If Jones would have retired after beating Ruiz...

I agree that his legacy would probably be looked at differently especially since his only loss would have been the DQ against Griffin. Though I think there would have been a lot of questions about his resume.

in the top 20 of all time imo

If he retired... he would have had a great career. There would be some weakness to his resume. I think that's the best summation of his career up until the Ruiz fight.

If he retired... he would have had a great career. There would be some weakness to his resume.

the reason he moved back down, was be cause bob fitsimmons was the first middleweight to go to heavyweight 106 years prior... bob also moved down to light heavy after, and won... if roy never did that... he wouldnt of matched the record of what bob fitsimmons did... after the first tarver fight, he should have retired, knowig thats all his body had left... I do admire him for at least trying to restore the last part of his legacy... at least hes trying Yeah that's a fair point

the reason he moved back down, was be cause bob fitsimmons was the first middleweight to go to heavyweight 106 years prior... bob also moved down to light heavy after, and won... if roy never did that... he wouldnt of matched the record of what bob fitsimmons did... after the first tarver fight, he should have retired, knowig thats all his body had left... I do admire him for at least trying to restore the last part of his legacy... at least hes trying

Once Jones moved up to heavyweight, he never should have moved back down. A perfect plan would have been for him to fight a couple of reasonable heavyweights like Holyfield and Byrd and then retired. His legacy would have been through the roof.

id say roys and bernards ego combined didnt allow for the fight...

You're right. He looked really impressive fighting all those policemen and bouncers. He was incredible. He looked amazing ducking Calzaghe, Micalczewski, Hopkins and Benn (I know he fought Hopkins but Hopkins chased a rematch with him for ten years only to be turned down at every point). His two best wins were against Hopkins and Toney, Toney was severely weight drained and Hopkins was certainly not the fighter he became (the fight was on a Riddick Bowe undercard, for fuck's sake). To say he should or would have been remembered as the greatest of all time or even close is fucking ridiculous. People say he was shot after going up to heavyweight but could it not just be that he was never that good in the first place and Tarver just exposed that? No, no of course not. Hopkins never really wanted a rematch when Roy was in his prime. Jones was the consensus pound 4 pound best fighter in the world and had already a win against Hopkins and offered him 60-40, which was downright fair considering hte circumstances, AND they were gonna challenge for Roy's belts... Hopkins obviously didn't want the rematch.

How do you think history would have remembered him in a 100 years. I think he would have been mentioned up there with SRR with relative ease. He was a walking human highlight reel in his prime and he hardly lost rounds in the process. He was never hurt, and was knocked down only once to Del Valle(sp?) but that was contributed from a slip. With his inhuman handspeed, impregnable defense, and virtuoso combinations, I think Jones could have been remembered as the greatest ever, imo, if he retired after beating Ruiz, he was THAT dominant up until that point. He started as a junior middleweight(154) and went on to become the heavyweight champion of the world, that is quite an accomplishment. You're right. He looked really impressive fighting all those policemen and bouncers. He was incredible. He looked amazing ducking Calzaghe, Micalczewski, Hopkins and Benn (I know he fought Hopkins but Hopkins chased a rematch with him for ten years only to be turned down at every point). His two best wins were against Hopkins and Toney, Toney was severely weight drained and Hopkins was certainly not the fighter he became (the fight was on a Riddick Bowe undercard, for fuck's sake). To say he should or would have been remembered as the greatest of all time or even close is fucking ridiculous. People say he was shot after going up to heavyweight but could it not just be that he was never that good in the first place and Tarver just exposed that? No, no of course not.

He would have been remembered as one of the 15 best fighters in history especially if he fought and beat Tyson, the KO losses to Tarver and Johnson diminishes his legacy.

He should have defended the HW title once and retired.......Tarver really fucked his legacy up.

He would of retired a much better fighter in everyones imagination but there still would of been the question of him not fighting many top fighters.

How do you think history would have remembered him in a 100 years. I think he would have been mentioned up there with SRR with relative ease. He was a walking human highlight reel in his prime and he hardly lost rounds in the process. He was never hurt, and was knocked down only once to Del Valle(sp?) but that was contributed from a slip. With his inhuman handspeed, impregnable defense, and virtuoso combinations, I think Jones could have been remembered as the greatest ever, imo, if he retired after beating Ruiz, he was THAT dominant up until that point. He started as a junior middleweight(154) and went on to become the heavyweight champion of the world, that is quite an accomplishment. as a top 20 all time great