was prime roy jones the most perfect fighter ever?

[IMDAZED]

Well I think you can credit Ray more because he had a serious eye injury that should have ended his career but it didnt. Also look at the ATG's Ray beat and compare that to RJJ who beat Hop arguably before his mental prime and he beat Toney who clearly wasnt in his physical prime for that fight. RJJ has 1 maybe 2 HOF guys on his resume Ray has 4.

I'm sorry, I must've missed the part where we began discussing who was greater? I was referring to the technical boxer part. But carry on.

[talip bin osman]

the james toney against jirov was closest to perfection a fighter can be IMO... offense, defense, footwork, counterpunching accuracy, chin ang ring generalship... toney had it all that night...

[elfag]

may have been some better but was he the most perfect fighter all round, handspeed, power, footwork etc?

Roy was just very gifted with speed and power, absurdly so. But he was very unorthodox and his defense just relied on his speed. He was always bothered when pressured and driven to the ropes, that can be seen as early as the Hopkins fight when he dropped rounds when hopkins backed him to the ropes. He was just usually so dominate against his opposition that that flaw didnt really show much until it can be seen in the Tarver I fight as well.

Amazing speed and reflexes but that doesnt make him well rounded.

No, I think Sugar Ray Leonard was more complete.

Agreed. SRL could box or brawl, he was a far more complete fighter than Roy. There are actually a lot of fighters more well rounded than Roy, someone like Barrera who could box defensively using footwork and counterpunching to avoid hamed and counter him when hes off balance or brawl in an all out war like in Morales I. He just isnt as physically gifted as Roy. SRL is a good example because he has the athleticism comparable to Roy but he also was more rounded.

[MANGLER]

If not, pretty close.

[Spray_resistant]

I think Roy was great the most athletically gifted ever, but without those athletic gifts he would never ever have been able to get away with some of the haphazard techniques he applied. His flaw became apparent when some of his ability faded and we saw the results because after years and years of fighting the way he always has, he can't simply unlearn at age 40 the unique style he perfected over a lifetime.

[street bully]

Roy had the exact same flaws and holes in his games when he was prime as he does now. It's just that his super human speed and reflexes allowed him to get away with things regular fighters would not.

[Silencers]

No, he was perhaps the most athletically gifted fighter of all time but not the most perfect fighter ever, his flaws were always there, his physical gifts just masked them really well, once those physical gifts left, those flaws became more and more visible.

[Slater P Persin]

may have been some better but was he the most perfect fighter all round, handspeed, power, footwork etc?

There was definitely a time when he was in the running for greatest of all time. It was just hype though.

[wmute]

The blend of speed, power and reflexes was probably never matched and most likely never will be.

In terms of skills/technique I could fill a page with more well rounded fighters.

[johncs08]

may have been some better but was he the most perfect fighter all round, handspeed, power, footwork etc?

no.

theres only 1 fighter who represents the word perfection.

floyd mayweather jr.

hes the best.