42 year old Roy Jones Jr (54-8, 40 KO's) will take on journeyman Max Alexander in a cruiserweight contest in Atlanta on December 10. For this writer, and millions of boxing fans around the world, the news that Jones intends to once again put his reputation, not to mention his health in jeopardy, gives us a sense of dread.

Roy Jones Jr. 

For millions of fight fans, the name still conjures up mental images of one of the most sublimely talented fighters in boxing history. Here was a man who at his best could have held his own in any era from 160 pounds to 175 pounds. Like Floyd Mayweather Jr, Jones may not go down as the greatest ever fighter in any particular division - he was just a great fighter. Period. 

As a middleweight he was so good, he dominated a young Bernard Hopkins to win his first world title in 1993. As a super middleweight he thrashed a peak form James Toney so one-sidedly, it took ''Lights Out'' the best part of a decade to get over it. Almost out of boredom, Jones ascended to the light heavyweight division, and ruled the roost at 175 pounds for years. When Montell Griffin had the audacity to end Jones' winning streak by virtue of a 9th round disqualification, Jones destroyed him in 151 seconds in the rematch.

Then, to add icing to what was already a sensational cake, Jones gained 20 pounds of muscle and outboxed John Ruiz to win the WBA heavyweight title. Another ex-world middleweight champ James Toney was to turn the same trick against the same fighter two years later, but a failed post-fight drug test was to see Toney subsequently stripped of his title just days later. Therefore Jones officially joins Bob Fitzsimmons as the only middleweight king to win the world heavyweight title. 

In retrospect, he should have quit after beating Ruiz, or if not, he should've defended his heavyweight title against a beatable opponent or two, or even taken a big money fight against a major star of the time. WBC champ Lennox Lewis was on the slide and would retire later that year after barely getting by a young Vitali Klitschko. Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson were fading but still a part of the heavyweight scene and Chris Byrd was the IBF champion - although a Roy Jones Jr Chris Byrd fight might have been a tough sell. 

Instead, Jones chose to put his body through the torture of losing the muscle he gained to compete at heavyweight in order to once again get down to 175 pounds. A young light heavyweight named Antonio Tarver had emerged, defeating top contenders Reggie Johnson, Eric Harding and Montel Griffin back to back. The win over Griffin earned Tarver the vacant WBC and IBF light heavyweight titles. Tarver floored Griffin in the first and last rounds and won every round in between on all three judges scorecards. Clearly this was a man to be reckoned with.

Jones fought Tarver in November 2003, and won a majority 12 round split decision in a controversial fight. The great Roy Jones looked a shadow of his former self. Even then, he was there for the taking, but it was almost as if Tarver had just too much respect for the Jones legend to see it.

Again the opportunity was there for Jones to retire. He was after all 35 years old, and his record at that point was an astonishing 49-1, with 38 KOs. Instead, he chose to engage Tarver in a rematch six months later.

Surely if Jones could turn back the clock, he would never have fought Tarver a second time. Whereas Tarver had too much respect for Jones in their first fight, this time around he was a man on a mission. In one of the most shocking results in the annals of boxing, Tarver knocked Roy Jones Jr out in the second round. Overnight, the aura of and invincibility surrounding the great Roy Jones was smashed forever.

From that point on Jones' career was effectively over. Five months later, in a fight for the IBF light heavyweight title, Jones suffered another devastating knockout, this time at the hands of Glen Johnson in the ninth round. His not-so-hot streak went to 0-3 when he was outpointed by Tarver in 2005. 

Jones attempted to get his career back on track with three straight victories including a decision over blown-up, past-his-best Felix Trinidad. The Trinidad win ''earned'' Jones a fight with one of boxing's biggest names in 2008, Joe Calzaghe, fresh off his win over Bernard Hopkins. Jones caused a stir by dumping Calzaghe on his pants in the first round, but from then on was never in the fight, losing widely on points. 

Again Jones chose to carry on, still having enough to stop Omar Sheika and Jeff Lacey back-to-back. Hopkins was looking for some payback for his 1993 loss to Jones, and arranged a ''superfight'' between them for 2004. To mark time, Jones took a big payday in Australia against local idol Danny Green, and suffered the ultimate humiliation when he was stopped in the first round.

Despite the Green disaster, Hopkins still insisted he and Jones go ahead with their fight, and scored a comfortable victory in a bout which was singularly depressing as to just how far these two ring legends' skills had eroded, (although as we have subsequently found out, Hopkins still had a couple of tricks left up his sleeve.)

In June this year, Jones boxed the WBA's no.1 cruiserweight contender Dennis Lebedev in Moscow. After nine rounds, Jones was behind on two of the scorecards, and heading toward his third straight defeat. If that wasn't bad enough, the Russian poleaxed Jones for the count with just seconds left on the clock.

History has shown us that fighters like Jones, Sugar Ray Leonard, and Wilfredo Benitez that rely on their tremendous reflexes for victory, suffer terribly when those reflexes desert them. Fighters who carry a mighty punch, or are technically extremely sound, like George Foreman, Vitali Klitschko, Bernard Hopkins and even to an extent Evander Holyfield can still be effective fighters when they're reflexes have dulled.

The sad truth is that right now, despite the tens of millions of dollars he earned in the ring, Roy Jones Jr is boxing to pay the tax man. He works occasionally on US TV, and is an exceptional boxing pundit, with tremendous insight and perspective that can only come from being a certain level of fighter. He sounds absolutely fine now, but evidence proves that the damage done by repeatedly suffering heavy blows to the head can take years to manifest. 

How ultimately tragic it would be if, along with his reflexes and a degree of his reputation, Roy Jones Jr would also lose his intellect from boxing on way too long.