Roy Jones' Legacy

[diddy]

Was having a convo with some people today about where they think Jones would've fallen in the all-time boxing pantheon had he retired after winning the Heavyweight strap? I said top 5 all-time. One guy agreed. One didnt but he's kind of a young guy who only remembers seeing the tail end of Jones' greatness as he spiraled into a faded shell.

Even had Roy gone out after the first controversial win over Tarver, he would still be, for me, Top 5 all-time. It was that fight that we all saw the slippage. The fading reflexes, the lead legs, etc. It's really too bad Roy didnt see what we all saw. And he probably did see it, but didnt care, and only cared about more paydays. It's too bad. Going to heavyweight should've been it for him. He did anything and everything his body could do. Once he dropped back down in weight after putting on all those lbs, his body clock was accelerated and for a guy who relied almost completely on athletic ability, accelerating the clock is what took a couple more prime years off his shelf life.

Roy truly was the Allen Iverson of his generation. Just a better athlete than everyone else, on another planet, but once the physical gifts left his body - it was over.

I would still place Roy as top 10-15 of all-time even with having gone on to soil his reputation into his 40's, but there's no doubt in my mind he was a top 3-5 GOAT had he gotten the hell out after the Ruiz fight.

[crusader]

I rank fighters mainly based on their resumes, and using that as the primary metric Roy's opposition wasn't nearly good enough for him to be top 5 of all time, regardless of how talented he looked against that opposition.

I also think that top 10-15 is a stretch.

[Uppercut1]

Yeah, I'd rate him in a top 30 basis.

[jewboypgh]

Roy Jones is a top 40 guy, but he aint no where near the top 10 let along 5. His quality of opposition was as tough as Richard Simmons. He ducked Rochiganni and Darius Michaelewski or whatever them undefeated Europeans names were. Regardless of their names, he aint never fought who he was supposed to...instead he fought bums, like Richard Hall..a NYC Policeman. Just fuckin' shameful.
He should taken a lesson from Golden Boy and fought whoever was out there.

I'd leave it like this...Roy Jones Jr. was a tremendously gifted boxer who never reached his full potential by fighting the best fighters available.

[bnovelist]

I'm going to be honest Roy Jones Jr in his prime would have beaten Sugar Ray Robinson at 160lbs. Too confident, too fast, too skilled, and

athletic! Roy's troubles started when he dropped 20lbs coming back down to light heavy to face Tarver and he was never the same.....He

should have either retired after beating Ruiz or stayed at heavyweight. He did what Dawson did times 2.....

[Uppercut1]

I'm going to be honest Roy Jones Jr in his prime would have beaten Sugar Ray Robinson at 160lbs. Too confident, too fast, too skilled, and

athletic! Roy's troubles started when he dropped 20lbs coming back down to light heavy to face Tarver and he was never the same.....He

should have either retired after beating Ruiz or stayed at heavyweight. He did what Dawson did times 2.....

He might have outpointed SRR once. But would have lost the rematch convincingly.

[diddy]

Re-read the thread, I said had he retired after Ruiz.

He absolutely dismantled Hopkins and James Toney in their primes.

He'd never had a close fight. Not one. Ever.

Going to heavyweight was it for him. He was done when he came back down in weight.

[diddy]

Roy Jones is a top 40 guy, but he aint no where near the top 10 let along 5. His quality of opposition was as tough as Richard Simmons. He ducked Rochiganni and Darius Michaelewski or whatever them undefeated Europeans names were. Regardless of their names, he aint never fought who he was supposed to...instead he fought bums, like Richard Hall..a NYC Policeman. Just fuckin' shameful.
He should taken a lesson from Golden Boy and fought whoever was out there.

I'd leave it like this...Roy Jones Jr. was a tremendously gifted boxer who never reached his full potential by fighting the best fighters available.

Please get out of here with this Richiogiani and Michalzewski crap. Do you know what Jones would've done to those guys in the 90's?? Same thing he did to Hopkins and Toney, only worse. There was NOBODY between 160-175 who could deal with in the 90's. Absolutely nobody. Not those guys, not Calzaghe, nobody. He was too damn fast, nobody could touch him.

[diddy]

People look for excuses to diminish Jones' greatness in the 90's. If it's not 1 thing it's another. But the fact is there wasnt one man on the planet at the time spanning 3 weight classes who had even half a prayer of beating him. The man didnt exist.

[crusader]

Re-read the thread, I said had he retired after Ruiz.

He absolutely dismantled Hopkins and James Toney in their primes.

