Roy Jones, Jr. Weighs In On Ronda Rousey, Says She Needs To Be ‘More Respectful Of People’

There’s been no shortage of advice being offered up to Ronda Rousey since her devastating loss to Holly Holm in Australia earlier this month, especially from the boxing world. The general consensus is her coach Edmund Tarverdyan oversold her on her pugilistic abilities and then offered no useful advice when she returned to the stool bloodied after round one.

Legendary trainer Freddie Roach put it bluntly and said “No one ever taught her anything about boxing,” while Floyd Mayweather went so far as to offer to train her. Roy Jones Jr, another boxing great, thinks Rousey’s problem is her attitude. Here’s what he told FightHype:

“That’s what happens when you get big enough to start underestimating other people. You gotta respect your opponent and not underestimate them. And I think she underestimated her opponent and underestimated her badly. To me, Ronda Rousey is fighting a girl that you know is a former boxing champ. This girl has mad skills at moving around and boxing in a boxing ring so she can get to range and be comfortable there for a long time. Where Ronda Rousey does not have much boxing experience.”

“As a matter of fact in UFC fights she ended most of them in the first round. So in eleven fights she may have 13 rounds. This girl [Holm] got 38 fights. Now if she only goes one round that’s 38 rounds, that’s three times more rounds than Ronda has already. You gotta add up and look at the reality of the situation. If you’re gonna fight a boxer, you gotta go out there and try and take her down right away. That’s your only chance. You’re not gonna outbox her, she’s got 38 pro fights, are you serious? No, you don’t go out and box her, you don’t even give her that chance.”

“Ronda’s a beast, Ronda’s got a lotta heart. She’s just gotta do a little soul searching and become more respectful of people and the sport. When you respect other people, you respect yourself more, by showing respect. … So you respect people unless they disrespect you. If they don’t disrespect you, then why would you disrespect the person?”

To be fair to Rousey, she was trying to take Holm down rather than box her – it just wasn’t working. Holm used those “mad skills at moving around” to keep out of Rousey’s grasp and punish her with strikes every time she tried to close the gap. It was a masterful performance and one that showed boxing can still reign in the realm of mixed martial arts when applied properly.

(hat tip BJPenn.com)

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