Roy Jones: More Mouth and Myth Than Fighter

[HomicideHenry]

I always found Roy Jones interesting to watch, don't get me wrong, he was highly entertaining. But Roy Jones had a more flashier mouth and bigger ego than he had power and speed and skill and heart for the sport in my opinion.

A talented Amatuer who was robbed at the Olympics, Jones later became a force in boxing as he swept through the lower divisions, in my opinion at his best he was a Super Middleweight.

But when he moved up to Light Heavyweight, after facing Mike McCallum, who in my opinion was his best opponent at the weight in those earlier years, he faced a mixed bag of over-the hill veterans like Virgil Hill and nobodies like David Telesco and Clinton Woods.

During his time at Light Heavyweight he talked how he wanted to face ex-Heavyweight champion Buster Douglas, and even vacated his title, but pulled out---and got back his title saying the man who won his title while he was campaigning for the Douglas fight won it on bogus technicalities.

Then when he finally moved up to Heavyweight he faced the worst Heavyweight of the alphabet champions in John Ruiz.

For one, I am gonna stand up for Ruiz on this, and here's the reasons why:

1.) That very first round Ruiz hit Jones in the stomach and sent Jones hurdling into the ropes
2.) After that point in the fight, the referee never let Ruiz really get in too close to even hit Jones, let alone get him in a clinch---and that's what Heavyweights do, is push their weight down on their opponents to get them tired.
3.) Jones was only 193 pounds, at the time the weight class was 196 and up, presently it is 210 pounds and up. The title shouldn't have changed hands, because Jones didn't make the weight.

Besides Jones made such great talk how he was going to face a few other Heavyweights, but when a deal to face faded Evander Holyfield fell apart (surprise surprise, new division and same old Roy), he started talking trash how he wanted to face Lennox Lewis---and when offered to fight Tyson he said he'd only do it for $100 Million dollars.

First off the highest grossing fight in history was Tyson/Lewis and each fighter got an estimated $35 million---of course for the Klitschko-Lewis rematch figures up to $45 million for Lewis and almost $40 million for Klitschko was thrown around but it never happened---so Jones was obviously being a horses ass.

Went back down to Light Heavyweight and he had no choice but to face Antonio Tarver, a man he had been ducking at that weight, to get his titles back and won a HIGHLY controversial decision---which myself at least 10 of those rounds were for Tarver.

Then he faced Tarver again, and was blown away in two rounds. Faced Glenn Johnson who he also been ducking and lost by KO in the 9th. Faced Tarver again for the title, which made no sense to me cause Jones never fought anybody in between to get a #1 contenders status---and lost by decision.

Now Jones is spouting off at the mouth he wants Joe Calzaghe for the WBO title. Myself Jones ducked every good fighter there was, and Calzaghe is certainly better than half the bums Jones faced when he was champion.

Calzaghe beat the shit out of Jeff Lacy. Now Calzaghe is talking he wants to face James Toney at his weight. As much as I like Calzaghe that dream isn't going to happen cus in my own opinion Toney only became a Heavyweight because now he can eat whatever he wants and make a million dollars in a division that is weak.

Another way to look at Roy Jones is this, if Jones had the opprotunity, as he says he is the "pound for pound" best fighter in the world---would he have faced Robinson, Moore, Conn? Or even Olson, Basilio, Fullmer, LaMotta?

hell I will even go as far as Bob Murphy, Bob Satterfield, Harold Johnson...would Jones have faced any of these Hall of Famers?

Hell NO! Cus Jones is HYPE...he was a great fighter but his ego, and lust for the almighty dollar, made him into the biggest chump money could buy.

Argue with me all you want, but from 1998 and onwards, after he faced Montell Griffin for the second time...he was more showman than fighter...and that will never change my mind, no matter how many valid points you try to make.

[jimglen]

I agree with alot of what you say and I remember the Jones vs Ruiz fight and the referee really did spoil it. Also if I remember right Ruiz had to lose and additional 2lbs before fight time.

Jones is a good fighter and I believe he even warrents the compliment of very good fighter (more often than not), HOWEVER as someone was maintaining on another thread recently "Great" their not!

Those fighters you mentioned and believe me ALL the Top fighters of the past would have ate these guys up including British and European greats
ie: R. Turpin vs Don Cockell.

I agree with you on this and I would say the same for the "fraud" Hopkins. Hopkins IS a L-HW "acting" as a middleweight, he saw a niche and an easier way to victory and he didn't even always do that too convicingly...

