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00:00In a defense of Jones' light heavyweight championship, but right now, let's look ahead to one of the biggest upcoming bouts on the calendar, February 13 in Las Vegas, the biggest test of Oscar De La Hoya's career, as he gets ready to fight unbeaten welterweight champion from Ghana, Ike Quarte.
00:18And Ike lives and trains much of the time here in Pensacola, so he joins us live here at ringside tonight. I'm assisted by Fred Asifo, who speaks Ike's native Ghanaian language of Ga, but Ike's been living so much in Pensacola that his English is getting a whole lot better as he gets ready to fight De La Hoya.
00:35Because you didn't take a tune-up bout, and because De La Hoya cited an injury in training to delay this bout, which was originally scheduled for November, you're going to come into the ring not having fought in more than a year. Does that concern you at all, Ike?
00:51No, that doesn't concern at all, because, you know, everybody knows who I am and what I can do, you know. It doesn't concern at all if I have to fight for a year. I can earn the Oscar easily.
00:59Well, you say everybody knows what you're going to do. You've overpowered most of your opponents in the past with your strength and your terrific jab. Are you expecting to go out and dominate De La Hoya with your jab?
01:11The same thing is going to happen in February 13th. I'm going to wear him down my jab, and then, you know, I'll do what I got to do.
01:17How big is this fight in your life?
01:18This is the biggest fight in my life. You know, people think this is the toughest fight, but I don't think this fight is the toughest fight, because Oscar's not tough. But this is a big fight for me, because Oscar's big in America.
01:27Do you think American fight fans know who you are and realize how big a challenge this is for Oscar?
01:34I think they know who I am and what I can do. I think they know I'm the best 147 up there, so they know what I can do.
01:44You train in the same gym as Roy Jones, although I'm told your workouts are at different times. But have you spoken to Roy about De La Hoya and what he thinks you can do to beat Oscar?
01:55Well, I haven't spoken to Roy about Oscar, but Roy thinks I'll beat Oscar about me, because he's my buddy. He's my friend.
02:03You know, we always talk, but I haven't talked about Oscar for a while.
02:05But he hasn't talked to you about how to beat Oscar?
02:08No, we haven't talked about that, you know, because, you know, I know who Roy is and he knows who I am, so we just talked to each other about, you know, there's no more and not no more boxing.
02:19I suspect that Oscar is watching out in Big Bear, California tonight as he gets ready for February 13th. What do you have to say to him?
02:26Well, Oscar should get ready. I think Oscar's not ready to fight me. I think he doesn't want to fight me, but I hope he will show up in February 13th and, you know, receive what I want to give to him.
02:36Ike Quartey of Ghana and Pensacola, Florida. February 13th, Las Vegas, Nevada. We'll see you live against Oscar De La Hoya.
02:44Thanks very much for joining us. And that bout will be live, pay-per-view, from the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
02:51February 13th, by far, the biggest test so far in De La Hoya's career. You might likewise call it the biggest test so far for Ike Quartey.
03:02And still to come tonight, second of our two main events, Roy Jones Jr. fighting in his hometown of Pensacola against New York beat cop Rick Frazier,
03:12rated by one of the world's governing bodies as the number one contender for the light heavyweight crowd.
03:18Right now, let's look ahead to some upcoming sports programs here on HBO.
03:25January 25 marks the next edition of Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel.
03:29Some of the stories we'll feature, a recent study which claims that 20% of NFL players have criminal backgrounds,
03:35an investigative report on offshore sports gambling operations,
03:39and a look at the strenuous life of an NFL assistant coach.
03:42On January 30, Boxing After Dark showcases the heavyweights, as Michael Grant takes on Ahmad Abdeen and Andrew Gulotta meets Jimmy Thunder.
03:52On February 20, a terrific welterweight championship bout between title holder Felix Trinidad and former champion Pernell Whitaker.
04:00One week later, Shannon Briggs meets Lou Savarese, and light heavyweight champion Reggie Johnson defends his crown against Will Taylor.
04:06Also on February 27, a preview of the upcoming heavyweight unification bout between champions Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis.
04:15And as we bring you back live to ringside in Pensacola once again with the legendary fight trainer and manager Gil Clancy
04:23to set up Richard Frazier, New York policeman, against Roy Jones.
04:28Now, Frazier, obviously, as a New York cop, has done most of his professional fighting in New York since turning pro at the age of 32.
04:34You've seen him.
04:35What will he bring to the ring against Roy Jones?
04:38Well, he may bring something, just maybe a little trouble.
04:40This is a fight that, in my opinion, Roy Jones can win and lose.
04:44I don't think he can lose the fight, but he could lose some stature because of the style of Ricky Frazier.
04:51Ricky Frazier has no offense at all.
04:54I don't think he could hurt me.
