Roy Jones Jr will forever go down in boxing history as an all time great, no doubt, but by fighting on again in 2018 is he risking his stellar legacy in the sport?

The last thing anyone even remotely interested in boxing wants to see is to see Roy Jones Jr end up in a fight where he gets hurt because he fought on too long.

However, Jones at the start of the year has defiantly told the sports world he will be fighting on and is expected to fight in his home State of Florida next month against an opponent to be confirmed for February 8th.

It is understood to be a cruiserweight fight.

Jones turns 49 years of age in a week’s time exactly from the date this article was written. He’s done and seen pretty much everything in the ring, what does he have left to prove?

He has an excellent job with HBO as an analyst so by all accounts he isn’t fighting for me. A job he’s very, very good at it by the way.

If it’s for the love of boxing and he still feels he can mix it at a decent enough level, fair enough one part of me feels.

But a decent enough level is light years away from what he once was.

A man who one time put both hands behind his back to lull an opponent into a false sense of security, to draw him in, only to produce this piece of magic:

That’s the Roy Jones I remember.

One of the sharpest, most explosive, reflex reliant but genius athletes of his particular era. He had the reflexes of a cat – so who wouldn’t rely on them?

Now at his advanced years he relies solely on his boxing IQ and experience. A shadow of the man above in reality. This writer for one hopes to see this great fighter call it a day in the ring at some point in 2018.

Even Bernard Hopkins showed last year that at a certain point in age, no matter what, this sport becomes even more dangerous than it already is.

Roy Jones as things stand as a record of 65-9-47KO as a professional and is only one of two men in history (yes, of all time) to hold legitimate world titles in the middleweight and heavyweight divisions.