The best fight for these two "money and attraction wise", and I've said it for two years now is EACH OTHER.... as much as we love/hate them I think most of us would love to see this bout!

[TheRiverCityHippy]

I always found Roy Jones interesting to watch, don't get me wrong, he was highly entertaining. But Roy Jones had a more flashier mouth and bigger ego than he had power and speed and skill and heart for the sport in my opinion.

A talented Amatuer who was robbed at the Olympics, Jones later became a force in boxing as he swept through the lower divisions, in my opinion at his best he was a Super Middleweight.

But when he moved up to Light Heavyweight, after facing Mike McCallum, who in my opinion was his best opponent at the weight in those earlier years, he faced a mixed bag of over-the hill veterans like Virgil Hill and nobodies like David Telesco and Clinton Woods.

During his time at Light Heavyweight he talked how he wanted to face ex-Heavyweight champion Buster Douglas, and even vacated his title, but pulled out---and got back his title saying the man who won his title while he was campaigning for the Douglas fight won it on bogus technicalities.

Then when he finally moved up to Heavyweight he faced the worst Heavyweight of the alphabet champions in John Ruiz.

For one, I am gonna stand up for Ruiz on this, and here's the reasons why:

1.) That very first round Ruiz hit Jones in the stomach and sent Jones hurdling into the ropes
2.) After that point in the fight, the referee never let Ruiz really get in too close to even hit Jones, let alone get him in a clinch---and that's what Heavyweights do, is push their weight down on their opponents to get them tired.
3.) Jones was only 193 pounds, at the time the weight class was 196 and up, presently it is 210 pounds and up. The title shouldn't have changed hands, because Jones didn't make the weight.

Besides Jones made such great talk how he was going to face a few other Heavyweights, but when a deal to face faded Evander Holyfield fell apart (surprise surprise, new division and same old Roy), he started talking trash how he wanted to face Lennox Lewis---and when offered to fight Tyson he said he'd only do it for $100 Million dollars.

First off the highest grossing fight in history was Tyson/Lewis and each fighter got an estimated $35 million---of course for the Klitschko-Lewis rematch figures up to $45 million for Lewis and almost $40 million for Klitschko was thrown around but it never happened---so Jones was obviously being a horses ass.

Went back down to Light Heavyweight and he had no choice but to face Antonio Tarver, a man he had been ducking at that weight, to get his titles back and won a HIGHLY controversial decision---which myself at least 10 of those rounds were for Tarver.

Then he faced Tarver again, and was blown away in two rounds. Faced Glenn Johnson who he also been ducking and lost by KO in the 9th. Faced Tarver again for the title, which made no sense to me cause Jones never fought anybody in between to get a #1 contenders status---and lost by decision.

Now Jones is spouting off at the mouth he wants Joe Calzaghe for the WBO title. Myself Jones ducked every good fighter there was, and Calzaghe is certainly better than half the bums Jones faced when he was champion.

Calzaghe beat the shit out of Jeff Lacy. Now Calzaghe is talking he wants to face James Toney at his weight. As much as I like Calzaghe that dream isn't going to happen cus in my own opinion Toney only became a Heavyweight because now he can eat whatever he wants and make a million dollars in a division that is weak.

Another way to look at Roy Jones is this, if Jones had the opprotunity, as he says he is the "pound for pound" best fighter in the world---would he have faced Robinson, Moore, Conn? Or even Olson, Basilio, Fullmer, LaMotta?

hell I will even go as far as Bob Murphy, Bob Satterfield, Harold Johnson...would Jones have faced any of these Hall of Famers?

Hell NO! Cus Jones is HYPE...he was a great fighter but his ego, and lust for the almighty dollar, made him into the biggest chump money could buy.

Argue with me all you want, but from 1998 and onwards, after he faced Montell Griffin for the second time...he was more showman than fighter...and that will never change my mind, no matter how many valid points you try to make.

i agree with much you say, there`s no doubt roy jones had the tools to become a great fighter but i dont think he achieved it.
there were too many unanswered questions and fights that never came off for me.
all this up and down the weights rubbish, i would have had more respect for him if he would have stayed at super middle and beat the likes of steve collins, nigel benn, chris eubank, gerald mcclelland, joe calzaghe and sven ottke etc.
these fighters would have been no pushovers and the big bangers like benn and a young joe calzaghe would have been interesting fights but i think in his prime jones would have been a warm favourite.
if jones would have beat all these and got out undefeated at around 30 years of age then i think we could have mentioned him with the likes of robinson and armstrong.
he had everything there except the will.