04:55But the idea is he makes you look bad because he doesn't try to win.
05:00I haven't hurt you in all these years.
05:02You're saying that Frazier has enough athletic wherewithal in there and maybe enough strength to wrestle Jones, throw him off stride, make him look bad?
05:10Well, he's the worst kind.
05:11He's a tall, cute southpaw that doesn't really let it all hang out.
05:17Never gives you a good, clean shot.
05:19It's going to be very difficult for Roy unless he walks right out and walks right through him.
05:22Jones making a living recently off of southpaws.
05:25This will be his third consecutive match with a southpaw.
05:28But Larry Merchant off of what Gil Clancy just said about Rick Frazier.
05:31You have to wonder if he really has any right to be here.
05:34So the obvious question, how did he get here?
05:38Well, he's a policeman.
05:40And Roy Jones has previously beaten a schoolteacher and a mailman.
05:45Apparently, he likes to beat up on civil servants.
05:48Watch out.
05:49No, let's give discredit where it's due.
05:53Ricky Frazier is a mandatory challenger because his promoter, Don King, and his manager, one Elvis Grant, are close buddies of Jose Suleiman of the World Boxing Council, also known as the World of Bandits and Charlatans.
06:12Be that as it is, it's not a bad thing for a journeyman fighter to get a shot at a good payday.
06:20One wishes, however, that this policeman at least would be favored to beat another member of the NYPD Blue, Andy Sipowitz.
06:30Incidentally, we asked him to rate the police shows NYPD Blue, OK, Homicide, Life on the Streets.
06:37That's the one he says is real.
06:38Well, regardless of his credentials as a professional fighter, the story of a New York beat cop getting ready to fight the man that many regard as the very best fighter in the world is in its own way irresistible.
06:54Hi, my name is Rick Frazier, New York City police officer, shield number 10989 of the 26th precinct of New York City.
07:03And I'm here to fight Roy Jones, Jr. for the championship of the world.
07:07Thirty-nine-year-old Rick Frazier is no ordinary police officer.
07:12When he's not patrolling the Harlem streets near where he grew up at the General Grant housing projects on Broadway and 124th, he pursues his career as a professional boxer.
07:22From eight to four each day, he's one of New York's finest.
07:25Before and after, it's a fighter's life.
07:28It's just the way of life.
07:29I mean, I get up in the morning, I do my road work, I do my strength training when it's time to go to, you know, lunch.
07:35And then when I finish, I go to the gym.
07:37That's just what I do.
07:39And that's what he's been doing since his amateur days.
07:42After compiling a 124-win, five-loss, not-for-pay record that included three New York Golden Gloves titles,
07:50Rick decided to turn professional at the advanced age of 32.
07:54I wasn't planning on turning pro at all, and I was sitting home thinking one day,
07:59eh, you don't want to get to 40 and say you should have had at least one pro fight.
08:03And so when I turned pro, I didn't turn pro thinking of contention or anything like that.
08:07I just turned pro to get a fight.
08:09So Rick further complicated his life and now boasts two full-time jobs.
08:14With full cooperation from his precinct, he has managed to juggle both effectively
08:19in preparation for his boxing career's biggest moment.
08:22They hooked it up where I can take my vacation.
08:25At this particular time of the year, it's hard to get off, you know, because it's the holiday time.
08:29You know, everybody and their mother wants to get off.
08:31Even the working parents of the precinct, they understand, fine, if I can't have the day off,
08:36you know, you want to give it to Rick so he can go fight for the title, fine, they'll do that.
08:40It was something we felt we owed him.
08:42While we didn't break any rules, we certainly cleared the path for him to go and pursue
08:48something he's been trying to attain for many, many years.
08:51On extended holiday vacation, Rick has now been training full-time in Philadelphia
08:56with his heart set on a world title.
08:59But only seven years ago, his future didn't look so bright.
09:02In off-duty time, Rick and three friends allegedly got into a fistfight with two men
09:07on a New York City sidewalk.
09:09Rick was charged with assault after a man he was said to have punched died of head injuries.
09:14It was an incident where I was accused of, you know, being involved in some kind of big
09:20street fight, and I wasn't.
09:21I don't mess around.
09:22I don't get in trouble.
09:23I don't do anything.
09:23I don't bother anybody.
09:24And then something happened in the street, and you don't believe me.
09:28You know, like, I'm telling a lie.
09:29I'm not telling a lie.
09:30You know, this is what happened.
09:31Then when you get all your facts together, oh, man, this guy was telling the truth.
09:34After a three-and-a-half-year process, Rick was cleared of all charges.
09:38During that time, he fought frequently, and his pro record now stands at 18-3-1.
09:44He has been elevated to top-ranked contender without having beaten any big-name opponents.