He'd never had a close fight. Not one. Ever.

Going to heavyweight was it for him. He was done when he came back down in weight.

Retiring after Ruiz wouldn't have made his opposition better.

[diddy]

People look for excuses to diminish Jones' greatness in the 90's. If it's not 1 thing it's another. But the fact is there wasnt one man on the planet at the time spanning 3 weight classes who had even half a prayer of beating him. The man didnt exist.

Fine, whatever you think, but you don't have to make things up. You know perfectly well Hopkins wasn't the fighter in 93 he was ten years later.

At least you're not the one spewing Rochiggiani BS. That dude couldnt even beat Henry Maske in the mid 90's yet Jones gets chided for "ducking him". Just silly. Jones would've killed that guy. Say what you want about Jones' 90's reign. Who the hell was he supposed to fight that he didnt? The names people throw out there are giggle worthy. Calzaghe had no interest in coming to the States.

[diddy]

Re-read the thread, I said had he retired after Ruiz.

He absolutely dismantled Hopkins and James Toney in their primes.

He'd never had a close fight. Not one. Ever.

Going to heavyweight was it for him. He was done when he came back down in weight.

Retiring after Ruiz wouldn't have made his opposition better.

It's not his fault there was no one else for him to face. And the people that are brought up very clearly would've been overmatched to anyone with an unbiased brain.

[diddy]

People look for excuses to diminish Jones' greatness in the 90's. If it's not 1 thing it's another. But the fact is there wasnt one man on the planet at the time spanning 3 weight classes who had even half a prayer of beating him. The man didnt exist.

Fine, whatever you think, but you don't have to make things up. You know perfectly well Hopkins wasn't the fighter in 93 he was ten years later.

BHop lost ONE FIGHT spanning 15 yrs. 1990-2005. Just because Jones beat him doesnt mean Hopkins wasnt really damn good in the 90s. He obviously was considering...nobody else beat him spanning 1 and half decades.

[crusader]

That's too bad there weren't many people to face, but the absence of such people doesn't give him a pass when his level of opposition is considered; he either fought certain opponents or he didn't.

Maybe most of the people brought up would've been outclassed, but I give little weight to hypotheticals when ranking fighters.

[crusader]

WAAAY too weak for the top 5.

[diddy]

Also, I think prime-for-prime G-Man would have KO'd Roy. Had I been old enough to bet and witness the hypothetical match happening I would have bet a ridiculous amount of cash on it.

Who?

[The 1bangkid]

He just makes my top 20

[diddy]

Gerald McClellan, the guy who whipped Roy's ass in the AMs.

Oh yea and Jones lost in the Olympics too, right?

McClellan never beat anyone good or who wasnt faded. Julian Jackson and John Mugabi were on the outs and those were his only wins worth a damn. Jones would've controlled and nuetralized McClellan with that straight right hand.

[polecateddy]

I think he is best being rated in the super middles, rather than worrying too much about pound for pound stakes. For years he was thought of as the number one super middle but Joe Calzaghe pushed ahead on some lists. Now Andre Ward is around there too. Hard to know Ward's actual capabilities, but for my money at their peaks Roy could have decisioned Joe.

[polecateddy]

I don't really buy into Gerald McCllelan being a huge threat to Roy at his peak. He was obviously there to be hit - Benn would never have been able to land like that on Jones - and Gerald's rep is largely built in beating a faded Julien Jackson twice.

[Ezzard]

Jones was fine until the lawyers could no longer get him off the failed tests. And even then he managed to avoid almost all the live fights. Jones is nowhere near a top 30.

Top 30 at Light heavy? Maybe at a push.

[danconnollyeire]

I'm going to be honest Roy Jones Jr in his prime would have beaten Sugar Ray Robinson at 160lbs. Too confident, too fast, too skilled, and

athletic! Roy's troubles started when he dropped 20lbs coming back down to light heavy to face Tarver and he was never the same.....He

should have either retired after beating Ruiz or stayed at heavyweight. He did what Dawson did times 2.....

OK Novilst put the crack pipe down. Too skilled for SRR? Ok then

[Massive Bereavement]

Who beats peak Roy Jones at 168/175 ?

[polecateddy]

Clearly people can't see the wood for the trees these days when it comes to Roy Jones. At his peak he was basically untouchable.

[Massive Bereavement]

Clearly people can't see the wood for the trees these days when it comes to Roy Jones. At his peak he was basically untouchable.

He didnt lose a FVCKING ROUND for 10 years.

(please take a moment to let that sink in)