Middleweight opponents Roy Jones Jr avoided in the 90's

[Ambling Alp II]

Don't buy all of these arguments about Jones.
He certainly could have fought Nunn at either super middleweight or at light heavyweight later on.
He did not try to make a fight with DM. He should have been screaming for it. He and HBO acted like DM did not exist. They could have have fought in a neutral country if it came to it.
I don't believe for a minute that Hopkins turned down a fight with Jones.
We can always come up with excuses, but the truth is that for several years he did not want to challenge himself. He just wanted to look good in easy fights.
I guess we can give credit for Ruiz, but really he was in a no lose situation. Ruiz sucked, so there was a good chance to beat him. If he lost, he could say that he lost to a heavyweight.

Jones did fight several stiffs at light heavy:Glen Kelly, Richard Hall, Richard Frazier, and David Telesco. Come on. Those guys were awful. Derrick Harmon was not much better.

He was a phenomenal talent, but he did not want to push himself.

[kingliam]

Cheers, really helpful! Will have a look later.

[Tomasino]

Not really having seen any Roy Jones Jr (I know, I know - I'm getting back into boxing after a decent absence and mainly watched UK stuff when I was younger), are there any fights in particular that are best to showcase him at his prime?

Thanks

Sure, and they're all available on YouTube:



Thulani Malinga (1993)

https://youtu.be/4n05g8AC7p8


Great post

Thomas Tate - 1994

https://youtu.be/z2QowQdrXeU




James Toney - 1994

https://youtu.be/3vdHJFJeijw




Vinny Pazienza - 1995 (one of my favourite fights of Roy's due to Vinny's b*alls and the unbelievable finish)

https://youtu.be/Z_K-7mAg_ew




Montell Griffin 2 - 1997 (Roy was devastating)

https://youtu.be/lqMzpf39UU0




Virgil Hill - 1998 (Roy was devastating)

https://youtu.be/6ZIBOYJWWdY




Reggie Johnson - 1999

https://youtu.be/vJOXfEA2de4




Richard Hall - 2000

https://youtu.be/gEKXgisqYDY




David Telesco - 2000

https://youtu.be/SBJHGziNZYg




Julio Gonzalez - 2001

https://youtu.be/BCFTMp8pGio




Glen Kelly - 2002 (an incredible knockout)

https://youtu.be/M3ljICMuCP4




Clinton Woods - 2002 (great entrance)

https://youtu.be/vK8IUelqnro




John Ruiz - 2003 (the pinnacle of his career)

https://youtu.be/9ynKvpgrD8c




Antonio Tarver 1 - 2003 (in my opinion, his most impressive win. It wasn't a great fight, but he rushed back from HW and to lose actual muscle to make the weight. After 8 rounds, he was absolutely exhausted. He had to dig really deep to pull out the win. Also, he made history by becoming only the 2nd guy in history to reclaim the LHW belts after dropping back from HW. A truly great win, at almost 35, in his 50th pro fight)

https://youtu.be/XkEkz-n3Zq4




Jeff Lacy - 2009 (way past his prime, but this was his last great performance)

https://youtu.be/ov7VJ0D3uqg



Enjoy.

Great post

[psychod1986]

Most of time Jones was only caring about how money he was getting per fight,he didn't really care about competitive competition.

[loudon]

Ambling Alp II,

Don't buy all of these arguments about Jones.
He certainly could have fought Nunn at either super middleweight or at light heavyweight later on.

He couldn't have fought him at SMW.

Nunn lost to Steve Little at SMW early in 94 before Roy moved up from MW to fight Toney. Then the month after Roy beat Toney, Nunn lost again, this time to Liles, before moving up to LHW.

Yes, Roy could have fought him at LHW when he was Roy's mandatory. There's no doubt about that. But again, when he relinquished his belt, he did pursue mega money fights against James Douglas and Evander Holyfield. So it would be a stretch to say he ducked a faded Nunn, especially as he'd tried to fight Liles the year before, and he went on to fight Harding, Tarver, and Calzaghe etc afterwards.

He did not try to make a fight with DM. He should have been screaming for it. He and HBO acted like DM did not exist. They could have have fought in a neutral country if it came to it.

Yes he did, he just wouldn't fight him in Germany. Kerry Davis of HBO went out of his way to try and bring Dariusz over.

I don't believe for a minute that Hopkins turned down a fight with Jones.

Start believing it. Bernard was all mouth. He turned down $6m and demanded $10m, even though Roy had beaten him and he'd have had to have dropped weight for a CW. Mark Taffet of HBO has confirmed it.

We can always come up with excuses, but the truth is that for several years he did not want to challenge himself. He just wanted to look good in easy fights.

That's not true at all.

I'll post you the links that back up what I've said.

Again, Evander Holyfield's former attorney, Jim Thomas, has revealed that Roy and his advisor went out to meet them for dinner in Atlanta to try and negotiate a fight.

I guess we can give credit for Ruiz, but really he was in a no lose situation. Ruiz sucked, so there was a good chance to beat him. If he lost, he could say that he lost to a heavyweight.

The fact that he fought John Ruiz and then lost muscle to fight Antonio Tarver, blows your theory out of the water.

Jones did fight several stiffs at light heavy:Glen Kelly, Richard Hall, Richard Frazier, and David Telesco. Come on. Those guys were awful. Derrick Harmon was not much better.

Every fighter fights those types of guys.

Kelly, Frazier and Hall were all mandatories. You can't blame any fighter for fighting low level mandatories. Telesco was a late replacement for Graciano Rochigianni, and HBO were more than happy with it because Telesco had been running his mouth off for over a year. Harmon was a keep busy fight whilst Davis was trying to secure a Dariusz M fight.

He was a phenomenal talent, but he did not want to push himself.

Again, not true.

He fought: Hopkins, Toney, Griffin, Hill, Johnson, Ruiz, Tarver, and Calzaghe, and Hopkins and Lebedev when he was way past his prime.

Again, he also tried to fight: Liles, Dariusz M, Hopkins, and Holyfield.

Those were not the actions of an unambitious fighter.

[loudon]

Most of time Jones was only caring about how money he was getting per fight,he didn't really care about competitive competition.

That's not true.

[loudon]

Cheers, really helpful! Will have a look later.

No problem.

[loudon]

Tomasino,

Great post

Thanks.

[psychod1986]

Name one competing opponent Jones has face at middleweight & light heavyweight in the past besides Bernard Hopkins,Montell Griffin,Antonio Tarver,Virgil Hill,and James Toney.

[elmersalsa]

The great Roy Jones, Jr was a tremendous great talent that wasted his glorious years fighting stiffs. He never really challenged himself after the James Toney fight.

[loudon]

Name one competing opponent Jones has face at middleweight & light heavyweight in the past besides Bernard Hopkins,Montell Griffin,Antonio Tarver,Virgil Hill,and James Toney.

Are you asking me to name a competent opponent?

It seems to me that you have an agenda here and you're not willing to have a debate. Because so far you've ignored everything I've written.

[loudon]

The great Roy Jones, Jr was a tremendous great talent that wasted his glorious years fighting stiffs. He never really challenged himself after the James Toney fight.

This is a common misconception.

[Woldemar]

I would be saw him against McClellan and Julian Jackson at 160,against Collins,Eubank,Benn at 160 and 168 pounds.