09:49In anticipation of the upcoming title fight, every policeman in his precinct has become
09:54a boxing fan, and they freely offer their takes on his chances against Roy Jones.
09:59One particular girl, she's, oh, Ricky's gonna do all right.
10:01As soon as the cameras went around, he's gonna kick your butt, you know.
10:05And I'm like, let's coach now.
10:07I still love you, though.
10:09I come to work.
10:10I get pictures of Roy Jones pasted on my locker.
10:13He says, kick your ass, Rick.
10:15And he says, you want a piece of me?
10:18Not.
10:19One of my partners that I work with, he told me, yo, Rick, put my name on the bottom of
10:24your shoe.
10:24So when Roy knocked him out, everybody could say, hello, Chris Green.
10:28We have good medical benefits in the police department, good dental programs.
10:31In the PBA, so if he gets hurt, they'll patch him up.
10:34He's a good-looking guy.
10:35We don't want to see him messed up.
10:37Everybody takes turns pop-shotting at me, you know, but it's all good.
10:41They needle and needle and needle, and everything's a joke because, on a serious note, you can
10:48get killed as a police officer.
10:49So we needle and we needle and we laugh and we joke because we don't want to look at that
10:53side.
10:53You know, we always look at the positive sides of things.
10:56Win or lose tonight, Rick Frazier's efforts can be commended.
10:59Not only as a 17-year veteran of the New York City Police Force, but also for his determination
11:04to fight professionally at the same time.
11:08He's proving to himself that if you try hard enough, nothing is impossible.
11:12Tale of the tape for Roy Jones Jr. against Richard Frazier.
11:19The 10-year age difference.
11:21One-inch height advantage for Frazier.
11:23They weighed in within a pound of the 175-pound limit.
11:26Jones has gained seven pounds.
11:28Frazier's only gained four and a half.
11:30A reach advantage for Frazier.
11:32Will he try to grab, hold, and wrestle with Roy Jones?
11:35We'll wait and see.
11:36No punch stat numbers here because of the absent quality of Frazier's opposition.
11:41So we go straight to the rules with Harold Letterman.
11:43The Roy Jones Jr.
11:44Rick Frazier fight once again is scheduled for 12 rounds using the rules of the Association
11:49of Boxing Commissions.
11:50There is no standing eight count.
11:52No three knockdown rule.
11:53Only the referee can stop the fight.
11:55And he cannot be saved by the bell in any round, including the 12th and final round.
11:59Jim.
11:59All right.
12:01Thank you, Harold.
12:04And here comes Rick Frazier in uniform.
12:19Las Vegas odds maker Herb Lembeck lists Frazier as a 100-to-1 underdog against Jones.
12:29Frazier does have some athletic ability.
12:32He told us that he went to Wilberforce College in Ohio on a basketball scholarship.
12:41Trying to stay in shape.
12:43Found himself getting into boxing at the age of 22.
12:47And the ring is crowded with an assemblage of former boxing champions who've been brought
12:57here by promoter Mirad Mohamed to help celebrate Roy Jones' upcoming 30th birthday.
13:04Man in the baseball cap to the left of your screen right there is Ken Norton, as a matter
13:07of fact.
13:08Norton, one of a dozen or more memorable boxing figures who were in the ring together just
13:13a few moments ago.
13:14And as Frazier arrives, there's a look at his record.
13:2018 wins.
13:22Most memorable of his three losses was a TKO at the hands of William Guthrie, who was
13:27a contender for a light heavyweight shot against Roy Jones until being knocked out last year
13:33by Reggie Johnson.
13:34And when everyone thinks of the process through which Frazier got here, he is here.
13:48Good moment.
13:51Exceeded his dreams, in fact.
13:53And you do have to give him props for that.
13:58And Roy Jones, who always tries to put the best face on everything, says he's honored to
14:04be fighting against a policeman because they are so richly deserving of societal respect.
14:09But you can get 20 years in the state of Florida for assaulting an officer.
14:18But on a first defense, you might get away with five.
14:20I see that.
14:21You're ready to rumble.
14:23You're on the staff.
14:28Roy, as usual, entering to partially self-composed music and with a headset microphone on so that
14:35he can help deliver the goods as he comes into the ring.
14:40Deliver the words, anyway.
14:42You're ready.
14:51I'm waiting.
14:55Roy Waring, another original creation for this event, his high school sewing teacher.
15:21Ms. Doris Law, right there.
15:28Roy is very loyal to his friends old and new in Pensacola.
15:36She sews these outfits at no cost.
15:40Don't forget, she also taught Roy how to sew.
15:43She sews down the law for him.
15:45Right, and if he busts a guy up in the ring, he can run across and sew him up.
15:50And Roy's ring record has been constructed entirely in outfits sewn by Doris Law.