[JAHamilton77]

Jones was only 193 pounds, at the time the weight class was 196 and up, presently it is 210 pounds and up. The title shouldn't have changed hands, because Jones didn't make the weight.

Dumbass, the weight minimum for heavyweight was 190 at the time. Now it's 200. It has NEVER been 196. I mean, if you're going to be a Roy Jones hater, at least try to avoid randomly making up facts in your stupid spam-topic.

Amazing how one man can make 3 factual mistakes in a single sentence. He got the old line between HW and CW mixed up, he got the new border of HW and CW wrong, and he doesnt understand that there is no such thing as a minimum for a weight class, if Ricardo Lopez wanted to fight for the HW crown he could, the limits are maximums for the previous weight, not minimums for that weight class.

[dr_devious]

I would say Jones was a great fighter in his prime, but not one of the elite greats like Robinson, Langford, Ali etc. There will always be question marks about his chin following his KO losses to Tarver and Johnson. When he was at his quickest, no-one could catch him cleanly and often so he was ok, but when he slowed down he got chinned. Tarver is a good lightheavyweight champion, but Johnson is pretty mediocre. Would have been interesting what a real speed merchant with good power would have done to Jones, somebody like a younger Hearns, or McClellan. Out of the match ups Jones didnt make, I think he would have boxed Collins and Eubanks heads off, though both would see the final bell. Benn would have been a dangerous opponent, great power, good speed, great heart too. Ditto Calzaghe, really good speed and decent power. Benn and Calzaghe would have caused Jones problems

[pundit]

Anybody tell me please why Jones before moving up to heavyweight wasn't a great light-heavyweight. He fought and beat everybody except DM - Hill, Harding, Griffin, Johnson, McCallum, del Valle - whoever was there. And not one win was even close. And the fact that RJJ-DM didn't come about wasn't only Jones' fault (besides, I have little doubt about who would have won that fight).

P

[pundit]

I would say Jones was a great fighter in his prime, but not one of the elite greats like Robinson, Langford, Ali etc. There will always be question marks about his chin following his KO losses to Tarver and Johnson. When he was at his quickest, no-one could catch him cleanly and often so he was ok, but when he slowed down he got chinned.

By the same token you could say that the Holmes and Spinks and Berbick losses leave doubts over Ali's legacy. But they don't. Everybody knows that Ali stayed around for too long, and the same holds for Jones. Prior to slowing down Jones was a great, one of these fighters who come around only every 10 years or so.

Tarver is a good lightheavyweight champion, but Johnson is pretty mediocre.

I disagree. Johnson, like Tarver, is a very good light-heavyweight, and he has proven it often enough.

Would have been interesting what a real speed merchant with good power would have done to Jones, somebody like a younger Hearns, or McClellan. Out of the match ups Jones didnt make, I think he would have boxed Collins and Eubanks heads off, though both would see the final bell. Benn would have been a dangerous opponent, great power, good speed, great heart too. Ditto Calzaghe, really good speed and decent power. Benn and Calzaghe would have caused Jones problems

Don't even mention Calzaghe in the same sentence as RJJ. Calzaghe is flat-footed and has a dismal punching technique. He has a good chin, tremendous attitude and quick hands, but no quick feet and he doesn't care much about defense. Calzaghe would't have found peak RJJ in the ring, while being exposed to RJJ's counterpunches - probably he wouldn't even have seen them.

People get really overxcited after ONE impressive win over an arguably pretty limited slugger. Jones top 15 opponents were much better than Lacy.

P

[HomicideHenry]

KO Magazine issue ROY JONES HEAVYWEIGHT GAMBLE, April 2003.

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT LIMIT: 175
CRUISERWEIGHT LIMIT: 190
HEAVYWEIGHT LIMIT: UNLIMITED

So everything 176 to 190 was Cruiserweight.

Jones was 193 pounds when he fought Ruiz...so I guess you all were right, but three pounds isn't much of anything. Now I think the weight classes are far more Heavier, which I think in some of ways was somewhat influenced due to Roy Jones screwing up the Heavyweight division even more, with his division jumping. So the occurence of something happening like it ever again be a little tougher.

