Let's rewind to March 2003 for a moment. John Ruiz, coming off of three tough (and VERY ugly) fights with Evander Holyfield, and having appeared to have been the benefactor of a bad decision against Holyfield in the 3rd of those contests, was the reigning WBA heavyweight champion and was set to fight Superman: Roy Jones, the #1 P4P fighter in the world who had dominated the LHW division for so many years.

What happened was not a complete surprise to boxing experts and knowledgeable fans, although plenty of people suggested Ruiz would be too big and strong. Roy Jones beat Ruiz so easily that it appeared he wouldn't have done much worse if you had blind-folded him and tied a hand behind his back. Suddenly, particularly for those fans who hated Lennox Lewis personally or his cautious style, a savior of boxing’s glamour division had arrived.

If Jones had been able to handle Ruiz so easily, then surely Chris Byrd (another so-called “former middleweight") would not be a challenge to the faster and possibly more powerful Jones. With a win over Byrd, Jones would unify 2/3 of the fractured heavyweight title and only THE man -- the aging lineal champ, Lennox Lewis -- would stand in his way. This had the potentional to be a truly great moment in the history of boxing.

However, it was not the first time boxing fans had been treated to something so special. In 1950, the great light-heavyweight and former "middleweight" Ezzard Charles, who like Jones held a piece of the heavyweight title (he had taken the National Boxing Association World Heavyweight Title from Jersey Joe Walcott in '49 and defended it three times) challenged another aging lineal champion, Joe Louis.

Ezzard Charles made history by beating Louis, became the lineal champion and went on to defend that title 4 times, cleaning the pretenders out before finally losing his title in a grueling 15 round division to Walcott in 1952. Charles never regained the lineal crown, later losing again in a rematch with Walcott and losing twice to Rocky Marciano, but for two years he ruled the boxing world.

However, unlike Charles, Jones didn't care for the sport that had brought him fame and riches. He didn't care about the fans and he didn't care about establishing a legacy that would place him among the all-time great light-heavyweights like Charles and Spinks, who rose from the lighter divisions to capture the ultimate prize in sports.

No, as usual, Jones cared only about himself and immediately told the boxing public that if they wanted to see him fight another HW champion they would have to pay dearly. He demanded the ridiculous sum of $100 million to fight Lennox Lewis. He avoided a unification bout with Byrd, and finally in the ultimate "**** you" to his fans he threw away his WBA heavyweight title and went back to LHW where he felt safe.

As a direct result of Jones's betrayal of the fans and the sport of boxing, John Ruiz -- whose fights are more unpleasant to watch than anything else seen in the last 50 years of boxing -- regained the WBA title. Chris Byrd, who Jones should have faced, went on to defend his title against weak opposition like Fres Oquendo, Andrew Golota and Jameel McCline, earning two hotly disputed decisions and a draw. And of course the lineal champion, 39 year old Lennox Lewis, faded into retirement after a tough fight with Vitali Klitchko that convinced him his old body just couldn't take the punishment anymore.

Instead of having Jones step into Lewis's place and establish some unity in the division much like Charles had done over 50 years ago to hold things together until a new great champion like Marciano could come along, the glamour division of boxing has fallen into complete disarray.

And like many other things that are wrong in boxing today, it can all be traced back to Roid Jones Jr. Food for thought.

dominated the LHW division for so many years.

.

Yeah, except Michalczewski was linear and Ring Magazine Champ from 1997-2003. All those straps he had came from being stripped from Michalczewski. He did a good job beating up that mailman though. :p Masterclass ;)

I think the fact that there isn't any talent in the heavyweight division annymore might have something to do with it being destroyed.If anything Roy actually brought it some excitement for a while.Oh and one more reason might be that Lennox waited for all the best Heavyweights to get old and pathetic before he decided to fight them is another reason the HW division is a joke now.

It seems like everyone hates Jones right now...

It seems like everyone hates Jones right now...



It's because once he lost it gave everyone that hated him ammunition to talk ****. But before he lost couldn't anyone really say **** because their arguement wouldn't hold water.

That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. The downfall of the heavyweight division could be attributed to the NFL and NBA. All of the better athletes have chosen other avenues than boxing. You could also make a case that the lack of network coverage is a contributor. To try to blame Roy Jones for moving up and winning a heavyweight title belt is nothing short of ignorant. Jones haters tend to have a problem with letting their hatred for Roy get in the way of reality.

That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. The downfall of the heavyweight division could be attributed to the NFL and NBA. All of the better athletes have chosen other avenues than boxing. You could also make a case that the lack of network coverage is a contributor. To try to blame Roy Jones for moving up and winning a heavyweight title belt is nothing short of ignorant. Jones haters tend to have a problem with letting their hatred for Roy get in the way of reality.