15:57The one loss, of course, when he was disqualified for knocking Montel Griffin to the canvas
16:02and then hitting him twice after he was down.
16:05That loss shortly after that avenged in a sensational two-minute, one-second knockout of Griffin.
16:11Everything else, a relatively easy victory.
16:16While you're watching this upcoming bout, you can also log on to www.hbo.com slash boxing
16:22to chat and score each round of tonight's action.
16:25Also record your prediction for the upcoming welterweight showdown,
16:29showdown, February 13, between Oscar De La Hoya and Ike Fuerte.
16:34And now let's go to ring announcer Mark Barrow to get started with the main event.
16:38Ladies and gentlemen, before we get underway with tonight's championship bout,
16:45we would like to once again recognize the passing of yet another great boxing warrior
16:53with the passing of a gentleman in every sense of the word,
16:57passed away with a never-say-quit spirit in the ring.
17:02Ladies and gentlemen, at this time, we will have our 10-bell tribute
17:07in memory of the great heavyweight contender, Jerry Quarry.
17:13May he rest in peace.
17:41Now, ladies and gentlemen, from the Pensacola Civic Center in Pensacola, Florida,
17:52Murad Muhammad and M&M Sports and Square Ring Incorporated
17:58in association with the Grand Casinos and Pepsi One.
18:03All the taste, one calorie, and only one has it all.
18:08Pepsi One presents the HBO main event of the evening, Law and Order.
18:17Twelve rounds for the WBC and WBA light heavyweight championships of the world.
18:25Ring officials assigned by the World Boxing Council, President Jose Zuliaman,
18:32Supervisor in attendance, Dr. Pedro Sequeria.
18:36And by the World Boxing Association, President Gilberto Mendoza,
18:40Supervisor in attendance, York Van Nixon, Jr.
18:44Your judges at ringside are from Detroit, Michigan, Glenn Hirsch, from Dallas, Texas,
18:55Oren Schellenberger, and from Leesburg, Florida, Frank Skillbred.
19:01Your referee for this event, El Hijo de la República de Cuba, making his home in Miami, Florida,
19:10El Caballero Armando Garcia.
19:14Now, ladies and gentlemen, introducing the principals first in the blue corner to my right,
19:23wearing the blue trunks, weighing 174 pounds, his professional record, 18 victories, 3 defeats, 1 draw,
19:33and 7 wins coming by way of knockout, a crowd member of New York City's finest,
19:40hailing from the big city, New York City, rated number 3 by the WBA,
19:46and number 1 by the WBC, the challenger, Tricky Rick Frazier.
19:56His opponent in the red corner, wearing the gold sequined trunks, weighing 175 pounds,
20:13with a professional record of 38 victories, 1 defeat, 32 wins coming by way of knockout,
20:22the pride of Pensacola, Florida, the WBC and WBA light heavyweight champion of the world,
20:33Roy Jones Jr.
20:39Jones Jr., 12 rounds for the WBC and WBA light heavyweight championship of the world.
20:48Roy, Richard, we spoke in the dressing room.
21:11I'm confident that you know exactly what I expect of you.
21:14Gentlemen, I will control this fight.
21:16This will be a clean fight.
21:18Protect yourself at all times.
21:20Obey my commands at all times.
21:22Any questions?
21:23Touch gloves.
21:24May the best man win.
21:26This small 16 and 3 quarter foot ring did not affect the earlier fight.
21:32It could affect this fight if Frazier intends to do a lot of running.
21:38Perhaps it signals the fact that Roy Jones, having had to train through the holidays, doesn't want to have a long fight.
21:52Well, again, this ring does not meet the regulation size according to the WBC.
21:58The minimum is supposed to be 18 feet.
22:00Yeah, but they make up the rules as they go along. You know that.
22:03Jones, who sometimes doesn't use the jab very much, tonight starts out using the jab against Frazier, the southpaw.
22:21And as usual, Roy defies convention because a lot of fighters don't try to jab against southpaws.
22:27They lead with the straight right hand instead.
22:29Well, one thing that he is doing, that I agree with, that he wasn't doing the other times against southpaws,
22:35because he's moving to his left most of the time. Now he just went to the right.
22:42What's the advantage of moving to your left against the southpaw?
22:46Then that sets up your left hook to the body and head.
22:49And with that, then you can also nail him with a straight right hand.
22:52The other way, you're walking right into him.
22:54Let's go, break clean. Break clean, step back.
22:59You want to see the opposite example.
23:02Go back and look at your tape of Delaware Whittaker
23:05and watch Oscar move to his right all night long against a southpaw,
23:08therefore nullifying his own left hook.
23:11Absolutely.
23:13Well, so far, Frazier is living up to your analysis.
23:17No offense or defense.
