Does Roy Jones deserve to be considered an elite ATG?

[THE REED]

Damn, we got Scott and Jimmy in here uppin Roy... Things are good.

[wmute]

168 was Roy's best weight IMO. Untouchable. No one who ever fought in that (young) division can beat him.

160 Roy was relatively green, and also I doubt he could have made 160 on fight night, which makes it hard/unfair to compare him with the past greats of the division.

175 is a deep deep division whose best fighters were physically bigger than Roy I have Roy behind Charles, Spinks, Tunney and have a hard time seeing him beat any of them. IMO at that weight he is in the league of Johnson, Moore and Foster.

[Hitman Hodgson]

What about Jones vs Gerald McClellan at 168lbs?

Would RJJ rank higher had he stayed at HW and fought Lewis (and probably lose) and retired in stead of going back down to LHW?

[bojangles1987]

What about Jones vs Gerald McClellan at 168lbs?

Would RJJ rank higher had he stayed at HW and fought Lewis (and probably lose) and retired in stead of going back down to LHW?

A lot of people would probably have Roy in the top 10 and be making arguments for him being the GOAT if he had stayed at heavyweight, even if that meant losing to Lennox. Unfortunately, now people go back and act as if he fought a bunch of feather fisted bums because of what has happened since he lost his prime.

[THE REED]

What about Jones vs Gerald McClellan at 168lbs?

Would RJJ rank higher had he stayed at HW and fought Lewis (and probably lose) and retired in stead of going back down to LHW?

No.... it was important for him, in matching what Bob Fitzsimmons did, by going BACK DOWN to LHW after capturing a HW title, and RECAPTURING the LHW title.

Do you realize how impressive that is?

Successfully dropping back down to LHW and winning the title, and against the #1 rated LHW, which he was, not Darius.

Only beating Lennox would of been bigger, not losing to him.

[IronDanHamza]

If Roy Jones had beaten McClellan, Nunn, McCallum when he wasn't shot, Benn, Eubank, Calzaghe etc then he could well be a Top 10 ATG.

Not saying he ducked those fighters. He didn't and some were damn near unavailable. Just saying that if those fights were to have happened and he won them he would easily have a resume strong enough to be considered an Top 10-15 ATG. On top of his already strong resume, that is.

It's a shame some of those fights weren't made.

I'd pick Roy to win convincingly in every last one of those.

[BennyST]

Yeah I'd probably pick Spinks and definitely Foster at LH. It's not that he was unbeatable in his prime, but I would say that in his prime he was unbeatable by any other means but Ko. NO ONE in the history of the sport in my personal opinion would have ever outboxed/outpointed prime Roy. An interesting fact about the Bernard Hopkins fight that the announcers bring up as it's going on is that Roy had to actually drain to make weight before the fight; and he was still that dominant.

In reality, Jones was never a middleweight. He was a big, big dude at 160 and wouldn't have been able to make those weights without day before weigh ins, so it's no wonder at all he was struggling with the weight. He probably struggled with every single fight at 160 and the few he had below as a young kid. He was a natural LHW. That was his best fighting weight and where he really looked the best.

Just on a side note: while it was a comfortable win for Jones, it was by no means dominant in the slightest. Every round was close and cautiously fought, with neither guy ever really getting the upper hand fully. People really do overestimate the ease of that win for jones. It was a closely fought fight in every round, which jones was just slightly ahead in.

Either way, he is undoubtedly a true ATG of the highest caliber.

[BennyST]

If Roy Jones had beaten McClellan, Nunn, McCallum when he wasn't shot, Benn, Eubank, Calzaghe etc then he could well be a Top 10 ATG.

Not saying he ducked those fighters. He didn't and some were damn near unavailable. Just saying that if those fights were to have happened and he won them he would easily have a resume strong enough to be considered an Top 10-15 ATG. On top of his already strong resume, that is.

It's a shame some of those fights weren't made.

I'd pick Roy to win convincingly in every last one of those.

Nunn would have been a very hard fight for Roy. Toney is a different fighter altogether, and Nunn would have a height, reach and southpaw advantage, plus as good defence and his speed was comparable.

I would truly put that one, out of all those, as a pick em. Nunn, at his best, has become very underrated and would have been the hardest fight for Jones, arguably in his career. Nunn, before his drug troubles and the Toney fight, was one of a kind and amazingly skilful. Very hard fight for Jones. Would have loved to have seen it.

[res]

If Roy Jones had beaten McClellan, Nunn, McCallum when he wasn't shot, Benn, Eubank, Calzaghe etc then he could well be a Top 10 ATG.

Not saying he ducked those fighters. He didn't and some were damn near unavailable. Just saying that if those fights were to have happened and he won them he would easily have a resume strong enough to be considered an Top 10-15 ATG. On top of his already strong resume, that is.

It's a shame some of those fights weren't made.

I'd pick Roy to win convincingly in every last one of those.

Well I'd certainly agree with the adjective "unavailable" in some of those. Calzaghe was a Middleweight until he stepped up specifically to fight an old Hopkins and Roy. Roy ofcourse stepped up from Middleweight to Lightheavy in 96' when Calzaghe was an invisible newly crowned British local champ. Benn and Eubank could have happened. Benn said he wanted to fight him even though he was "frightened" of him lol. Those two fights and Michalczewski would have been a good addition to his record.

Ofcourse at the time no one even gave any of these guys a shot at beating Roy.

[IronDanHamza]

Nunn would have been a very hard fight for Roy. Toney is a different fighter altogether, and Nunn would have a height, reach and southpaw advantage, plus as good defence and his speed was comparable.

I would truly put that one, out of all those, as a pick em. Nunn, at his best, has become very underrated and would have been the hardest fight for Jones, arguably in his career. Nunn, before his drug troubles and the Toney fight, was one of a kind and amazingly skilful. Very hard fight for Jones. Would have loved to have seen it.

No doubt.

Second to Nunn was a very good fighter.

That era of Middleweight-Super Middleweights was awesome.