Good post man and it's true.

The heavys are destroying it on their own. No one is willing to fight any of the other champs. I mean Monte Barrett is ranked #5 with D. Williamson ranked the the top 10 in most weight classes.

I hate Ruiz, but at least he will fight the champs. I used to have recpect for V. Klit. But comeon dude, he has to fight someone sometime.

Everyone Hates on Mesi but he could have at least made things interesting. He beat barrett and Williamson.

[QUOTE=mikefromstu]The
. I mean Monte Barrett is ranked #5 with D. Williamson ranked the the top 10 in most weight classes.


I meant Sanctioning Bodies. Im a moron :o

jones was not the answer to the heavyweight division, he just seen a weak champ he knew he could take advantage of, so he could make a bit of history for himself.

Let's rewind to March 2003 for a moment. John Ruiz, coming off of three tough (and VERY ugly) fights with Evander Holyfield, and having appeared to have been the benefactor of a bad decision against Holyfield in the 3rd of those contests


You lost me right there. I can't listen to anyone who thought Ruiz won that 3rd fight. That's a joke.

Yeah thats pretty much just hating Roy Jones to blame him for the mess of the Heavyweight division. its pretty hard to put a finger on the one person who let the division become what it is. Blame Don King, blame all of the promoters for the mess if anyone, to blame Roy Jones is not the right choice.

It's because once he lost it gave everyone that hated him ammunition to talk ****. But before he lost couldn't anyone really say **** because their arguement wouldn't hold water.

I agree its sad but thats what us boxing fans are known far...we kick people when they lose and degrade their acheivments.

You lost me right there. I can't listen to anyone who thought Ruiz won that 3rd fight. That's a joke.
i think he meant ruiz was fortunate to get the descision.

Yes, that's exactly what I meant. Thank you.

Well, if you think it should have been a wide decision for Holyfield, you my friend are the joke.

A draw was weak, a score card for Ruiz would have been beyond weak. Wide for Holyfield? No, but not a win for Ruiz, even on idiot pills.

Have any of you ever heard the phrase "tongue in cheek"?

A draw was weak, a score card for Ruiz would have been beyond weak. Wide for Holyfield? No, but not a win for Ruiz, even on idiot pills.

Which is exactly what I said in my post, brainiac.

Which is exactly what I said in my post, brainiac.
on a sidenote holyfield was on the verge of knocking out ruiz very late on in that third fight, but it just came a bit too late for holyfield.

That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. The downfall of the heavyweight division could be attributed to the NFL and NBA. All of the better athletes have chosen other avenues than boxing. You could also make a case that the lack of network coverage is a contributor. To try to blame Roy Jones for moving up and winning a heavyweight title belt is nothing short of ignorant. Jones haters tend to have a problem with letting their hatred for Roy get in the way of reality.that's a great av :cool:

I won't blame Roy Jones for the state of the HW division. To do so is just plain stupid. In my opinion, these things need to change:

-There needs to be ONE freakin' champion per weight class under ONE sanctioning body :mad:

-Too many weight divisions add to the disarray. Can someone PLEASE explain to me why we need a super version of our current weight classes. And can someone please tell me who really gives a flying squirrel about the cruiserweight division? :confused:

-Title shots are handed out to ANYBODY. All you have to do is ask. How often have we seen a fighter have a record of 17-8-5 with 5 of those 8 losses occurring back to back before a "title eliminator" win that guarantees them a shot at the title? :rolleyes:

-Rankings need to be compiled by one authority. This goes back to the "One sanctioning body" thing from before... :(

I know that a lot of people can think of a number of things that need to change, but the state of the HW division can't be placed on one fighter. And, while I'm not a huge fan of Roy Jones, he offers entertainment in his fights and he's got a great personality. Something that can't really be said for the out of shape, out of condition, no fundamentals, gasping for air by round 3 fighters of the HW division.

Only thing I don't like about Jones is the fact that he acts like it was a brave thing to do to move up to Heavyweight and take out Ruiz for the title. I mean, he basically lowered himself to one of the top 5 paper heavies of all time by doing it, especially since Ruiz is not a great fighter.(I think ruiz style is good, ugly,but good,esp him being someone with not the best chin in the HW div)

had evander been champ and roy beat evander, then THAT would be something to be proud of.

roy should've fought benn when he was in his prime, then euros wouldnt call him a coward(benn woulda been a tough fight though even for prime roy)

Oh and one more reason might be that Lennox waited for all the best Heavyweights to get old and pathetic before he decided to fight them is another reason the HW division is a joke now.
What a crock of ****.

It had nothing to do with Lewis actually being ducked e.g Tyson paying him off, Bowe dumping the belt in the trash rather than fight him.

