Roy Jones Jr.'s Legacy

[JAB5239]

This is right. But many people refuse to accept this. Roy was as talented as they come but the fact remains - he never fought the best on a consistent basis like - say - James Toney did.

They started their careers about 7 or 8 months apart. By the time they met in 1994, Toney was widely regarded as a top P4P fighter in the sport. He'd fought, and beat, Merqui Sosa, Reggie Johnson, Doug DeWitt, Michael Nunn, Mike McCallum, Dell'Aquila, Glenn Wolfe, Iran Barkley, Tim Littles, Dave Tiberi, Charles Williams & Tony Thornton.

Compare that to Jones level of competition: Bernard Hopkins, Thomas Tate, Thulani Malinga, Glenn Thomas, Jorge Fernando Castro, Jorge Vaca & Thomas Tate.

There is simply no comparison. Toney fought his way up to P4P top fighters, Jones didn't. Toney lost 44lbs in 6 weeks to make the SMW limit and was weight drained. Ask yourself this - why did Roy Jones turn down a $7million offer for a rematch with Toney at LHW back in Roy's supposed prime years?

Jones cherry-picked his way to the top, and when he got to the top he stayed there by cherry-picking again. He sat on his comfortable HBO contract collecting $3million fighting guys like Glenn Kelly & Richard Hall on a consistent basis. Jones level of competition picked up post-Ruiz and that's because Roy was shot and knew he had an excuse for every loss. He never did beat Tarver btw, who clearly outpointed him in the first bout.

While I agree with much of what you've said, Jones did unify the 175 division and defend against the best rated op. While I don't rank him as high as many you can't really fault him any more than one could fault Marciano for his era.

[Obama]

Ignore dunce,he knows that Roy Jones would clown his beloved drug addicted,fight throwing boy from PHILLAY in Harold Johnson so badly.

Dunce fancies himself a bit of a boxing historian and pretty much agree's with every word online boxing historians spout and then parrots their opinions on this forum.

Toney got clowned by Jones,there was no issue with being weight drained,he simply got clowned like the overrated clodge that he was,why the **** would Jones fight that fat clodge at 175? the fight was scheduled and had a belt on the line of which Toney was defending at 168.

Hopkins wasn't in his prime but he was a top middleweight at the time and still qualifies as a very good win.


Roy Jones got knocked out twice past his prime by two elite fighters in Glen Johnson and Antonio Tarver.

Harold Johnson at 26 years old was getting stopped by bums like Oakland Billy Smith inside of two rounds

Listen clown, at LHW RJJ was nothing special, Antonio Tarver was never elite, and Glen Johnson was inconsistent as all hell, tho he did seem to manage to show up against RJJ.

Also, Oakland Billy Smith > Lou Delle Valle. If Smith put Roy down like Valle did, who says he gets back up in time? Besides, Johnson was still feeling the effects of the last Moore fight at the time. When Johnson worked his way back to the top, it was no coincidence that Moore ducked him and had to be stripped of the title. Harold Johnson was the best LHW in the world from '56 to '64, as he was clearly robbed by Pastrano in '63. Even Ali wanted no part of the early to mid 60s Johnson after what Doug Jones put on his ass, a guy Harold easily toyed with.

And if you haven't figured out my opinions are my own yet, something is seriously wrong with you clown.

Couldn't be bothered responding to all this. I've had my say on Roy a million times now and I'm completely done discussing his career and where he should be placed in terms of all time rankings.

All I will say is that I find it a little funny/odd that you spend several paragraphs ragging on every win he ever had, calling him gutless, a cherry-picker, etc. and saying that he was a "hype job" before then going on to say that he could rate as high as 50 in the all-time pound 4 pound rankings.

I think that shows pretty clearly that you are a bit of a clueless **** to be honest.

I didn't call him gutless. Stop interpreting what I said and just take it for what it is. I talked about what the man didn't do, things that I feel a truly great top 20 p4p fighter should have to do. It's obvious the man was very talented despite all of that, so he clearly is an ATG regardless, but he must not rate among the ranks of the ATGs who truly proved themselves in the ring.

