from God, are you gonna sleep on it when it’s still active and in you? Put Roy Jones in the ring, and I guarantee you that he’s gonna give you something unlike nobody else, and I guarantee you he’s gonna win a lot more than he’s gonna lose until that day comes that he can’t do it no more. And when that day comes, he’s gonna tell you that.”

Today is not that day. And until that day comes, we can only hope that the man who once led the boxing world follows the lead of one Kevin Mitchell.