I can see you're non biased when it comes to Lewis. :rolleyes:

What a crock of ****.

It had nothing to do with Lewis actually being ducked e.g Tyson paying him off, Bowe dumping the belt in the trash rather than fight him.

I can see you're non biased when it comes to Lewis. :rolleyes:

Exactly. It's a known fact that Tyson and Bowe both ducked Lewis when they had their chance to fight and probably beat him.

I think the sport, and the HW devision especially would still be in taters even if Jones had continued campaigning as a HW. So I think Blaming Jones for the current state of the devision is a little unfair.

I think the person who ironically suffered the most frmo Jones' *****ery, was the man himself.
Take a look at how Jones is viewed by so many people know. A bum who avoided any good fighters that could expose him for years. Only to get KTFO when he finally fought someone good. Now I don't personally agree with that. But I believe that if Roy had just defended his crown. Right now, his detractor would have to be eating some serious humble pie & Jones would be considered one of the true all time greats.

I agree with Goat that Jones could have & should have beat Chris Bryd. Giving him a major claim to being the best HW is the world. And setting up a fight with Lewis.
Obviously I beleive Lewis would be far too much for Jones to handle & he would have been KTFO as soon as Lennox layed a glove on him. But if that had happend, know one could be making the argument that Jones had no chin. And being KO'ed by Lennox Lewis wouldn't damage Jones' legacy at all. Infact, the very fact that he would take that fight would have to enhance his legacy a great deal & silence allot of critics.

IMO though, we still would of had to face the same situation we do now with Lewis' retirement. So I don't believe we can Blame Jones for it. But he played his part, that is for sure.

That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. The downfall of the heavyweight division could be attributed to the NFL and NBA. All of the better athletes have chosen other avenues than boxing. You could also make a case that the lack of network coverage is a contributor. To try to blame Roy Jones for moving up and winning a heavyweight title belt is nothing short of ignorant. Jones haters tend to have a problem with letting their hatred for Roy get in the way of reality.


Nice post.

Roy Jones is da man!

I think the sport, and the HW devision especially would still be in taters even if Jones had continued campaigning as a HW. So I think Blaming Jones for the current state of the devision is a little unfair.

I think the person who ironically suffered the most frmo Jones' *****ery, was the man himself.
Take a look at how Jones is viewed by so many people know. A bum who avoided any good fighters that could expose him for years. Only to get KTFO when he finally fought someone good. Now I don't personally agree with that. But I believe that if Roy had just defended his crown. Right now, his detractor would have to be eating some serious humble pie & Jones would be considered one of the true all time greats.

I agree with Goat that Jones could have & should have beat Chris Bryd. Giving him a major claim to being the best HW is the world. And setting up a fight with Lewis.
Obviously I beleive Lewis would be far too much for Jones to handle & he would have been KTFO as soon as Lennox layed a glove on him. But if that had happend, know one could be making the argument that Jones had no chin. And being KO'ed by Lennox Lewis wouldn't damage Jones' legacy at all. Infact, the very fact that he would take that fight would have to enhance his legacy a great deal & silence allot of critics.

IMO though, we still would of had to face the same situation we do now with Lewis' retirement. So I don't believe we can Blame Jones for it. But he played his part, that is for sure.

I agree. Lennox would have been way too much for Roy with such a huge disadvantage in hieght and weight. But if Roy actaully gave an effort to unify the HW div. it would have put him on a whole different level.

What a crock of ****.

It had nothing to do with Lewis actually being ducked e.g Tyson paying him off, Bowe dumping the belt in the trash rather than fight him.

I can see you're non biased when it comes to Lewis. :rolleyes:



No actually I'm a realist when it comes to lewis.Just look at who his losses are to McCall? Rahman? then what happened when he fought an actual tough HW like Klitschko? yeah he beat him but Vitali put a serious beating on him and sent him into retirement.And I wasn't saying Lewis was being ducked I was saying Lewis was ducking them.I mean who couldn't beat Evander when lewis fought him? Evander couldn't even get rid of Ruiz for gods sake.The only person who actually beat Evander when he was on top of his game was Bowe and he did it rather well too.

I mean who couldn't beat Evander when lewis fought him?

Are you serious?

When Lewis fought Evander, Evander was the unified and lineal heavyweight champion of the world and had just defeated WBA champion Mike Tyson twice, IBF champion Michael Moorer and top contender Vaughn Bean.

Apparently, nobody other than Lewis could beat him at that point.

Roid Jones.


JUYJUY

Roid Jones.