23:28When asked yesterday what he would do against Roy Jones,
23:31Frazier basically said, hey, what can you say about Roy Jones?
23:34He's super fast, hits very hard, has every conceivable skill.
23:39I guess I'll do whatever I can.
23:40Frazier flicking a couple of dabs.
23:46Jones, who has been increasingly devastating to the body in the last year,
23:53has only sneaked in one effective body punch against Frazier so far.
24:00He has nothing to punch off because Frazier just does not lead.
24:05His first move is always defensively.
24:08Makes it very, very difficult for Jones.
24:11Nothing he can't win in rounds easily,
24:14but for him to nail him with a big punch.
24:17Showtime! Showtime!
24:18Showtime!
24:19Showtime!
24:20Showtime!
24:21Showtime!
24:22Oh!
24:27Down goes Frazier.
24:29Was that a punch?
24:32He's complaining that he slipped.
24:34Looked like a fall to me.
24:35It looked to me like he went in the water.
24:39Well, I suspect there's no boxing announcer alive
24:42who wouldn't have looked for the earliest opportunity to say,
24:44down goes Frazier.
24:46And there it was.
24:47Good round.
24:50Good round.
24:55Trying to catch it.
24:56The J-Terry's a jab.
24:57Fake the jab and then come with another one.
24:58You'll hit it.
24:59You'll hit it.
25:00You'll hit it.
25:01You'll hit it.
25:02Okay, then.
25:03It's gonna be there.
25:04It's dead.
25:05It's here.
25:06You have to be there.
25:07Right at the top of my hand.
25:08Okay.
25:09Right at the top of his head.
25:10Right there.
25:11Okay.
25:12You all right?
25:13Yeah.
25:14Okay.
25:15Okay, this is a slip.
25:16Yeah, I know that.
25:17Okay, you're walking down now, baby.
25:18All right?
25:19Come on up.
25:20Here you go.
25:21Take an overhead look of this knockdown.
25:26You see the...
25:27You see the cushion with the advertisement
25:30on the side of the ring, just outside of the ropes.
25:34He stepped on that and slipped.
25:37There was a light tap to the top of the head
25:40that might have helped the slip.
25:42It was completely off balance.
25:43He was...
25:44So even though Pepsi One has only one calorie,
25:47it was heavy enough to knock over Richard Frazier.
25:50And give you an opportunity to pay homage
25:52to Howard Cosell's call in the George Floyd trial.
25:56Well, it wasn't exactly the thunder of Jamaica.
25:58It wasn't Foreman lifting Frazier off the canvas
26:01with his uppercuts.
26:03But it was the best we could do for the moment.
26:07And now the advertisement has been removed
26:09from the far side of the canvas.
26:11Well, no matter how small the ring is,
26:14Frazier is finding a way to make it look bigger.
26:17And Jones switches to southpaw
26:19and nails Frazier with a right hook.
26:22And leads with the left out of the southpaw stance.
26:25Frazier still will not punch back.
26:28They will walk right through him.
26:30I suspect that Jones is switching to southpaw
26:32because he believes that will give him
26:34a better punching angle against the southpaw Frazier.
26:36Well, he's switching to southpaw
26:38because he doesn't respect Trazier's arsenal at all.
26:42You can see Frazier when he gets hit,
26:44he doesn't punch back.
26:45If he blocks a punch, he doesn't punch back.
26:48Will it be appropriate for the referee to step in and say,
26:52Ricky Frazier, you're here to fight.
26:55If you don't throw punches, I'm going to penalize you
26:58or maybe even stop the fight.
27:00Well, again, Larry, many years ago,
27:02the most effective thing the referee could do
27:04is walk over to the corner and say,
27:06unless you start fighting, I'm going to disqualify you
27:09and you're not going to get paid.
27:11They hear that word paid, and somehow it wakes them up a little bit.
27:14It gets their attention.
27:18You mentioned that Jones is fighting a third consecutive southpaw tonight.
27:21Lou DeValle in the summer.
27:24Otis Grant in November up at Foxwoods.
27:28And in both of those fights, he switched to southpaw stances from time to time as well,
27:33as he did against Eric Lucas a few years ago in fighting.
27:37A southpaw who once went the distance in a victory over Frazier.
27:41Frazier seems to be patrolling the beat in a dangerous neighborhood.
27:47Jones whacking him with a lead left hand out of the southpaw stance.
27:52Make him feel more comfortable if somebody put the lights out.
27:55Now Jones goes back to his conventional stance.
27:58Jones in the conventional stance holding his left hand below his waist
28:02and looking for lead right hand opportunities.
28:04There's a landed right.
28:06If we had a 20-foot ring, this could be truly dreadful.
28:25Frazier's agile enough to move away from punches even in the 16-foot ring
28:30because, again, he doesn't give you anything to punch off.
