Comments Thread For: Pacquiao's Fab Four: Roy Jones, Chavez, Muhammad Ali, Ray Leonard

[b Murphington]

Hopkins was an unknown and Toney was severely wright drained when he and Roy fought.

Seeing how well Hopkins aged, his win against Hopkins aged great as well.

[Butt stuff]

Surprised he didn’t put Duran in there.

[Hustle]

Hopkins was an unknown and Toney was severely wright drained when he and Roy fought.

The hopkins fight was roy jones first title fight.

And people thought he had no chance against toney

[richardt]

Hopkins was an unknown and Toney was severely wright drained when he and Roy fought.

You're forgetting that Toney won a number of fights prior to Jones while having to shed a lot of weight but he couldn't beat Jones because Jones was the better fighter. And when Hopkins and Jones were at the most level playing field, Jones won. It was a title fight so it doesn't matter if Hopkins was not as well known, Jones was his only blemish for many fights before and a long reign after the Jones fight. Those are two great wins by Jones.

[InvalidUserID]

He picked his favorite fighters.

Obviously the guys who beat him like Floyd and Marquez weren't on that list.

Marquez isn't making anyone's Mount Rushmore of boxers. Even a Mexican Mount Rushmore, Marquez probably doesn't make that cut...

[The Big Dunn]

Something feels wrong with Chavez on that list but you can’t discredit 87 wins in a row and the big wins he had.

It’s just if you watched him fight Sweet Pea then it was clear who the better fighter and the best of that era between the 2.

[N!Ck F.]

Roy Jones for me was the definition of P4P in his prime. Pure talent beating other greats like Hopkins and Toney.

Roy Jones in his prime is top 10-15 imo BUT not because of talent. Talent is the science of boxing, hitting and not getting hit...Roy literally relied 99% of his style on pure physical traits like ridiculous speed and power, accuracy, and combination punching.
He was actually incredibly technically flawed in many aspects. But an absolute physical phenom that is certainly one of the greatest.
To the dip **** that said Marquez isn’t an all time great Mexican fighter...do you even watch boxing? Marquez is one of the greatest counter punchers and boxers to ever come out of the country.

[real raw]

Roy Jones in his prime is top 10-15 imo BUT not because of talent. Talent is the science of boxing, hitting and not getting hit...Roy literally relied 99% of his style on pure physical traits like ridiculous speed and power, accuracy, and combination punching.
He was actually incredibly technically flawed in many aspects. But an absolute physical phenom that is certainly one of the greatest.
To the dip **** that said Marquez isn’t an all time great Mexican fighter...do you even watch boxing? Marquez is one of the greatest counter punchers and boxers to ever come out of the country.

I agree wholeheartedly

[Sid-Knee]

You're forgetting that Toney won a number of fights prior to Jones while having to shed a lot of weight but he couldn't beat Jones because Jones was the better fighter. And when Hopkins and Jones were at the most level playing field, Jones won. It was a title fight so it doesn't matter if Hopkins was not as well known, Jones was his only blemish for many fights before and a long reign after the Jones fight. Those are two great wins by Jones.

Jones was light years ahead of Hopkins in the development department when they first fought. That wasn't anywhere near to being a "Level playing field". Far from it actually.

Hopkins would go on to lose against Mercado and was dropped twice by him (Something even Jones didn't do) when Hopkins had 19 months more time to develop. But Mercado was robbed of the decision by it being scored as a draw. Would you say Mercado is a great too by beating Hopkins better than Jones did? Hopkins even lost his first pro fight due to being badly unseasoned. And it was 6 years before Hopkins would actually get into a ring with a fighter who was proven as world class without being shot or proving something much later like Glen Johnson, when he fought Keith Holmes in a unification. It took all that time for Hopkins to become the fighter we witnessed. He was basically learning as he went. Had Hopkins fought world class fighters during those 6 years as IBF champion, i have no doubt he would have lost pretty much most of them.

As for Toney, Jones knew all about his weight problems. Never before that point or since that point, did Jones go after one of the main fighters in world boxing the way he went after Toney. In fact, the opposite. Jones ducked the rest. It's well known how Jones point blank refused to fight all his main competitors. When WBC mandatory, Nunn was denied his shot at the title. Benn was told he wouldn't fight him because he didn't want to end up like McClellan. But he had no problem in fighting lower level fighters and mocking them with his show boating. If it was a real moral issue about the dangers of boxing, he either would have retired or made sure his opponents weren't so ill equipped to be in the ring at that level. They're the ones who are most in danger with them being mismatches. And you most certainly wouldn't show boat against them. But Jones did.

[richardt]

Jones was light years ahead of Hopkins in the development department when they first fought. That wasn't anywhere near to being a "Level playing field". Far from it actually.

Hopkins would go on to lose against Mercado and was dropped twice by him (Something even Jones didn't do) when Hopkins had 19 months more time to develop. But Mercado was robbed of the decision by it being scored as a draw. Would you say Mercado is a great too by beating Hopkins better than Jones did? Hopkins even lost his first pro fight due to being badly unseasoned. And it was 6 years before Hopkins would actually get into a ring with a fighter who was proven as world class without being shot or proving something much later like Glen Johnson, when he fought Keith Holmes in a unification. It took all that time for Hopkins to become the fighter we witnessed. He was basically learning as he went. Had Hopkins fought world class fighters during those 6 years as IBF champion, i have no doubt he would have lost pretty much most of them.

As for Toney, Jones knew all about his weight problems. Never before that point or since that point, did Jones go after one of the main fighters in world boxing the way he went after Toney. In fact, the opposite. Jones ducked the rest. It's well known how Jones point blank refused to fight all his main competitors. When WBC mandatory, Nunn was denied his shot at the title. Benn was told he wouldn't fight him because he didn't want to end up like McClellan. But he had no problem in fighting lower level fighters and mocking them with his show boating. If it was a real moral issue about the dangers of boxing, he either would have retired or made sure his opponents weren't so ill equipped to be in the ring at that level. They're the ones who are most in danger with them being mismatches. And you most certainly wouldn't show boat against them. But Jones did.

What I was saying was a level as a playing field as there was between the two fights they had. Jones boxing age was too deteriorated when they fought the second time. And Liles was a top fighter who turned down a fight with Jones. The fact is, some of those other top fighters didnt fight each other. Almost no fighter fights every top fighter since many don't even fight between themselves. Jones proved to be an ATG and that status will remain unchanged. Jones fought at least 14 former or current world champions at the time and that speaks for itself. Anyone can pick apart the resume of any fighter that ever lived but their status among the greats will remain.