JUYJUY

ROY JONES IS THE MAN!!! :D

Let's rewind to March 2003 for a moment. John Ruiz, coming off of three tough (and VERY ugly) fights with Evander Holyfield, and having appeared to have been the benefactor of a bad decision against Holyfield in the 3rd of those contests, was the reigning WBA heavyweight champion and was set to fight Superman: Roy Jones, the #1 P4P fighter in the world who had dominated the LHW division for so many years.

What happened was not a complete surprise to boxing experts and knowledgeable fans, although plenty of people suggested Ruiz would be too big and strong. Roy Jones beat Ruiz so easily that it appeared he wouldn't have done much worse if you had blind-folded him and tied a hand behind his back. Suddenly, particularly for those fans who hated Lennox Lewis personally or his cautious style, a savior of boxing’s glamour division had arrived.

If Jones had been able to handle Ruiz so easily, then surely Chris Byrd (another so-called “former middleweight") would not be a challenge to the faster and possibly more powerful Jones. With a win over Byrd, Jones would unify 2/3 of the fractured heavyweight title and only THE man -- the aging lineal champ, Lennox Lewis -- would stand in his way. This had the potentional to be a truly great moment in the history of boxing.

However, it was not the first time boxing fans had been treated to something so special. In 1950, the great light-heavyweight and former "middleweight" Ezzard Charles, who like Jones held a piece of the heavyweight title (he had taken the National Boxing Association World Heavyweight Title from Jersey Joe Walcott in '49 and defended it three times) challenged another aging lineal champion, Joe Louis.

Ezzard Charles made history by beating Louis, became the lineal champion and went on to defend that title 4 times, cleaning the pretenders out before finally losing his title in a grueling 15 round division to Walcott in 1952. Charles never regained the lineal crown, later losing again in a rematch with Walcott and losing twice to Rocky Marciano, but for two years he ruled the boxing world.

However, unlike Charles, Jones didn't care for the sport that had brought him fame and riches. He didn't care about the fans and he didn't care about establishing a legacy that would place him among the all-time great light-heavyweights like Charles and Spinks, who rose from the lighter divisions to capture the ultimate prize in sports.

No, as usual, Jones cared only about himself and immediately told the boxing public that if they wanted to see him fight another HW champion they would have to pay dearly. He demanded the ridiculous sum of $100 million to fight Lennox Lewis. He avoided a unification bout with Byrd, and finally in the ultimate "**** you" to his fans he threw away his WBA heavyweight title and went back to LHW where he felt safe.

As a direct result of Jones's betrayal of the fans and the sport of boxing, John Ruiz -- whose fights are more unpleasant to watch than anything else seen in the last 50 years of boxing -- regained the WBA title. Chris Byrd, who Jones should have faced, went on to defend his title against weak opposition like Fres Oquendo, Andrew Golota and Jameel McCline, earning two hotly disputed decisions and a draw. And of course the lineal champion, 39 year old Lennox Lewis, faded into retirement after a tough fight with Vitali Klitchko that convinced him his old body just couldn't take the punishment anymore.

Instead of having Jones step into Lewis's place and establish some unity in the division much like Charles had done over 50 years ago to hold things together until a new great champion like Marciano could come along, the glamour division of boxing has fallen into complete disarray.

And like many other things that are wrong in boxing today, it can all be traced back to Roid Jones Jr. Food for thought.



interesting article to read now

I dont get it. How did Roy Jones destroy HW boxing? He had one fight.

I dont get it. How did Roy Jones destroy HW boxing? He had one fight.



neither do i

Roy Jones was never a natural heavyweight and to say he shoulda stayed in the division and fought Lewis to establish some unity is stupid...Look at the way Jones got knocked out by Tarver and Johnson and then imagine what would have happened to him if he got nailed by a big, strong heavyweight like Lewis...he woulda got seriously hurt.

i loved watching roy jones fight, i didnt miss one of them. he got me and probably millions of other fans to watch the sport that gets no coverage on any network. so how can you hate someone who didnt try and didnt care to blow up the sport but did it anyway with not his mouth but his skills. i guess thats the way hate whose standing on top and then when he's not at the top we kick all the way down.

Roy Jones was never a natural heavyweight and to say he shoulda stayed in the division and fought Lewis to establish some unity is stupid...Look at the way Jones got knocked out by Tarver and Johnson and then imagine what would have happened to him if he got nailed by a big, strong heavyweight like Lewis...he woulda got seriously hurt.

Yea Jones may have made it look good for a few rounds but once he got hit with a Lewis overhand right or uppercut he woulda gotten ktfo. Roy Jones even had the nerve to imply that Lewis was afraid to fight him. He said something like "Lewis said he was gonna fight me then a week later he retired, I dont know whats that about." No disrespect towards Roy, I am a fan but that was some stupid **** to say.