28:33Left hook stunned Frazier.
28:35Little right-hand tap knocked him down.
28:38And Hello, Chris Green is not written on the bottom of Frazier's shoes.
28:45And that's the end.
28:47Armando Garcia decides that that's a good moment for stopping the fight.
28:52Well, this is an early stoppage state,
28:55as we saw in our last doubleheader here a few weeks ago.
29:00In those circumstances, we questioned whether the fight should have been stopped.
29:05In this circumstance, I have to applaud the referee
29:09because it only could have gotten uglier.
29:12And uglier, and uglier.
29:14What about the stopping, Terrell?
29:16Jim, you know something?
29:18If you're in a down position, you're in a down position.
29:21Rick Frazier's whole body was off that canvas.
29:24The only thing that was on the canvas when Armando Garcia got denied
29:29was the soles of his shoes.
29:31He's not in a down position.
29:34Armando Garcia should have cleaned the gloves off
29:36and he was going to let it go, let it go.
29:39But not count the 10.
29:40You don't count 10 when a guy in an up position.
29:44You count 10 when a guy's in a down position,
29:47when something is touching the canvas other than the soles of his shoes.
29:50I'm not sure the 10 count had anything to do with the stoppage of the fight.
29:54I think he was just sort of...
29:55He stopped the fight, that's the way I see it.
29:57Filling out the count.
29:58Yeah.
29:59Yes, but he counted them out.
30:00No, if we don't, let's see.
30:02I think he let him get up and then he stopped the fight.
30:05That's just the technicality, Harold.
30:09This was a fight between a great fighter
30:13and an ordinary fighter to put your best face on it.
30:18And the referee did all of us a favor by sending us home early.
30:26I applaud him no matter what the letter of the rules are.
30:31There's the referee, Armando Garcia,
30:34who had seen enough of Richard Frazier against Roy Jones.
30:39So Jones gets a second round technical knockout over Frazier.
30:45And we go up to Mark Barrow for the official particulars
30:49on Roy Jones' 30th birthday present.
30:56Ladies and gentlemen, the time, two minutes, 59 seconds of the second round.
31:03The winner by technical knockout and still the WBC and WBA
31:10light heavyweight champion of the world, Roy Jones Jr.
31:18Final punch stat numbers.
31:32Frazier landed four of 29 punches in his five minutes, 59 seconds of work.
31:38Jones, 39 of 92.
31:43Those numbers relatively meaningless
31:47in the wake of this noncompetitive affair.
31:53Larry Merchant, first with an interview with the referee, Armando Garcia.
31:59All right, thank you very much.
32:01I'm here with the referee.
32:03Explain why you stopped the fight.
32:05What I did was I counted as soon as he went down.
32:09When it got up to eight, he didn't appear like he wanted to come up.
32:13When I got to nine, he very hesitantly got up.
32:15When I got to 10, he was barely with his hands up.
32:18I was looking into his eyes.
32:19I was fortunately in good position to evaluate him.
32:23And if he really wanted to continue, he would have looked at me, gotten his hands up and been ready to go.
32:29All right, let's take a look at what happened here.
32:33And you explain it to us.
32:35Did the fact that Frazier was not even remotely competitive have anything to do with your decision?
32:45No, sir, absolutely not.
32:46He deserves the right to fight, the right to win.
32:49I'm counting there.
32:50He's looking at me.
32:53I tried to get him to get up.
32:55You know, I'm looking right at him.
32:57Over here when he went down, it was very, very, not a very hard punch.
33:02But he did go down.
33:03He did not react well from it.
33:05I don't think he had his legs from under him since the very beginning of the fight, to be quite honest with you.
33:11Thank you very much.
33:12Jim?
33:13All right, so another victory for Roy Jones and one which is not likely to be seen to have proven very much, Gil Clancy.
33:20But Jones will be haunted his entire career by the question of when he's going to fight somebody
33:25until that fight arrives that will help him to define his career.
33:28And in the light heavyweight division, maybe it never comes.
33:32Well, you know, with Roy Jones this time, it certainly wasn't his fault as to who the opponent was.
33:36The fighter was ranked number one by the WBC, and he had to fight him or they were going to take his title away.
33:42Yeah.
33:43So now let's go to Roy Jones, who wants to say something to the entire assembled house a week away from his 30th birthday.
33:51Go Roy.
33:52There are a couple more fights left, but I'd like to say thank you to everybody for coming out and supporting Roy Jones, Jr.
33:58Roy Jones, Jr.
33:59It's been a wonderful evening.
34:00We've had a wonderful, successful career.
34:02I appreciate everybody in Pensacola for always supporting me.
34:05I always try to do my thing to prove that Pensacola is number one.
34:08And as long as I'm doing this, we're going to stay number one.
