In light of Bernard's big win on Saturday, let's do this poll, which has already been done twice, one more time.
Once again:
Roy Jones - beat both Toney and Hopkins when neither was at their best, won titles at middleweight and super middleweight, dominated the light heavyweight division for years, beat Ruiz to win a heavyweight title, came back to light heavyweight and eked out a decision vs. Tarver, before being destroyed twice by Tarver and once by Johnson.
Bernard Hopkins - lost to Roy when he was still a green fighter but made a good fight of it, has wins over Glen Johnson and Antonio Tarver at the age of 41(!), dominated the middleweight division for a decade, setting a record of defenses, beat Trinidad and De La Hoya and lost two close decisions to Jermain Taylor, who may be the future of the middleweight division should he win on Saturday
James Toney - held titles at middleweight, super middleweight, and cruiserweight, won a heavyweight title in exact same fashion as Roy Jones only to have it stripped for steroid use, dominated Jirov to win a cruiserweight title, has beaten opposition twice as good as Jones at heavyweight, and drew with Rahman.
Perhaps the poll will be done again if Taylor beats Wright and Toney manages to capture a heavyweight title. As it stands now, where do you rank them? Which one has the best resume as of right now? Who will be remembered as the greatest of the three?
- June 14, 2006
Then hopkins losses to Taylor doesn't mean anything... which means that Hopkins has only lost twice... And had beaten Johnson/joppy/trinidad/allen/hoya/eastman/tarver/daniels. Plus he has 20 title defenses at middleweight.. Plus he won a light heavyweight title at the age of 41 after 2 losses which Jones was "past him prime" at what 34?
Roy is 37 and has not come back after losses and won a title from a respected title holder. I would like to see Jones beat a title holder in 2010 then I might hold Jones a little more at the top.
Agreed that Hopkins's losses to Taylor do not hurt his HOF standing....but he still didn't accomplish as much as Jones. Sorry.
When you look at Roys resume, you see some of the top light heavys and supermiddle's of all time.No to mention he won a HEAVYWEIGHT title.
Hopkins stayed content fighting B level fighters in the same weight class for most of his career.
Not nearly as impressive as moving up and weight and still dominating naturally bigger men.
Really? Look at his (short) career at SMW. Wins over Toney (a fine win, even though that was never a legit KD), Byrd, Thornton, Sosa, Lucas and Brannon. Only Toney was a World Class fighter of the names at SMW. No unifications.
He beat McCallum at LHW, but Mike was way past his best, and pushing 40 years old. As for his belts at LHW, the WBC belt belonged to Roccigianni, and the other belts were stripped from DM.
Good win against Ruiz to pick up a HW belt, but Ruiz was the only HW champ he could have beaten.
I'm not a Roy hater, I think he's one of the most talented fighters I've seen. But the names on his resume leave a lot to be desired.
Having said that, to answer the poll, his resume is better than Toney's or Hopkins'.
Losses late in a fighter's career, after he's past his best, mean NOTHING.
Ali's losses to Spinks, Holmes and Berbick=NOTHING
Holmes's losses to Spinks, Tyson, Holyfield, & McCall=NOTHING
Louis's losses to Charles & Marciano=NOTHING
Jeffries loss to Johnson=NOTHING
Leonard's losses to Norris & Camacho=NOTHING
Guess what about Jones losses to Tarver & Johnson?
That's right.....NOTHING
:cool:
Then hopkins losses to Taylor doesn't mean anything... which means that Hopkins has only lost twice... And had beaten Johnson/joppy/trinidad/allen/hoya/eastman/tarver/daniels. Plus he has 20 title defenses at middleweight.. Plus he won a light heavyweight title at the age of 41 after 2 losses which Jones was "past him prime" at what 34?
Roy is 37 and has not come back after losses and won a title from a respected title holder. I would like to see Jones beat a title holder in 2010 then I might hold Jones a little more at the top.
OK, here's my two cents...
if they were to all fight in their primes i'd pick roy....
who's the greatest of 3 in terms of acommplishments, Hopkins....
who's the best of 3 right now, hopkins...
Hop and James have longevity, which impresses me. The fact that these old guys have retained their skills and actually took time to learn how to fight when their physical advantages have left them is incredible.
I've heard a lot of the same stuff that i've heard when these discussions have come up in the past. I prefer the fighters who have the tools to get the job done late into their careers as opposed to the ones who don't. Guys like Azumah Nelson, Larry Holmes, George Foreman, James Toney, Mike McCallum, Roberto Duran, Bernard Hopkins, Erik Morales, Marvin Hagler, Marco Barrera (even though im not a huge fan of his) etc etc
James and Bernard still have world class fighting left in them. When you think about the fact that James struggles SO badly with his weight, he's WAY above his beginning weight, and these heavyweights still can't beat him...it's pretty special. Hopkins may be the most skilled prehistoric fighter I can think of. It's disgusting how intelligently and tenaciously he fights at this age.
So yeah i've said my peace. If James fights a couple more fights and wins them big then he'd be my clear number 1 of the three, but right now it's very tough between him and Bernard.
toney hasnt done anything right since his victory over jirov or holyfield.
roy has lost THREE in a row, i dont know of any real great fighter who has lost three in a row.
the only thing IMO that hopkins has done wrong is waiting until the later rounds to apply the pressure on taylor in both fights.
hopkins has the most impressive career IMO.
we finally agree
Obviously Roy has the best all-time status.
Hopkins is the best middleweight of all-time of the three.
Toney is the best cruiserweight.
Right now, Hopkins is the best of the 3.
Hmmm
Right on point.
Obviously Roy has the best all-time status.
Hopkins is the best middleweight of all-time of the three.
Toney is the best cruiserweight.
Right now, Hopkins is the best of the 3.
toney hasnt done anything right since his victory over jirov or holyfield.
roy has lost THREE in a row, i dont know of any real great fighter who has lost three in a row.
the only thing IMO that hopkins has done wrong is waiting until the later rounds to apply the pressure on taylor in both fights.
hopkins has the most impressive career IMO.
http://www.boxrec.com/boxer_display.php?boxer_id=000499
http://www.boxrec.com/boxer_display.php?boxer_id=000804
http://www.boxrec.com/boxer_display.php?boxer_id=000739
http://www.boxrec.com/boxer_display.php?boxer_id=000532
http://www.boxrec.com/boxer_display.php?boxer_id=009017
LOL @ you for that comment.
And i stopped looking becuase this clearly proved you wrong in every aspect.
toney hasnt done anything right since his victory over jirov or holyfield.
roy has lost THREE in a row, i dont know of any real great fighter who has lost three in a row.
the only thing IMO that hopkins has done wrong is waiting until the later rounds to apply the pressure on taylor in both fights.
hopkins has the most impressive career IMO.
They both have great resumes. Roys is a little greater I guess because he moved through more divisions.
Ehh. Not really.
Hopkins resume is good, though.
Three big wins, but apart from those wins, which are great imo...he has no other wins that are anymore then decent.
Who's better Roid or Leonard?? Who do you rank higher on the all time list??
Its close.
Leonard has better names on his resume, while Roy achived more p4p wise.