What was RJJ's best performance?

[OctoberRed]

I would say either the Toney fight or Ruiz fight

[TonyGe]

His best was against James Toney.

[Rusty Tromboni]

Tough call. Versus Toney was a flawless performance in my opinion. His body-shot win over Virgil Hill is still a highlight I watch today.

How great do you consider him to be?


Do you think he would have surfaced as a notable fighter if he had come of age in Dempsey's era?

I just can't help but think that so much of his success was owed to unabated use of PEDs. great fighter, but certainly not "all natural".

[GhostofDempsey]

How great do you consider him to be?


Do you think he would have surfaced as a notable fighter if he had come of age in Dempsey's era?

I just can't help but think that so much of his success was owed to unabated use of PEDs. great fighter, but certainly not "all natural".

One thing I always observed about Jones was that he was vulnerable on the ropes. A skilled fighter who could get him to back up against the ropes could get to him. He sometimes he a bad habit of moving straight backward and keeping his hands low. Couldn’t make the best of his reflexes while pinned against the ropes. Not sure how many fighters during Dempsey’s era would have beaten him at 175. Not many.

[Anthony342]

One thing I always observed about Jones was that he was vulnerable on the ropes. A skilled fighter who could get him to back up against the ropes could get to him. He sometimes he a bad habit of moving straight backward and keeping his hands low. Couldn’t make the best of his reflexes while pinned against the ropes. Not sure how many fighters during Dempsey’s era would have beaten him at 175. Not many.

Tarver was able to get to Jones on the ropes in their first fight. I'll go with James Toney to answer the topic question.

[The Old LefHook]

I cannot answer the OP's question precisely yet, but a stronger perspective has grown out of a recent plethora of Jones discussions around here, some of which I myself started.

It goes like this: If Roy's chin was as bad as his 5 KO losses truly do seem to indicate, he might be an even greater fighter than we ever suspected.

Unless his "chin got old over night," he must have had a lousy chin all along, proving that he really was not getting hit at all in those close quarters where he was just too fast for us to be certain he was escaping all punches. There are animals which can strike so fast that to our eyes they did not move. They are back in their original position (a snake, for instance) so quickly.

Give whatever reason you want for it of concealed skill or superhuman natural athletic ability, but he was actually coming up against great fighters and not getting hit. Later experience indeed seems to indicate he was not being hit, he was that good, for whatever reason. Make any excuse you want.

If my theory is true, Jones may very well be a greater fighter than even most of his hardcore fans suspected, for what he was able to achieve while yet packing a flaw ordinarily fatal to a boxing legacy before it even gets started. Yet he made a long career of it, was undefeated for ever so long, and became a near consensus ATG, if not the GOAT.

It really does make you wonder what Django Reinhardt could have done with the use of all his fingers, instead of just two of them. Roy and Django may have achieved something similar, if you look at their careers from this new perspective of handicap.

[OctoberRed]

Which fight was it, where Jones made the opponent see the holy ghost... LOL

[DreamFighter]

How great do you consider him to be?


Do you think he would have surfaced as a notable fighter if he had come of age in Dempsey's era?

I just can't help but think that so much of his success was owed to unabated use of PEDs. great fighter, but certainly not "all natural".

why, when he was pulled up the same amount of times as vitali klitshcko, just once?

Clearly you think Vitali Klitschkos ability to reach the heights of stopping shot 40 year ol neverwas sanders was PED fueled too..without PEDS, klitschko would have got koed by shot sanders like his brother!

[Sugarj]

They might not be signature wins, but some of Jones's best displays of combination punching came against Thornton, Brannon and Pazienza.

[The Old LefHook]

They might not be signature wins, but some of Jones's best displays of combination punching came against Thornton, Brannon and Pazienza.

Anyone can look good against their grandmother.