As far as Jones win over Ruiz, alot of people went nuts saying it solidified Jones as a legend---when before nobody at all gave Ruiz any credit. If anything the win Jones had over Ruiz, which was due mostly to the refree protecting Jones way too often, has the same significance as the following fight in the past: Harold Johnson KO'ing Tom McNeeley.

Myself I am probably the only John Ruiz fan or supporter, that I know of anyways, but Ruiz never really faced anybody until he was champion. He was mightily protected after that 19 second Kayo loss to Tua---but even then Ruiz never faced anybody of note, so the win wasn't much for Tua.

But Ruiz in my opinion was cheated when he faced Jones. That first round was his, and those judges knew it---and that referee protected Jones the entire time. Ruiz couldn't even get a combo in without the referee just diving in to "save" Jones from any further punishment.

Yea I guess it has historical significance cus Jones was first man since Micheal Spinks to get the Heavyweight title, and over 100yrs since a man who was Light Heavy/Middleweight champion became a Heavyweight champ.

But Ruiz only faced a faded Holyfield three times and a bloated up Kirk Johnson---so what really is the challenge? And in my eyes if the referee wasn't bought off, Ruiz would have gotten a KO over Jones.

But No...boxing is biased and Ruiz wasn't the draw, wasn't the attraction...so they screwed over Ruiz.

[mattyp151]

http://www.wbarecords.com/articules/news160205a.htm

Since some point in 2004, all the major sanctioning bodies reconized Cruiser to have a 200 pound weight limit, up from the 190 pound limit established in 1983. This would put Roy in the HW class in 2003 at 193 pounds.

[HomicideHenry]

Yea but every damn time Ruiz tried to land a combination he jumped in between em both.

Heavyweights nowadays fight trying to lean on their opponents to wear them down---hell look at Muhammad Ali he pushed down on his opponents heads everytime they clinched to tire em out.

If Jones wanted to fight as a Heavyweight, well then he should have let Ruiz fight like he always did. I never seen referee's get on Ruiz' ass like they did that night when he faced Jones.

They were protecting Jones cus he was a blown up Light Heavyweight who never faced anybody who could hit harder than those bums he faced at Light Heavyweight.

[dr_devious]

Jones would have destroyed Benn or Calzaghe. Benn didn't have the chin to stand up to Jones's combinations, and Calzaghe wouldn't have had nearly as much success against Jones as he did against the more one-dimensional Lacy.

Jones would start as a big favourite against Benn and Calzaghe, but both would be live contenders.
Benn had the chin to stand up to McClellan's combinations, so why not Jones'? Benn had the power to get Jones out of there if he landed cleanly.
Agree that Jones would be a totally different proposition for Calzaghe than Lacy, but Calzaghe has the speed, chin, and ability to cause anyone problems

[dr_devious]

By the same token you could say that the Holmes and Spinks and Berbick losses leave doubts over Ali's legacy. But they don't. Everybody knows that Ali stayed around for too long, and the same holds for Jones. Prior to slowing down Jones was a great, one of these fighters who come around only every 10 years or so.

I disagree. Johnson, like Tarver, is a very good light-heavyweight, and he has proven it often enough.

Don't even mention Calzaghe in the same sentence as RJJ. Calzaghe is flat-footed and has a dismal punching technique. He has a good chin, tremendous attitude and quick hands, but no quick feet and he doesn't care much about defense. Calzaghe would't have found peak RJJ in the ring, while being exposed to RJJ's counterpunches - probably he wouldn't even have seen them.

People get really overxcited after ONE impressive win over an arguably pretty limited slugger. Jones top 15 opponents were much better than Lacy. P

No, the difference between Ali's and Jones' final fights were that Ali had fought many vicious wars by the times Berbick etc beat him, whereas Jones had never been in a war but slowed a bit due to age. As soon as Jones slowed down a bit he got kayoed by Tarver & Johnson. My point is that Jones' punch resistance hadnt deteriorated after several ring wars because he didnt have any. His exceptional speed kept him out of trouble at his peak, but of the guys in his era he didnt fight Nigel Benn and Joe Calzaghe would have been the ones with the best chance of beating him.
Im not saying theyre better than Jones, just I feel they would have been in with a chance.
Also, Im not getting carried away with Calzaghe's last fight against Lacy. The guy has been the best super middle in the world for the last 10 years, just not recognised as such because hes not American. He was also a top amateur, Calzaghe's record is impeccable, if anything he hasnt made the best of his ability. Look what he did when he fought his most dangerous opponent - Jeff Lacy - in a unification fight. And dont go giving me Lacy is rubbish after everyone was calling him "mini Mike Tyson", he was dangerous

[pundit]

Jones would start as a big favourite against Benn and Calzaghe, but both would be live contenders.

