Measured Against All Time: Roy Jones Jr.

[BattlingNelson]

people seem to forget that.......Dariusz also wanted to fight Roy until he witnessed a Roy Jones fight live......he went back to Germany and changed his mind ......but its true that Roy had trouble finding fights where his opponent wouldn't out price himself!!

Not true.

DM travelled to the states looking to set up a fight with RJJ. RJJ didn't even wanna talk with him and did absolutely nothing himself to try and get DM in the ring. You and Shawn fail.

And the way I remember it was generally RJJ who priced himself out. I guess it might depend on which side of the pond you're living.

Still RJJ was undoubtedly a great fighter. A true ATG.

[gingeralbino]

people seem to forget that.......Dariusz also wanted to fight Roy until he witnessed a Roy Jones fight live......he went back to Germany and changed his mind ......but its true that Roy had trouble finding fights where his opponent wouldn't out price himself!!

Steve Collins would have given his left testicle for a fight with Jones at 168, but Jones wouldn't fight him (for whatever reason). As he beat Benn and Eubank it would've been a good (not great) name on his resume. Can anybody tell me why he didnt fight him? Jones probably would have won every round (pains me to say that, im a Collins fan!)

[KiloTeague]

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.

Great Post

[KiloTeague]

My opinion- for what it's worth- is that Roy Jones Jr. is the best boxer-fighter I've seen, in fact, at his best, purely spectacular.

I couldn't agree more.

[crold1]

Very good article over all, but there are a few glaring errors in your reporting. (Not the one's you see)

#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. (This is part true, but his foot slipped when he got whacked hard and went down hard)

#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. (Benn fought in the U.S. or on U.S. TV (including NBC and ABC multiple times) often and was extremely well known to U.S. boxing fans).

#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) (It's not clearly documented. Roy just said it was true whenever he'd go on a bum streak. This is part myth as Jones often made unreal demands himself).

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. (Dariusz unified three belts...what are you talking about?)

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. (He was a mandatory twice and FAR more marketable than Frazier, Grant or many other trash fights...I can do more of this later)

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. (Actually, Seth Abraham gave a lengthy interview at Maxboxing with Bernard Fernandez a while back where he says the opposite and noted HBO largely created a monster by overpaying for no-name fights and then dealing with a Roy who didn't see why he should take tougher ones)

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.

Very good article over all, but there are a few glaring errors in your reporting. (Not the one's you see)

#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. (This is part true, but his foot slipped when he got whacked hard and went down hard)

#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. (Benn fought in the U.S. or on U.S. TV (including NBC and ABC multiple times) often and was extremely well known to U.S. boxing fans).

#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) (It's not clearly documented. Roy just said it was true whenever he'd go on a bum streak. This is part myth as Jones often made unreal demands himself).

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. (Dariusz unified three belts...what are you talking about?)

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. (He was a mandatory twice and FAR more marketable than Frazier, Grant or many other trash fights)

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. (Actually, Seth Abraham gave a lengthy interview at Maxboxing with Bernard Fernandez a while back where he says the opposite and noted HBO largely created a monster by overpaying for no-name fights and then dealing with a Roy who didn't see why he should take tougher ones)

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. (Yes it is because this is measuered against all-time...not why didn't a TON of fights not happen because I want you to be more than you were big guy).

[TheGreatA]

This doesn't really sound like a man unwilling to face Jones. Quotes taken from various sources:

"I want to fight against Roy Jones Jr. at heavyweight. I don’t care into which weight class Roy Jones moves, I wanted to fight him for years, and I still want to fight him. He just became WBA heavyweight champion and of course a heavyweight title would be also very interesting to me. I’ve already been cruiserweight world champion, in contrast to Jones who jumped right from 175 lb to heavyweight. For me this step would be much easier than it was for Jones."

"When you talk with Jones and you lead over the topic to Michalczewski, Jones refuses to reply, turns away and starts to talk about something completely different", Ken Kolasinski, responsible editor of the International Boxing Digest criticizes.

"This is a clear sign that Roy Jones is ducking me", Dariusz Michalczewski comments, who in 1994 also shortly held the WBO cruiserweight title. "The fight between Jones and me is what all boxing fans are waiting for. After Holyfield-Lewis this would be the most significant fight in boxing today."

"Roy Jones has never been in a fight as tough as he would be against me", Michalczewski states confidently. "I would put him under pressure from the beginning and would eventually knock him out in the later rounds."

"I always like to face good opposition. Only the best opponents bring out the best in me.", Michalczewski (37 wins, no losses, 30 KOs) comments. "It's my great aim to face Roy Jones jr.", Dariusz Michalczewski affirmed.

[TheGreatA]

Michael Nunn was Roy Jones's mandatory but Jones decided to vacate his titles and fight Buster Douglas at heavyweight, which never happened.

[crold1]

Michael Nunn was Roy Jones's mandatory but Jones decided to vacate his titles and fight Buster Douglas at heavyweight, which never happened.

He then became mando AGAIN for a long time and still got no crack.

And here's some more:

http://www.thesweetscience.com/boxin...-jones-legacy/

In April 2006, when Jones was mulling whether he would fight again, I asked former HBO Sports president Seth Abraham for his thoughts on this enigma wrapped in a riddle.

“His drive was to do things that were of interest to him, but not necessarily to fight the very best middleweights, super middleweights and light heavyweights who were out there,” Abraham responded. “I think Roy’s legacy in the sport absolutely will suffer because he chose not to do everything he could to make himself as great as he might have been.”

[dans]

If Roy beats Lacy, he should move up to cruiserweight to fight Adamek. I think that would add to his legacy.

[Joe2608]

Roy Jones is an ATG. He was truely in a class of his own.
I believe that when it's all said and done, no matter how good or bad his opposition was, he would clearly be a huge challenge for anyone.

It's the same situation with Floyd Mayweather, he hasn't fought the best competition out there, but you know by just waching him fight that he would be a very tough fight for anyone because of the style, athleticism and by the way they just dominate their opposition.

Clearly if Hopkins 2 would have happened, nobody would be getting KO'ed and it would be a close fight, same with the others. You can't pick one person who would beat Roy Jones decisively, the only way you think they could possibly win would be via a close decision. So i'm not too fussed about his quality of opposition, obviously it would have been great to watch, but at the end of the day i think he proved himself enough and has easilly solidified his status as an ATG.