Jones Gets His Kicks in Routing Telesco

Roy Jones Jr. kicked with the Rockettes for about 30 seconds, then pounded on David Telesco for 12 rounds as boxing came to the storied Radio City Music Hall Saturday night.

“You can’t knock me out,” the outclassed Telesco told Jones at the end of the 11th round.

Jones didn’t knock out the challenger, but he punched him at will and retained the undisputed light-heavyweight championship with a one-sided unanimous decision.

Jones, who turned 31 at the start of the 12th round, which began shortly after midnight, had Telesco in real trouble. After the fight, Jones said the reason he didn’t score a knockout was “because I fractured my left wrist in a motorcycle accident 3 1/2 weeks ago. Everybody said I should cancel the fight but I said, ‘I can’t. I’ve got a big date in New York.’ If I had both hands, I would have knocked him out, but I only had one hand.”

All three judges gave Jones every round of the 12-round fight before a sellout crowd of 5,923 that turned out for the first boxing show in the history of the famed showplace that opened in 1932.

Judge Sid Rubenstein scored it 120-106 and Melvina Lathan and Luis Rivera each scored it 120-107 for Jones (41-1 with 33 knockouts).

Although Jones gave a boxing clinic, the real star of the show may have been the recently renovated Music Hall.

Before a 10-round heavyweight match in which David Izon stopped Derrick Jefferson in the eighth round of a fight Izon was losing, the Rockettes appeared at the front of the stage wearing hooded red robes and boxing gloves. They then doffed the robes to reveal skimpy costumes.

Then, with Jones dressed in tails in the middle of the famed dance line, they kicked for about 30 seconds, with Jones joining in.