Roy Jones Jr. was something special, much the way Michael Jordon was special to basketball or Tiger Woods is to golf. I have never seen speed and quickness to equal Roy Jones at his peak. I do not think there have been any, bar none in the history of boxing with such reflexive gifts. The best boxers of all time owe as much to the competition they fought as they do to their personal skills, and Roy never fought the list of greats Sugar Ray Robinson or Mohammad Ali fought, so Roy will never contend in boxing circles for the mythical pound for pound all time best, but he was a true prodigy.
We as boxing fans were blessed to witness such a career, we may never see another with such talent. When father time caught up with Roy, it just happened to be while Tarver was delivering a solid left hook. Five years earlier, that shot would have missed by a foot and Tarver would have eaten three counter shots for his trouble.
At the absolute pinnacle of Bernard Hopkins's career, when Bernard was at his peak, Roy toyed with the one of the most accomplished middleweight champions of the past 30 years and won an easy safe decision. I stood there(On Tv) and watched Roy actually consider which counter punch to respond with as he slipped punches thrown at him by a young peaking James Toney. Roy Jones Jr. in his prime was the quickest and fastest boxer I have ever seen!
He's top 10 all time IMO. Don't care if you don't agree! Roy was the bomb!
Jones should be on the top of all time middleweights and can be line with the marvelous hagler. and on the top ten of the light heavyweights
No... Roy didnt accomplish enough at MW to be on top.
Yup I meant all time including every division. What do you think Jinx that good or his opponents that bad? I think he was just that great he made his opponents look bad, Roy was incredible in his prime.
ur sig quote is very true.
There are always the four people say he dodged: Eubank, Benn, Collins, and DM. Cal***gie doesn't count. Eubank and Benn can be explained, but Collins really can't. Some people disagree with the Benn and Eubank explanations, but they can suck a fat one.
Well Hops and Toney are better them all of them guys. Roy dominated Toney and he beat Hopkins more convincingly then anybody else. Even a young Jermain Taylor couldn't beat a 40 year old Bernard Hopkins as convincingly as Roy did.
roy was damn good
he beat erbody in his division(lhw)
1.robinson
2.jones jr
3.whitaker
I just can't rank Roy at the top of an all time p4p list because of the roids. Hell, he was one of a kind, and in his prime according to some, could have beaten Ali....but was he juiced up?! This question screws it all up.
Sorry, I recognize Roy was a magnificent boxer. But, setting aside the ducking issue, the question of roids taints his legacy. I'll not set aside all the greats that came along before roids were invented because Roy looked so damn good in the ring.
I'd say Roy Jones was the most dominant at LHW:
1. Michael Spinks
2. Ezzard Charles
3. Gene Tunney
4. Archie Moore
5. Charley Burley
6. Harry Greb
7. Tommy Loughran
8. Sam Langford
9. Bob Foster
10. Roy Jones Jr.
I barely squeeze him past Jimmy Bivins
Good list but I disagree that Spinks is no. 1 over Ezzard Charles and Sam Langford. Still, it's interesting.
Get your facts straigh Roy had a signed contract to fight the winner of the McClellan-Benn fight. It was Roy who backed out of the fight, and uttered these words. " I now have a different mindset about boxing, since I saw what happened McClellan". Benn was up for the fight, it was Roy who refused to sign the contract. Roy also refused to fight DM. Remember Lamply showing a signed contract that DM signed and shipped to the commentators of HBO challenging Roy to sign it, and Roy refused, then Roy went to the managment of HBO, and they put a gagg order on Lamply and Merchant from never bringing up DM again while roy was co-commentating with them again. Remembe that.
Those are the facts. What about Nunn. Remember Roy losing a court battle for the Super middle weight title and was stripped and ordered to fight Nunn, and instead of fighting nunn, he moved to light heavy and fought Hill.
Also the tell us about the steriods test he tested positive on after fighting Roichard Hall....He admitted the test did show positive steriods but that it was Ripped Fuel...Hmmm interesting, ripped fuel has ephedra with is not a steriod it is banned substance but not steriods...Hmmm interesting..
THIS was enlightening. Great post.
Krucial. He still is in my top 20. No one can deny his speed..moreso than skills, combined with power at 160 was all time material. His speed was sooo immense that it covered up for his flaws.
The only reason..I mean the ONLY reason he is not top 5..is because he did not fight the Nunn's Eubansk, Dm's, etc.. He i think would have won, but you have to prove it in the ring, just like everyone thought mosley would have beaten Forrest the 1st time, but inside the ring, he did not live up to that...then he lost a second time. Styles makes fights, and who knows Dm may have had the style to beat a prime roy. I doubt it, but who knows. That is why they fight ...and it is decided in the ring, not by these chat rooms. But it is fun to debate it.
I have already given out to much respect but I would agree fully. Roy does have some top names on his resume but not the type of names that would make him top 5 all-time. He had the fighters to change that view but things happen. Roy is the fighter that got me into boxing so that's saying alot.
Krucial. He still is in my top 20. No one can deny his speed..moreso than skills, combined with power at 160 was all time material. His speed was sooo immense that it covered up for his flaws.
The only reason..I mean the ONLY reason he is not top 5..is because he did not fight the Nunn's Eubansk, Dm's, etc.. He i think would have won, but you have to prove it in the ring, just like everyone thought mosley would have beaten Forrest the 1st time, but inside the ring, he did not live up to that...then he lost a second time. Styles makes fights, and who knows Dm may have had the style to beat a prime roy. I doubt it, but who knows. That is why they fight ...and it is decided in the ring, not by these chat rooms. But it is fun to debate it.
well i must be wrong then
even if he "ducked em" i say roy would beat nunn,benn n eubank easily
roy's dad was a big part of why roy "ducked" em all then
i heard promoters called roys dad bout a title fight in like 91-92 n he turned down the offer
which is why roy left em