34:11All right.
34:12Thank you very much, Roy.
34:17Can a fight like that in any way be satisfying for you, Roy?
34:23No, not at all.
34:24First of all, I'd like to take time out to thank God for giving me the opportunity to do what I do.
34:27I enjoyed tonight.
34:28I'm glad everybody got out okay.
34:29Nobody was hurt.
34:30I'm sorry that the fight got stopped early, but, you know, what was I to do?
34:34I'm not the guy who makes the fights.
34:36I have to go out and just do what I have to do.
34:38I wouldn't fight fights like that normally if it was a fill-in fight for one.
34:41Number two, I got to defend my title.
34:43If they say, you know, you're going to strip you or you got to defend this number one contender, I have to do what I have to do.
34:47All right.
34:48So he's a mandatory.
34:49I'm hearing that your other title belt from the WBA, they're going to tell you to fight some 39-year-old guy from Argentina.
34:58Aren't you big enough now to tell these people with these belts, take your belt.
35:03Don't force me to fight these kind of fighters.
35:05It doesn't make me look good.
35:07It doesn't make the sport look good.
35:09And let me go and fight the better fighters out there.
35:12Well, you know, it's not my job to tell the people what to do.
35:15I just, I enjoy being champion while I was in the sport of boxing.
35:18I don't look to be in the sport of boxing much longer.
35:20I am bigger than having people order me around.
35:22Nobody's going to order me around.
35:23If it's not something that I like, then I'm going to go do what I want to do.
35:26You know that yourself.
35:27But I don't want fights that are not going to be beneficial for me.
35:30I don't know if the fights are beneficial or if they're going to be great fights until I get in here and fight them.
35:34So I can't judge a guy just from what he's supposed to be or what he's not supposed to be.
35:37We've put together a graphic that shows some of your potential opponents out there in the light heavyweight division.
35:45Here they are, Reggie Johnson, who has one of the belts.
35:48We'd like to see you fight him.
35:50Bernard Hopkins, middleweight champion, who you fought once to a 12-round decision.
35:55Darius Miklaszewski, the undefeated German, who says he is now willing to come to America to fight you.
36:02David Telesco, a new fighter, good puncher.
36:05And Steve Collins, the Irishman, who says he's ready to come out of retirement.
36:09Give us your thoughts on who you would like to fight in this year.
36:15Well, Larry Merchant, to be honest, since we've got to do it like this.
36:18If you think about who I really am, I'm Roy Jones Jr.
36:21I don't give a kill.
36:23They break me.
36:24You are welcome to come.
36:26Choose some.
36:27Whoever wants some can come get some.
36:28They know what to do.
36:29Call HBO, tell HBO what you want to do.
36:32And you all know Roy Jones Jr.
36:34Balls none.
36:35Thank you very much, Roy.
36:37Just a word, just a word before we depart from the ring.
36:42You know, we try to bring you the best fights possible.
36:46Even though managers and promoters often go by the credo that they want to fight the easiest opponent for the most amount of money.
36:55Tonight we had a fight between a great fighter and a very marginal fighter because it was dictated by the WBC.
37:04And it turned out that in this fight at least, we brought you junk.
37:11Jim?
37:12All right.
37:13Thanks very much, Larry.
37:14Darius Mikolszewski, Bernard Hopkins, David Telesco, Reggie Johnson.
37:19Who do you want to see him fight?
37:20Well, I'd like to see the guy who gave him a lot of trouble would be Reggie Johnson.
37:24Another southpaw, but a good southpaw.
37:27He seems doomed to continue fighting southpaws, but there's no question Reggie Johnson appears to be the one on the horizon who would be most likely to give Roy real competition in the ring.
37:36Well, that's correct.
37:37You know, when he knocked out William Guthrie, everybody was talking about William Guthrie like he was Superman.
37:42Yeah.
37:43And Jones was afraid to go in the ring with Guthrie.
37:45But Johnson took care of Guthrie with no problem whatsoever.
37:49I'd like to see him in with Roy Jones.
37:52We heard the ten count at the beginning of the fight.
37:54Gil Ford, Jerry Quarry.
37:55You trained him.
37:56Knew him as well as any man.
37:58Jerry Quarry's passing.
37:59Jerry Quarry, people don't realize he was just a great, great fighter.
38:03Came along with some other tough guys out there.
38:05Fought every tough guy in the business.
38:07Fought Joe Frazier twice.
38:09Fought Muhammad Ali twice.
38:11Knocked out Ernie Shavers in one round.
38:13Beat Ron Lyle when he was undefeated.
38:15Beat Mark Foster when he was undefeated.
38:18Knocked out Ernie Shavers in one round.
38:20He was a great, great fighter, Jerry Quarry.
