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- ANDERSON SILVA DOES WANT TO BOX ROY JONES, JR.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008 - by Ken Pishna - MMAWeekly.com

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Since joining the ranks of the Ultimate Fighting Championship less than two years ago, middleweight champion Anderson Silva has all but cleaned house. He debuted with a dismantling of highly touted Ultimate Fighter alumnus Chris Leben, immediately captured the title from then-champion Rich Franklin, and hasn’t looked back since.

He fended off challenges by Ultimate Fighter season four winner Travis Lutter and seven-time King of Pancrase Nate Marquardt, before once again stopping Franklin. Most recently, at UFC 82, he submitted former Pride champion Dan Henderson to solidify his position as the No. 1 middleweight in the world.

In short, Silva appears unstoppable.

There are still challenges for him to face in the Octagon – Yushin Okami springs immediately to mind and a much touted drop to welterweight to challenge Georges St. Pierre – but he may soon be looking to another challenge, outside of his chosen sport.

“Anderson really would love to fight Roy Jones, Jr. in a boxing match,” says his manager, Ed Soares, confirming recent speculation. “It’s not just talk, we really would like to put that fight together.”

That’s not to say the Silva discounts Jones’ abilities. Both he and Jones are often argued as being the best pound-for-pound fighter in their respective sports. But Silva feels that fighters in mixed martial arts are often unjustly criticized as not being as technically proficient as their boxing counterparts, a misconception that he would like to dispel.

“We respect Jones’ boxing ability and think he’s one of the best,” said Soares, “but we’re tired of different boxers saying that MMA fighters aren’t technical. Anderson would love to fight Roy Jones in a boxing match under boxing rules to prove that MMA fighters are technical, too.”

There has been much chatter in the past about Jones stepping into the Octagon to fight; something that he spoke to BoxingScene.com’s Mark Vester about last year, saying, “Now, I can't get on the ground and start wrestling because I know nothing about that. But if I hit him before he gets to the ground, he's not going to get up and have the chance to wrestle."

Unlike many boxers, Jones has actually had a lot of positives to say about the sport, as he told Vester, “UFC is the best fighting the best and that’s what boxing has to do. If you are an ultimate fighter, you are going to fight someone who is going to fight. In UFC, if you lose to a good fighter, you lost, you still know you are good fighter, and you come back the next day and fight again. In boxing, if you lose and that's it. You are done. I lose a few fights, they want to tell me I'm washed up and I don't have it no more."

Thus far though, Jones hasn’t commented about fighting a mixed martial artist on his terms, in his ring. Whether it ever becomes a reality or not, it is a fight that would surely be marquee both for boxing aficionados and mixed martial arts purists alike.

Would be interesting, I think Roy would KO him pretty bad tho.

MMAWeekly.com

This story has some serious legs. First it was Anderson Silva’s comments during the post fight interview at UFC 82 after defeating Dan Henderson when he said he would like to box. Then it’s his manager Ed Soares coming out and telling Sherdog that Silva is dead serious about boxing and that he’d like to fight Roy Jones, Jr. And now Soares is stirring the pot again according to MMA Weekly:

“I just spoke with Roy Jones’ management and they are very interested in it. They think it would break all kinds of pay-per-view records. It all kind of started as a dream of Anderson’s, but if the UFC would back it, it is something that we really would like to pursue.”

Jones’ management indicated that this could be a fight that would bring together the fractured factions of boxing and mixed martial arts. “They think it will actually bring together the boxing and MMA communities,” said Soares.

Jones is currently headed out of the country until next week, but his management told Soares that he was “flattered and excited” by Silva’s interest in a boxing match with him. The parties are expected to talk again once Jones returns.

WESTWOOD303 wrote:ROY JONES JR. WOULD KILL HIM!!!!!
Wouldnt even be fun to watch!

WESTWOOD303 wrote:Silva WILL get his ass beat! Bottom line HE'S NOT A BOXER! Taking out knees and the clinch would be the same as telling RJJ you can only throw jabs no uppercuts and your not allowed to put together any combinations! Silva looks like a fairly good boxer but he wins because of the whole package!! getting a boxing coach and throwing some punches for a couple hours a week isnt going to help him against a world class boxer like RJJ!! Because of RJJ'S older age is the only reason I would give Silva a swingers chance!!