The implication of this is that Jones hasn't fought live contenders, which is ridiculous.

Benn had the chin to stand up to McClellan's combinations, so why not Jones'? Benn had the power to get Jones out of there if he landed cleanly. Agree that Jones would be a totally different proposition for Calzaghe than Lacy, but Calzaghe has the speed, chin, and ability to cause anyone problems

Calzaghe has shown the ability to cause problems for one-dimensional sluggers - and not much more.

P

[dr_devious]

The implication of this is that Jones hasn't fought live contenders, which is ridiculous.

Calzaghe has shown the ability to cause problems for one-dimensional sluggers - and not much more.

P

Pundit, I'm not saying Jones didnt fight live contenders at all, just that there were people he could have fought, including Benn and Calzaghe, but he didnt, which is fact. Im not even saying he ducked them, as I've no proof he did. I was responding to an earlier post about the guys from MW to LH who Jones didnt fight in his era and saying that Benn and Calzaghe would have caused him most problems.
As for Calzaghe he is undefeated over 40 fights and not all of his victories have been against "one dimensional sluggers".

[barry]

Plain and simple, Roy Jones was great! He fought the very best opposition at light heavyweight, with the exception of DM, he won belts in four divisions and beat 16 of the 17 title holders that he faced, not counting the WBO, of which only one, or two he did not completely dominate...sorry, but that is great in any era and there is nothing to debunk it except excuses that hold absolutely no weight whatsoever!

[Arsenal]

I agree RJJ was a great fighter BUT when he skipped up to LH when there were a few more fights at SM he could have had. I know Benn wanted to fight him and then retire. I'm not saying Benn would have beaten him but he certainly had the KO punch and had a chance.

[barry]

There was never any clamour for a Jones-Benn fight...Steve Collins really wanted to fight Jones, but he had about as much chance of beating Jones as anyone at 168, which was none. Jones took punches well at that weight and he was as murderous a puncher at 160 and 168 as there has been. But as far as saying he didn't fight this guy, or he didn't fight that guy, anyone can make the same argument about nearly any fighter in history.

[barry]

Fighters who could really box gave Benn fits...two prime examples, Chris Eubank and Michael Watson. Both were excellently skilled boxers...Watson easily had his way with Benn and Eubank, well not as easily as Watson, but he still handled Benn.

Jones was a hell of lot better than Eubank, or Watson and before Benn could even land a solid punch, Jones would have him on the canvas, only when Jones hurt someone at that weight, they didn't make it through.

Jones fought the only fighter who really had a chance of beating him in James Toney, and like his other bouts, it was a very easy bout for Jones.

I always thought that Gerlad McClellan had a good chance of beating Jones just based on his physical power and ability to take punishment, but aside from McClellan, James Toney was the only other fighter who had a realistic chance of beating Jones.

[Arsenal]

Benn had the power to get Jones out of there if he landed cleanly.

Landed cleanly with what? That diving headbutt with which he put Gerald McClellan in a wheelchair?

Thats crap Decagon. The damage was done long before that probably leading up to the fight with the dehydration tactics to make weight. Having said that none of us know what caused the damage but if you watch the fight, I've got a copy if you want, it was a total accident. Benn wasn't even looking at McClellen.

Barry I agree with what you are saying . But I still think Benn ahd a good shot if he landed. He was a devastating puncher. But thats if he survived an onslaught from RJJ. His chin was his biggest downfall. As a matter of interest would you say RJJ hit harder than McClellan?

[The Law]

I always thought that Gerlad McClellan had a good chance of beating Jones just based on his physical power and ability to take punishment, but aside from McClellan, James Toney was the only other fighter who had a realistic chance of beating Jones.

Didn't McClellan beat RJJ convincingly in the amateurs?

McClellan had a good chance of beating RJJ, the only other Super Middleweight who would have had a chance of causing RJJ problems was Calzaghe, but Joe's promoter was a wimp

Steve Collins actually went to the USA looking for RJJ and he even knocked on his door asking for a fight to be made (it was well publicised at the time), but RJJ's team didn't want to make the fight. Collins was a far better fighter than the likes of Glen Johnson, it's a pity that fight wasn't made. Steve Collins had sheer guts and carried his heart on his sleave (similar to Johnson), but he also had good boxing skills. In any case I think a peak RJJ would have won the fight, but it wouldn't have been a stroll in the park, that's for sure.

