Seriously...who believes RJJ was ever Heavyweight Champ?

[slicksouthpaw16]

so wait not for anything. should we actually say that PBF IS the WW champion. he holds a title but he hasnt fought any of the other title holders. he fought a blown up hatton and he is going to fight oscar again. so can we call him a WW champion? you are saying roy took the title from the worst HW of the time. he beat baldomir and judah for the WW titles. not the best i think.

Mayweather is the recognized ring welterweight champion, Roy had one of the four belts. There is a difference.Lennox Lewis was the recognized heavyweight champion at the time Roy beat Ruiz.

[Burning Desire]

Please tell us here those of you who believe RJJ was ever World Heavyweight Champ so we can disregard your Opinion for ever more.
Lennox Lewis was the recognised undisputed champ at the time of Rjj winning his trinket on roids against the lazy slow "Quiet Man".
Anyone who believes Roids Jones was EVER THE HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMP MUST BE ON ROIDS TOO!
REE****YALUSS!

Well the fact is Ruiz won the Heavyweight title off Holyfield, and even if you or anyone else don't like to admit it. Its true that Jones was a Heavyweight champion. And it doesn't matter if Ruiz was a weak belt holder, he still had the belt and Jones won it off him end of. I think people have very short memories and actually forget that at the time this was considered a dangerous fight for Jones believe it or not. Even Bert Sugar said that if Jones pulled it off it would be amazing achievement and it was. In fact that achievement had not been in 106 years, so it doesn't matter if Ruiz was a weak belt holder, it was still an amazing achievement for Roy Jones.

[TheGreatA]

Roy Jones was a heavyweight titleholder who beat a top heavyweight John Ruiz. Lewis was the undisputed, linear heavyweight champion of the world.

If there had been 3 other titleholders and no established champion, then Roy would've had the right to claim himself a champion and call for an unification with the other titleholders to prove he is the real champion.

Whatever.

I consider James Toney's heavyweight run a better one.

It all really comes down to who you've beat rather than what titles you've got, those belts don't tell anything, the names on your record do.

Ruiz is a good name on Roy's record.

[crold1]

BD: Had there been four belts running around at both sixty and Heavy, with day before weigh-ins, then there are other middleweights who would have done it; they were noted prior. The 'achievement' wasn't available to them, nor were the titles as regularaly watered down, and achievement has to be placed in context. He wanted to win a title and he did; he was a Heavyweight titlist. The title itself was hollow and thus worthy of stigmatization and scrutiny from those who want to place it in the proper scope of history.

[Tyson Jones]

Roy Jones was A heavyweight champ. He held one of the recognized belts which means he won part of the championship. Was he THE heavyweight champ? No, but he was a heavyweight champ. Its that simple.

[Crazylegs77]

Everyone who saw him beat Ruiz to win the heavyweight belt probably believed it.

[deevel79]

Where the hell did the IBO come from? The only IBO champion I recognize is **** Tiger, who came from the Ibo tribe in Nigeria.

OK, so let's see relevant the title belts are. Zab Judah loses to Carlos Balomir, but Baldomir doesn't pay the sanctioning body fees for the other belts. Judah is allowed to hold onto the WBC belt as a result. Was Judah still a welterweight champion?

Antonio Tarver and Glen Johnson relinquish their alphabelts and fight to see who the real champion of the division is. The sanctioning bodies, whose job that sucks 10 percent of their purses is complicated by having to come up with a list of 15 eligible challengers , they wanted to put both combatants in with opponents no one figured to be worthy or worthwhile. They drop their belts, come together for a 175 pound super fight, and boxing has a champion that all can accept.


That's how it should be done.

When Muhammad Ali was champion in the 60's, the WBA recognized Ernie Terrell as their heavyweight "champion" Being that the WBA recognized him as their "champion", would you call him heavyweight champion? If so, that's humorous.

When I write an article and a subject has a belt but isn't the man in the division, I refer to him as a titlist, not as a champion. To me, champion means more than who Jose Sulaiman or any other crook believes is champion. To be the man, you must beat the man. I don't throw around the word champion like some people do.

Then again, that's just me.

I have to agree with you. Even though the RULES say one thing, they dont always make sense. To me, the CHAMPION is the dominant one in the division.

[Randall_Hopkirk]

Roy's success at HW was a big achievement, one he should be very proud of. I assume most boxing fans acknowledge that he wasn't THE man at heavyweight. Similarities made between him and Bob Fitzsimmons (by Jones himself) are also slightly blurred. Even though Fitzsimmons, like Roy won titles at middleweight, light-heavy and heavyweight. unlike Roy, he did in in a time before the fragmentation of the title of "world champion", when that statement represented a singular force in any given division.

[ANDROID_DOES]

Ruiz got spanked by the only tip top guy he fought ...David Tua.

and lewis got spanked by klitsko and retired.

[moofo]

Well the fact is Ruiz won the Heavyweight title off Holyfield, and even if you or anyone else don't like to admit it. Its true that Jones was a Heavyweight champion. And it doesn't matter if Ruiz was a weak belt holder, he still had the belt and Jones won it off him end of. I think people have very short memories and actually forget that at the time this was considered a dangerous fight for Jones believe it or not. Even Bert Sugar said that if Jones pulled it off it would be amazing achievement and it was. In fact that achievement had not been in 106 years, so it doesn't matter if Ruiz was a weak belt holder, it was still an amazing achievement for Roy Jones.

Actually Ruiz won the vacated WBA belt by Lewis.
Bearing in mind Lewis beat Holyfield for that belt prior to Ruiz.
Smoke & Mirrors ......
Lewis was Champ....Roy Jones was not.