Jones Hopes to Get the Magic Touch

Roy Jones Jr., at a crucial crossroad of his career, called Magic Johnson last week.

How fitting.

A man with one foot tentatively in the ring, trying to learn the ropes of boxing, taking a call from a man who has had one foot tentatively on the basketball court for years.

Jones, frustrated, bored, confused and scared of boxing, is weighing his options. Remaining the World Boxing Council light-heavyweight champion is not one of them.

Jones has been:

* frustrated because, despite the fact that he is often referred to as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, he has not been able to command the attention or the income of a man who weighs quite a few pounds less, namely Oscar De La Hoya.

* bored because there has been nobody of note for Jones to fight. In the 1980s, there were all sorts of credible, marquee names in the middle divisions of boxing--Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, Roberto Duran and Tommy Hearns--the kind of fighters who could guarantee the rich purses Jones is looking for.

But by the time he came along a decade later, Jones couldn’t find the type of big-name competition that would excite either himself or the public.

* confused because he hasn’t been sure whether he should expend his energy by moving up in weight and taking on the big boys he knows he’ll find in the heavyweight division, or should use that energy to pursue another dream of his, the NBA.

Jones, by all accounts, is a pretty good playground basketball player. But those he plays with have put ideas that are probably unrealistic in his head, ideas that at the age of 28 (29 in January), he can suddenly elevate his game to a level that would enable him to compete with a Michael Jordan or a Penny Hardaway.

Jones has a better chance of beating Evander Holyfield or Mike Tyson, which is what he now hopes to do.

--scared because, unlike many fighters who shrug off the harsh realities of their sport, Jones has been genuinely shaken up by the condition of Muhammad Ali, Jerry Quarry and others who have left their health in the ring by hanging on too long.

Jones is determined not to let that happen to him. So he has decided to make a final bid for the fame and fortune that he feels has eluded him and then get out before it is too late.

Jones, hearing that Johnson is considering a new career as a handler of fighters, talked to the former Laker great.

But Johnson, who can be found in a ringside seat at most big fights, isn’t ready to make a commitment just yet to go from spectator to matchmaker, or even to talk about it.

Johnson is, however, serious about assuming a role in the sport at some point soon and may yet hook up with Jones down the road.

For now, Jones has hired Murad Muhammad, a Newark promoter, with plans to move up to the cruiserweight level and, eventually, the heavyweight division.

Muhammad said he planned to put Jones up “not against just any heavyweight, but Holyfield and Tyson.”

Unrealistic?

Don’t forget, Holyfield was dismissed as just an out-of-place cruiserweight for a long time.

Can Jones find the satisfaction he is seeking in the heavyweight division?

Probably.

Holyfield doesn’t figure to still be there by the time Jones arrives. And aside from Tyson, what other credible heavyweight is out there?

Even if he loses a little of his masterful edge in the ring by going up in weight, Jones would still be good enough to be among the top five heavyweights in the world.

The important thing for Jones is to forget about basketball, settle on a division and then devote himself to it.

He may be a candidate for the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. But he’ll never be more than a candidate until he settles on how many pounds he wants to fight at.

BIG FIGHTS? THERE ARE NONE FOR NUNN

When Michael Nunn was a rising young middleweight in the mid-1980s, he could set his sights on Leonard, Hagler, Duran and Hearns.

Despite possessing blinding speed and impressive mobility, Nunn lacked the punching power to dispose of any of the above-mentioned stars, but he might had enough skill to dance his way to a victory by decision.

Unfortunately for Nunn, by the time he was ready for the big fight, the superstar quartet of middleweights was too old to take him on, unwilling to take a chance on looking foolish against the young newcomer with the dazzling moves.

So Nunn never got his big middleweight fight.

And he certainly didn’t help his own career when, right at his very peak, he walked out on his handlers at the now-defunct Ten Goose Boxing Club, the organization that had carefully guided him to the top.

Now, Nunn is back--older, wiser, heavier and slower.

But no luckier.

Fighting as a light-heavyweight, he worked himself into a position where he became a mandatory opponent for Jones.

Wouldn’t you know it? Jones instead turned his back on a Nunn bout, relinquished his title and began preparing himself for the climb up the weight ladder.

Nunn’s timing may have been impeccable in the ring, but it was certainly not so outside the ropes.

FORUM FAREWELL

It won’t be noticeable to the public, but Forum Boxing, which stages its final show of the year Monday night, has lost one of its most efficient and respected figures.

Longtime publicist John Beyrooty has been fired, victim of financial cutbacks in Jerry Buss’ operation.

Beyrooty, a former newspaperman, did as thorough a job of pushing fights to the media as anybody in the business. His thorough, in-depth analysis of upcoming matches were good enough to go straight into the paper unedited.

Taking over will be Bob Steiner, who has worked for Buss in a public-relations capacity for nearly two decades.

This is no reflection on Steiner, but the axing of Beyrooty sends a disturbing message. Operating in Los Angeles, admittedly a tough town to sell fights in general, Forum Boxing officials may finally be throwing up their hands and accepting their second-class status.

That’s too bad.

Too bad for Beyrooty and too bad for boxing.

CALENDAR

Monday--Rodney Jones vs. Craig Kitka, NABO junior middleweight championship; Hector Quiroz vs. Elias Cruz, junior welterweights, Forum, 7:15.