[pundit]

The implication of this is that Jones hasn't fought live contenders, which is ridiculous.

Calzaghe has shown the ability to cause problems for one-dimensional sluggers - and not much more.

P

Pundit, I'm not saying Jones didnt fight live contenders at all, just that there were people he could have fought, including Benn and Calzaghe, but he didnt, which is fact. Im not even saying he ducked them, as I've no proof he did. I was responding to an earlier post about the guys from MW to LH who Jones didnt fight in his era and saying that Benn and Calzaghe would have caused him most problems.
As for Calzaghe he is undefeated over 40 fights and not all of his victories have been against "one dimensional sluggers".

Still, Jones top 15 opponents were better than anyone Calzaghe has ever fought.

Btw, I believe that peak DM would have caused peak Jones the biggest problems - if there is anyone who could have. DM was stronger than RJJ - a big, natural l-h - had an outstanding jab, a superb chin, quick hands with one-punch knockout power in both of them, and was moving forward relentlessly for 12 rounds.

However, in the end even DM would most likely have fallen victim to Jones' (foot- and hand-)speed and evasiveness. I would have anticipated DM-Jones to be a bit like Liston-Ali.

But this was THE fight to be made at l-h around 2000. If you look for one fight that Jones missed out on in his career - and that may leave some kind of question mark - it's this one. It's not Benn, and it's certainly not Calzaghe. And it's a shame that DM-RJJ was never made.

P

[pundit]

McClellan had a good chance of beating RJJ, the only other Super Middleweight who would have had a chance of causing RJJ problems was Calzaghe, but Joe's promoter was a wimp

Calzaghe has fought exactly one good counter-puncher in his entire career - Robin Reid - an almost lost. Thereafter he has avoided counterpunchers like the devil avoids the holy water - all his better wins - Lacy, Brewer, Mitchell - have been against punchers marching forward, where Calzaghe's handspeed can take full effect.

In the face of this, you wanna tell us that Calzaghe would have caused problems to one of the best counterpunchers in the history of boxing?

Look at it from the other angle: who has RJJ struggled with? Well, he rarely has, but one particularly tricky customer for him was Montell Griffin; a guy with a watertight defense and a crisp jab. Against Griffin it took RJJ longer than usual to find a way to break his opponent down.

But neither defense nor the jab belong to Calzaghe's strenghts.

P

[mattyp151]

I think DM is the big fight people wanted, especially fans of DM to prove that just because he's not American, doesn't mean he couldn't be the man at LHW. That fight should've been made at some point, even if it was a going away fight for DM. Who would you rather go off into the sunset against...Tiozzo or Jones?

I think there were a few more fights people would've liked to see as well.

McClellan (not fault of either that this didn't get made)
Benn (especially after he beat McClellan)
Hopkins or Toney rematch would've been highly anticipated

There were a couple fight he could've taken instead of fighting the Glen Kelly's of the world.

[pundit]

No one really wanted to see Jones-Michalczewski. Jones didn't, Michalczewski didn't, the American public didn't, and the German public really didn't. Even the hardcore fans gave up on that matchup when Michalczewski had that crap match with Richard Hall.

That's why I wrote "around 2000".

Btw, if there was lack of enthusiasm it was because nobody believed in a chance to make this fight happen; given both fighters' unwillingness to fight abroad.

If it could have been made though I have little doubt it would have been dubbed the l-h fight of our generation. It would have had everything: two unbeaten fighters who had already won career-defining bouts (including both over the hall-of-famer Virgil Hill), both with exciting styles, one American the other one European, one running around with belts that the other one had held earlier and had never lost in the ring, one pfp #1, the other one lineal champ, etc. etc..

P

[pundit]

But Michalczewski had already been knocked out by Roccighiani, only to have the bout later changed to a no-contest. The savy fans of the 1990s were aware of this.

The result was changed from a technical draw to a disqualification loss for Rocchigiani, as he had hit after the bell. The controversy was about DM faking the knockdown, as he thought he was behind on points.

But by 2000 DM had avenged the defeat, and quite convincingly so (admittedly, Rocky was a shadow of his former self by that time).