38:22But of course, sadly, paid too heavy a price for his years in the ring.
38:26Larry?
38:27Now, there's a cautionary tale, of course, that he did fight for much too long and suffered dementia, which led to his death.
38:35But I think we ought to, just picking up from where Gil was talking about, recognize he fought one of the more memorable fights of Muhammad Ali's career when Muhammad Ali came out of his three and a half year enforced embargo from boxing.
38:48Fought a terrific fight with Joe Frazier.
38:51Never ducked anybody.
38:53In fact, George Foreman didn't want to fight him or his people didn't want him to fight him because they thought he was too tough.
39:00And George Foreman has always said to me that of all the heavyweights in that era, that Jerry Quarry was the best one who never became a champion.
39:09Our own ten bells for Jerry Quarry.
39:11We'll have a final word on what happened in the ring here tonight in just a moment.
39:14Now let's look ahead to some upcoming programs right here on HBO.
39:19What's the one thing every woman, your mother, your wife, your daughter, have in common?
39:25They'll break my balls.
39:27What's with you?
39:29All right.
39:30It's our marriage, Tony.
39:31I can't take it anymore.
39:32Oh, poor you.
39:41Bingo!
39:42You may run North Jersey, but you don't run your Uncle Junior.
39:45How many an hour did I spend playing catch with you?
39:50The Sopranos.
39:51A new original series from HBO.
39:54Premieres Sunday night at 9.
40:00It was 1977.
40:02Jack Warner.
40:03Come make her.
40:04Come make her.
40:05Exotic issues.
40:06A time when sex was safe.
40:08Maybe you think about your name.
40:09Dirk Diggler.
40:10Good name.
40:11I like your name a lot.
40:12When disco was king.
40:14So let me just pop in this A-Track and you just give a listen and tell me what you think.
40:19Do you like my shoes?
40:20They're pretty cool.
40:21And pleasure was a business.
40:23Cut.
40:24Terrific.
40:25And the award goes to Mr. Doug Diggler.
40:29Mark Wahlberg.
40:30Julianne Moore.
40:31Burt Reynolds.
40:32This is the best work you ever do.
40:33Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
40:34About this part.
40:35Boogie Reynolds.
40:36Premieres Saturday, January 16th on HBO.
40:39On January 25, HBO Sports presents the next edition of Real Sports with Brian Gumbel.
40:47Among the stories to be featured.
40:49An investigation into offshore gambling operations that take in hundreds of millions of dollars
40:54in what American authorities say are illegal sports bets.
40:57A look at a controversial study which asserts that one of every five NFL players
41:01has a criminal background.
41:02Real sports where nothing is out of bounds.
41:04In three weeks, we'll be back with a heavyweight edition of Boxing After Dark
41:08as Michael Graham takes on Ahmad Abdeen and Andrew Gulotta faces Jimmy Thunder.
41:13Then on February 20, World Championship Boxing presents a terrific welterweight championship
41:17battle between title holder Felix Trinidad and former champ Brunell Whitaker.
41:21One week later, Shannon Briggs meets Lou Savarese and light heavyweight champion Reggie Johnson,
41:26we were just talking about him, defends his crown against Will Taylor.
41:29Earlier this evening, Shane Mosley successfully defended his lightweight championship,
41:35knocking out Golden Johnson at 259 of round seven,
41:38a bout in which Johnson sustained brutal body punishment throughout
41:42from the two-fisted, multi-talented Mosley.
41:46And then Roy Jones in two rounds easily put away New York City cop Rick Frazier.
41:51Frazier, who had somehow been elevated to the status of number one contender by the World Boxing Council,
41:57was thoroughly embarrassed and outclassed by Jones, who got an easy celebration of his 30th birthday
42:03coming up next week.
42:05Coming up immediately after tonight's coverage of World Championship Boxing,
42:08stay tuned for Arliss behind every great client, followed by above the law on the East Coast
42:12and the premiere of Space Truckers on the West Coast.
42:16So now for Larry Merchant, Gil Clancy, and Harold Lederman,
42:19I'm Jim Lampley saying so long from the Pensacola Civic Center in Pensacola, Florida.
42:24The executive producer of HBO Sports is Ross Greenberg.
42:27Tonight's telecast of World Championship Boxing was produced by Rick Bernstein
42:31and directed by Mark Payton.
42:33The feature producers, Thomas Erdelfelt and Lisa Bennett.
42:36The associate producer, Greg Backer.
42:38Assistant to the producer, Matt Boland.
42:39Production manager, John McCalley.
42:41The technical supervisor was Bob Hunter.
42:43And the technical director was Doug Gitz.
42:46He said he was.
42:48Tommy Oliver, he's gonna start the writer,
43:07hold on the computer,
43:09but he can see the quick saiyana account of his return in .