If Roy Jones Jr Retired after the Ruiz Fight, would he be considered top 10, top 5?

i guess ability wise hes more up there than actual resume it seems

Biggest knock against Roy has always been resume. At LHW the names weren't really there in his era, but below that he definitely missed some major opportunities.

You dont get bumped down for losing. You can only get bumped up for winning Its just the wins that count, otherwise holyfield is like the #57 HW so if floyd lost his next fight you don't think he'd get bumped down?

No his resume is far from great

Can't answer that, but in my opinion, Roy is Top 5 based on his athletic ability alone. He was humiliating world-class opponents regularly in his prime.

There would be more "what ifs" as far as Jones at heavyweight. Not seeing him get KTFO so many times would have people rating his potential to perform at heavyweight higher. But as far as middle and light heavy he is already rated very highly still. I dont think those losses affected his rankings there.

That would have been a perfect time to retire. I judge Roy up to that fight and I do think he is top 10. Many people judge a fighter as long as he fights. I throw out the fights a fighter has when he is clearly past prime but not all fans and experts do this. All those loses and KO defeats Roy has had hurt his all time great rating. Ray Robinson had 19 losses and some of them were to some pretty average fighters but almost all of those loses came when he was past prime or way past prime. Roy Jones at his best was really something special. I wish he and Hopkins would both retire. Hopkins can still compete at the top level but why? Jones is losing to guys that could hardly have hit him when he was prime.

No, just like Tyson, Roy didn't fight in a great era, plus Roy avoided several real challenges, didn't unify middleweight or supermiddleweight (great wins over Bhop and Toney) he always hand-picked his opponents (Vinne Paz at 168, what a career defining win, would have rather seen a Nigel Benn fight). Roy had alot of talent, but he is not top ten in the history of boxing all-time, as a fighter.

Plus, Roy beat Tarver after Ruiz anyway. I think the time Roy to retire was after he beat Tarver int he first fight. He should have retired then. And has Holyfield hurt his legacy??? No, he will always be remembered as one of the best HW's ever for what he did when he could fight. Did Ali hurt his legacy when he fought well past his days of when he could fight??? No. Ali should have retired after Ali-Frazier III, even though be got wins over Shavers, Young, and Norton after that fight, he still should have retired then. But even though he lost to Spinks, was embarassed against Holmes, and lost to Berbick, it doesn't change that Ali is the greatest HW ever and one of the Top 5 fighters of all-time in my book.

he had one of the best wins of his career over the number 1 light heavyweight after ruiz. do people forget that fight happened? did it happen? where am i?

Haven't followed the sport thoroughly enough to know where to rate him, but I can tell you I don't think any less of him now. Never understood the whole "he's diminishing his legacy" couldn't disagree more with that. I personally think it's impossible to diminish your legacy. If Roy Jones had lost seven straight one round KOs to bums on the street, it wouldn't change what he had already done.

The overrating would be worse, but he would be correctly ranked in any serious discussions, like he is now. Going back down and beating Tarver was extremely important to his legacy, and makes a greater case for a higher ranking than if he had retired after Ruiz.

no, but had it been lennox he fought and beat instead, as he had been rumored, yeah.

Or even Higher in most peoples minds? where would u rate him had he hung it up specifically after that Fight? probabaly. He certainty wouldn't lose any fantasy fights to tarver by knockout. Anyone who argued that would be stoned off the board

Haven't followed the sport thoroughly enough to know where to rate him, but I can tell you I don't think any less of him now. Never understood the whole "he's diminishing his legacy" couldn't disagree more with that.

You dont get bumped down for losing. You can only get bumped up for winning Its just the wins that count, otherwise holyfield is like the #57 HW

No. He could never have been Top 10 all-time in my opinion, his era wasn't strong enough to get that high. He still would have been Top 50 though, and I have him Top 40-50 right now.

Roy Jones career after that fight really has no impact on my opinion of his ranking. What keeps him out of the top 5 - 10 was the quality of his opposition way before the Ruiz fight even took place. But he's arguably one of the greatest talents the sport as ever seen.