Measured Against All Time: Roy Jones Jr.

[BIGPOPPAPUMP]

By Cliff Rold - This Saturday night, Roy Jones makes his 59th career start, still in search of an ending to his liking. Across the ring, he’ll find a former Super Middleweight titlist, Jeff Lacy (25-2, 176 KO), looking for a big name to revive his fortunes.

That’s the storyline of this single fight.

It is only a small part of a bigger storyline which has been a prominent part of boxing for over two decades. While others were bigger stars, the peak Jones was the preeminent physical talent of his generation. The talent might not be what it was any more, but the memories of better days remain strong with boxing fans.

The memories of lesser challenges, even at his peak, do as well and it is part of what makes Jones so compelling. Was he the Ray Robinson of his time? Or was Jones a carefully manufactured athletic specimen who got too much credit for beating less than he could have?

As we prepare for the latest in the last chapters of the Roy years, it’s a good time to ask: how good was RJJ measured against all-time? [details]

[BestPavlikFan]

good article

[NakiFan]

Good read but seriously is it Roy Jones day in nsb or something?

[The Underboss]

Good article.

I'm surprised Roy still has the courage to keep going, even after the KO losses he has suffered before.

the heart of a warrior.

[Dambala]

Good article. It was funny to see Danny Garcia's name mentioned there as the sucking fight. I used to train with him and I remember one time that he told me that he fought Roy Jones and I tough it was BS. The funny thing was that he told me that he didn't know anything about him and he told Jones that he was prepared to "rip his head off". Of course I found out later that he was telling the truth.

[illmatickid]

Great article

[illmatickid]

Good read but seriously is it Roy Jones day in nsb or something?

he is fighting this weekend so maybe thats why

[Spray_resistant]

A very good article, I too will always wonder how fights, with G-man, Nunn, and Jackson would have gone for Jones.

[DonTaseMeBrah]

168 seems like the division to go to hide.

[!! Shawn]

By Cliff Rold - This Saturday night, Roy Jones makes his 59th career start, still in search of an ending to his liking. Across the ring, he’ll find a former Super Middleweight titlist, Jeff Lacy (25-2, 176 KO), looking for a big name to revive his fortunes.

That’s the storyline of this single fight.

It is only a small part of a bigger storyline which has been a prominent part of boxing for over two decades. While others were bigger stars, the peak Jones was the preeminent physical talent of his generation. The talent might not be what it was any more, but the memories of better days remain strong with boxing fans.

The memories of lesser challenges, even at his peak, do as well and it is part of what makes Jones so compelling. Was he the Ray Robinson of his time? Or was Jones a carefully manufactured athletic specimen who got too much credit for beating less than he could have?

As we prepare for the latest in the last chapters of the Roy years, it’s a good time to ask: how good was RJJ measured against all-time? [details]

Very good article over all, but there are a few glaring errors in your reporting.

#1. Lou De Valle did not legitimately knock down Roy Jones Jr. Roy's back foot clearly slipped. To describe it as a "nasty left hand" is simply dishonest.

#2. Eubanks and Benn's careers were for the most part played out by the time Roy arrived on the scene at 168, and... they fought exclusively in England, had little to no name recognition state side, and would have been nearly impossible to make a deal with due to their bloated ego's.

#3. James Toney would have never been a viable rematch as he wouldn't have been able to make any reasonably contracted weight.

#4. Its clearly documented that Roy Jones Jr. suffered from Shane Mosley syndrome throughout a large part of his career. Nobody would fight him. They either demanded outlandish sums of money for what would have undoubtedly been a loss, or simply avoided the matter all together in favor of making their own meaningless title defenses (Dariusz Michalczewski)

Its really bad that you bring up Dariusz who was about as willing to unify titles as Sven Ottke was, actual less so, since Ottke actually managed to pick up two straps.

Michael Nunn was also not a viable option. A fight with Roy would not be marketable after his loss to James Toney, especially since Roy took apart Toney, and Nunn had severely diminished as a force in the division.

Same thing goes for Hopkins, he was quite about Roy until Roy moved far enough up in weight that negotiations would be difficult enough as to never result in a fight between the two.

Roy's situation is difficult because he demonstrated the willingness to take the most difficult fights on offer to him such as Toney and Hill, but at the same time, he was forced to fight less difficult opposition when the big names would not fight him.

At one time HBO attempted to take over match making for Roy Jones jr only discover what Roy had been claiming all long was true. Nobody was willing to fight him for any reasonable sum of money.

Granted you did mention some of this in passing at the end of the article, it is not given enough emphasis as timing is everything when talking about what fights are made.