Roy Jones Out to Reach His 50

Roy Jones has never been short of confidence in a 50-fight career that spans more than 15 years but the 35-year-old world light-heavyweight champion was sounding uncharacteristically aware of his own sporting mortality in the final days before his world title rematch with Antonio Tarver at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas this evening.

While speaking in one breath about his desire to go looking for the world heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko or the former champion Mike Tyson, provided he first beats Tarver, Jones has also conceded that this fight may be his last, saying, "Twenty-five years in boxing can't be good for your health."

Jones certainly knows his once lightning reflexes have slowed and will remember more clearly than anybody the first fight against Tarver last November, when he was hit more often and more cleanly than ever before as the rangy 6ft 2in southpaw made him look like a jaded, ageing fighter.

The judges may have scored the contest to Jones, by a majority decision, but plenty at ringside believed he had lost and his tired acknowledgement of the verdict suggested to some that deep down Jones, too, might not have been surprised if the judges had scored in Tarver's favour.

Don King won the right to promote the eagerly anticipated rematch and has been blathering away about Jones as his "Superman" while asking anybody prepared to listen whether or not Tarver has sufficient "Blackonite", whatever that might be, to cope with his man's Kryptonite.

At 72 King still produces promotional drivel like nobody else. And Jones has said: "I wasn't much interested in the last fight. It was a lacklustre performance because I really didn't want to fight him. But this time it's exciting because people think he's got a chance."

He claims to have been weak in the first fight after struggling to lose the weight he added for his heavyweight fight against John Ruiz, when he won the World Boxing Association version of the world heavyweight title the previous March, and is also saying he had several sleepless nights before the Tarver fight because he was kept awake by a tooth abscess.

The champion, who is defending his World Boxing Council belt, can be expected to have been meticulous with his preparations this time, knowing Tarver fancies his chances of becoming the first man to inflict a genuine defeat on Jones (he lost one contest against Montell Griffin in 1997 by disqualification and subsequently reversed the embarrassment with a first-round knockout win).

A little bafflingly, the bookmakers appear to be buying Jones's excuses and have installed him as the 10-1 on favourite. But Tarver warned: "Jones keeps hollering about Mike Tyson and Vitali Klitschko but he doesn't want to face the challenge in front of him. I'm ready and eager. I won that first fight clearly. I dictated and dominated with clean, effective punching. I'll make him look mortal, like I did before. People thought Jones was like Superman and now they question if he is over the hill. This time I'm going to finish the job.

"I know in my heart of hearts that I can beat him. But he's not sure he can beat me. Forget about all the excuses. I've told people for years that I was the only person who could do it [beat Jones]. Everybody has their match and I just happen to be Jones's. Anyway you want to measure up, I measure up."

Tarver speaks with impressive confidence and, although also 35, he did not turn professional until he was 28 and is unquestionably the fresher of the two fighters.

Perhaps he also has the sort of style that is ideally suited to unravelling Jones's trickery. But there is also the question of the Las Vegas judges, ever unpredictable, and Tarver might need a knockout to win, such is America's love affair with Jones and the very real likelihood that the odds in gambling's capital city are likely to be stacked in his favour.

Another hotly disputed Jones points win would be no surprise.