Roy Jones Jr's alleged "weak opposition"

[robertzimmerman]

I tend to see people say Roy Jones opposition was weak. He didn't fight top calibur opponents. Preposterous in my view but let's take a delve into his alleged "weak opponents".

I'm purposely not going to go into the fights that don't need explaining (most notably Toney and Hopkins) just the fights that are claimed to be "weak opponents";

Jorge Castro - 2-0 against Reggie Johnson (debatable especially the second one) beat John David Jackson twice, 1-1 with Duran. Beaten easily by a young Roy Jones.

Reggie Johnson - IMO one of the most underrated fighters of the 90's - IMO beat Toney, Collins, Two close losses to Castro very unlucky on the second one, close loss to John David Jackson I also thought he won that one. Jones dominated him with ease.

Merqui Sosa - SD loss to Toney, Beat Glen Johnson, beat Prince Charles Williams, competitive loss to Micheal Nunn. Blitzed in 2 rounds by Jones.

Thailand Malinga - SD loss to Eubank that IMO Malinga won. Stopped in 6 by Jones

Montel Griffin - 2-0 against James Toney, blitzed in round 1 by Jones.

Virgil Hill - Long reigning LHW champ. Coming off a decision loss to Dariusz but still a top LHW. Blasted out in 4 rounds.by Jones.

Eric Harding - Underrated, beat Antonio Tarver and Montell Griffin. Jones winning by corner stoppage in the 10th (torn bicep) in fairness an underwhelming performance for once but still ahead on the cards and on the way to a decision win.

What's your view? Weak opposition or was Jones just that good?

I don't see how these opponents can be considered "weak" when the other top fighters of the era they faced couldn't beat them and if they did beat them it wasn't an easy time. Yet Jones destroyed almost all of them with ease.

I'm back.

That didn't take long. Ha!

Great post!

No, he didn't have a weak resume, and one of the biggest myths in boxing, is that he didn't want to fight the best guys, and he was sat happy on his HBO contract content only to face his subpar mandatories.

You can also add Woods and Ruiz to his resume too. All things considered, they were very good wins.

[robertzimmerman]

I think the criticism comes from the fact that he didn't face certain names that were obviously better than those in his resume.

Guys like Michalczewski, Calzaghe, and Collins to name a few. I would favor him to beat them all but it would have been nice to see him actually do it.

I do agree that Reggie Johnson is very underrated. Slick southpaw who could also punch a bit and was tough as nails.

He basically suffered a lot of unfair criticism, because he was beating good opposition like they were nothing. Fans were extremely frustrated, and they craved for him to fight the best opposition possible. And when that didn't happen as often as they liked, they frustrations turned to anger. But a lot of fans didn't know what was happening behind the scenes. A fight against the likes of Calzaghe, was simply never viable.

[New England]

Very true, very true.

People do tend to say that about Roy Jones though wouldn't you agree?

physical talent might be the best in boxing history. roy jones is one of the most coordinated men i've ever seen, and he had power.

talent is top shelf. his resume really isn't.


an abundance of talent, especially a measure of talent that goes way beyond his achievement, makes his resume appear weaker.


i don't call that a bad resume, especially when you figure in hopkins reaching his peak and toney at his. it's just not close to one of the very best resume's ever, which is in contrast to how talented he was.

[BKM-]

What Jones did would be like Muhammad Ali fighting Liston and Frazier and and then not fighting the Norton's, Listons, Foreman's etc. of the devision. So I guess what I'm saying is Roy had a couple of great wins but he did not do nearly as much as he could and should have to expand his resume.

[robertzimmerman]

What Jones did would be like Muhammad Ali fighting Liston and Frazier and and then not fighting the Norton's, Listons, Foreman's etc. of the devision. So I guess what I'm saying is Roy had a couple of great wins but he did not do nearly as much as he could and should have to expand his resume.

Roy missed a lot of names. But he tried to fight the following fighters:

Frankie Liles

Dariusz Michalczewski

Bernard Hopkins

Evander Holyfield

[Ray Corso]

First I always think of Roy as a light heavy, he fought about 20 bouts as a middleweight and most early career matches aren't anything to consider challenging.
His next 30 or so fights at light heavy were against very good fighters with very good records. Because he was faster, more powerful and superior doesn't take away from their accomplishments.
Once his private life started to infringe on his preparedness for maintaining his physical and mental abilities he began to descend.
His natural abilities got him over the Ruis's of the world but Roy at his best is no heavyweight and he didn't have his best attributes at 160 either. To compare him to ATG's I think he's in the 175lb division as a top fifteen performer and that division is a very strong class in boxings history, very strong!

Ray

[robertzimmerman]

First I always think of Roy as a light heavy, he fought about 20 bouts as a middleweight and most early career matches aren't anything to consider challenging.
His next 30 or so fights at light heavy were against very good fighters with very good records. Because he was faster, more powerful and superior doesn't take away from their accomplishments.
Once his private life started to infringe on his preparedness for maintaining his physical and mental abilities he began to descend.
His natural abilities got him over the Ruis's of the world but Roy at his best is no heavyweight and he didn't have his best attributes at 160 either. To compare him to ATG's I think he's in the 175lb division as a top fifteen performer and that division is a very strong class in boxings history, very strong!

Ray

Great post Ray.

I also have him as the greatest SMW of all time, even though he only competed there for a few years.

[Ray Corso]

I agree except I don't consider the 168 a real class. I know its an established weight these days but for titles the junior & super weight classes are BS to me.
If your 167 you can be in shape at 172 also and be a lightheavy!

The junior & super classes were originally set up for young fighters growing into and out of weight as they matured.
Just stuck in my ways I guess!

Ray

ok nite all, early fishing in the AM

[robertzimmerman]

I agree except I don't consider the 168 a real class. I know its an established weight these days but for titles the junior & super weight classes are BS to me.
If your 167 you can be in shape at 172 also and be a lightheavy!

The junior & super classes were originally set up for young fighters growing into and out of weight as they matured.
Just stuck in my ways I guess!

Ray

ok nite all, early fishing in the AM

I respect your opinions. I've never really thought about it like that before.

[IronDanHamza]

physical talent might be the best in boxing history. roy jones is one of the most coordinated men i've ever seen, and he had power.

talent is top shelf. his resume really isn't.


an abundance of talent, especially a measure of talent that goes way beyond his achievement, makes his resume appear weaker.


i don't call that a bad resume, especially when you figure in hopkins reaching his peak and toney at his. it's just not close to one of the very best resume's ever, which is in contrast to how talented he was.

I agree his talent outweighs his resume but he still has a very good resume IMO.

Obviously not amongst the upper echelon all time greats but still great, IMO.