He's a hype job because people claimed he was the GOAT before he got knocked out. A LOT of people claimed this. This was far from a reality. Hype is relative to the acclaim being received. If people were merely calling him an ATG, it wouldn't have been hype. But GOAT? Pure hype.

I'm one of the worst posters on here!

I know, you'll get better tho. I have faith.

While I agree with much of what you've said, Jones did unify the 175 division and defend against the best rated op. While I don't rank him as high as many you can't really fault him any more than one could fault Marciano for his era.

The following guys could have fought a prime RJJ at LHW:

Dariusz M
Joe Calzaghe
Steve Collins
James Toney (clearly robbed blind in the 2nd Griffin fight)

Also Bernard was willing to meet him at SMW.

Not going to blame Roy, but, hey, none of the fights came off. And all of the fights would have been deemed better wins than what he currently has on his LHW resume.

[Benncollinsaad]

Bernard Hopkins
Only Clear defeat of Hopkins whole career. Any other was contraversial. including 2 Split decisions. Only defeat the hopkins admits he feels he truly lost. Jones defeated hopkins for the IBF middleweight title. Jones had an injured right hand in this fight and basicly won the fight 1 handed, watch the fight and you will see how rarely he throws the right. 116-112 on all jufges scorecards. hopkins status as a fighter is self explanatory, I dont need to go into specifics. You all know what he has doen and is still doing.

BS! Taylor beat Hopkins clearly both times and so did Calzaghe!

[Stoppage]

BS! Taylor beat Hopkins clearly both times and so did Calzaghe!

Those victories are disputed. Prime for prime Hopkins would wreck them.

[Benncollinsaad]

Those victories are disputed. Prime for prime Hopkins would wreck them.

Nobody knows that. Nobody CAN know. Taylor maybe, but no way he could wreck Calzaghe!

[Stoppage]

Nobody knows that. Nobody CAN know. Taylor maybe, but no way he could wreck Calzaghe!

Go watch Calzaghe in his prime and then Hopkins in his prime. Then come back.

[Benncollinsaad]

Go watch Calzaghe in his prime and then Hopkins in his prime. Then come back.

Prime Calzaghe destroyed Chris Eubank, who while not in his prime, was still tough and strong. And this was at 168. That coward Hopkins only fought at 160 in his prime.

[sonnyboyx2]

Even though Roy Jones Jr. is still fighting today, how would you rate him in history?

You can without a doubt say that he was p4p one of, if not the, best of his era. You can also say that when he was in his prime, he was near perfect.

The thing that most people frown on him for is his lack of great opponents during the most part of his career. While that can be said, remember that he beat the following:

Bernard Hopkins
James Toney
Felix Trinidad
Antonio Tarver
Mike McCallum

Those alone are a great list of opponents.

So how would you rate him in history?

Top 5 P4P ATG

[Obama]

BS! Taylor beat Hopkins clearly both times and so did Calzaghe!

Nobody knows that. Nobody CAN know. Taylor maybe, but no way he could wreck Calzaghe!

Prime Calzaghe destroyed Chris Eubank, who while not in his prime, was still tough and strong. And this was at 168. That coward Hopkins only fought at 160 in his prime.

[Stoppage]

Prime Calzaghe destroyed Chris Eubank, who while not in his prime, was still tough and strong. And this was at 168. That coward Hopkins only fought at 160 in his prime.

If by destroyed you mean winning the majority of the rounds, then yes. If you think that Eubank was serious then I don't know what to tell you.

The difference between Hopkins and Calzaghe is that one fought good competition and the other not.

It's funny how you call Hopkins the coward when he was virtually considered an old man and still fighting young, good fighters. While your hero Calzaghe's biggest fight was against a completely faded Roy Jones Jr. As soon as a new champion who actually posed a thread to Calzaghe came up and challenged him, he retired.