Benn: "Jones dodged me", Eubank: "Roy avoided my calls", Collins: "Roy ran scared!",

[JUYJUY]

BENN

Q: You never did get it on with Roy, why was that? Who was ducking who Nigel?
NB: It's not for me to say. But I'll tell you this - Jones had a choice, his choice was to fight the champion Nigel Benn in a barn-burner or the contender Bernard Hopkins in a snooze-fest. He chose Bernard Hopkins. Jones can't deny that because it's what happened. He won one of the WBC International belts at super middle at the same time that I was the main WBC super middle belt holder, when Chris Eubank had one of those WBC International belts he landed a fight with me shortly after. Okay, Jones had been the mandatory for the IBF middle but he was also offered the chance to fight me for my main WBC belt at his new weight and I was up for it. I was right up for it. I saw some of his fights and rubbed my hands together because I knew it could be a right old tear-up. But why would Jones drop back down to middle to fight for a lesser title? I don't know, only he can answer that.

Here's how Benn said he'd fight Roy Jones in 1996: "I'd have no choice but to throw absolutely everything at him for three of four rounds and hope for the best. I'm not the fighter I used to be so I'm not going out of my way to make a fight with him. I went out of my way to make a fight with him in the past but he dodged me, plain and simple. I'm past my best now but still dangerous enough to give Jones hell if he wants some."

[JUYJUY]

EUBANK

Chris Eubank: People always ask me why I never fought Roy Jones. The reason is simple, Roy Jones was never my mandatory contender and I was never his. He used to call me up over the phone and say "Eubank, stop hiding and give Roy a shot", but at that time he was not a big name and there would of been no need to fight him, it would of been abit random. When 1996 was on the scene, I wanted to fight Roy Jones in his backyard and even told HBO that I'd publicly bet $1,000,000 on knocking him out in the 1st-round. When I rang Roy Jones, he hung up on me every time. He wouldn't fight me when I was no longer champion, he didn't want to take risks you see. I can say this about a fight with Roy Jones, if he had been my mandatory I would of fought him, I am a professional. People think that I would of made a fight with him become boring and louzy, I would not have done. If you hold back against that guy, he will hurt you and stun you before you have the chance to throw your best shots at him and by then it's too late because they won't be your best shots, you will be hurt and stunned already. If you give him the chance to view and the time to get set, he will land first because his quickness and timing is that good. That's why I would of made it an all-out war with him, so that I'd have more chance of throwing my best shots at him and so there would be less chance of him landing his best shots on me. You don't want to make life easy for him, I would of stood as good a chance as anybody of beating him. Roy Jones would of came out of the fight in bad shape, but I would of came out worse off!

[JUYJUY]

QUESTION: Steve, Roy Jones Jnr showed absolutely no interest in fighting you for a unification fight at super-middleweight. It's difficult to believe that the man who has been the best pound-for-pound fighter for the past 10 years or more would have been scared of you in the slightest. What was the real reason the fight never even got to the negotiation table?
James Slattery

STEVE COLLINS: Well James, I travelled to Pensacola to see Roy Jones fight and I actually climbed into the ring after his fight. I accused him of avoiding me and I challenged him live on national TV. At the post-fight conference I spoke to Jones and the press, I called him a coward and a yellow dog and I offered to fight him, winners take all. I would have beaten Roy Jones and he knew it!

[Martin (Top Knowledge)]

Well It's no secret that Roy Jones has spent a lot of his career avoiding the best in each division.

I think the reason was because Gerald McClellan was a friend of his, and after seeing what happened to him, it changed Roy forever... He only ever looked for fights that he KNEW he could win, or fights agaist fighters that weren't dangerous.

He's been quite vocal about this... I don't wanna harp on about Joe Calzaghe, but Roy Jones openly admitted - "I'll never fight Joe Calzaghe coz' he's too dangerous, he's fast, powerfull, hungry, and unbeaten. I can make easier money defending my belts against easier fighters".

That really F**ked me off when Jones said that, and I lost a lot of respect for him.

[RobbieD]

It's reasons like this why I can never consider Roy Jones Jnr to be one of the best ever. The guy is a laughing stock. He got beat by Tarver and Johnson who are two guys who wouldn't have lasted 10 minutes with Benn, Eubank or Collins at their respective peaks. Calzaghe would still mop the floor with him now.

[Bad Intentions]

It's reasons like this why I can never consider Roy Jones Jnr to be one of the best ever. The guy is a laughing stock. He got beat by Tarver and Johnson who are two guys who wouldn't have lasted 10 minutes with Benn, Eubank or Collins at their respective peaks. Calzaghe would still mop the floor with him now.

he got beat at the end of his career so what, all fighters do, do you honestly believe that they would have beat Roy at 168, you are crazy, And talkin bout respective peaks, Roy dominates Cal***gie, Eubank, Collins, and who ever else when he was at 168, Cal***gie nneds to stop ducking Lacy and fight, who has he fought? and he seems to have allot of respect, Roy may not be the Ryo of old now but at 168 he was unstoppable and u kno it.

[MrUnstoppable]

Last time I checked, Benn got his ass reamed by Malinga. Jones KOed Malinga in his next fight. This thread is a moot point. No one listed will ever be inducted in the HOF and will be an afterthought in the history books. All the excuses come from the haters. Jones would have destroyed everyone you listed above during that period of time. To think otherwise would be nothing more than ignorance. Even if you hate Roy you can't take away from his ability and what he accomplished.

[Martin (Top Knowledge)]

I hear what you guys are saying, "Roy Jones Junior would have destroyed this guy, and would have destroyed that guy!" But the problem is, that's just opinion.

This is why Roy Jones Junior's career is kinda frustrating, because we'll never know how good he could have been or whether he would have beaten the guy's above because he refused to fight the best in each division.

[The Fix]

that juy juy character constantly makes rj hate threads and comes up with these lame excuses as to why rj didnt fight british fighters.

nigel benn had his chance but lost to thulane malinga(sp?)

eubank didnt give roy an oppurtunity when roy was on the come up, so why does roy jones have to give eubank a shot when eubank was clearly on the downside of his career?

collins is a joke that people with a british bias like to hype up. if roy jones were to fight and beat him they'd say the same thing they did when he beat down clinton woods, he fights nobodies

[theironone]

Last time I checked, Benn got his ass reamed by Malinga. Jones KOed Malinga in his next fight. This thread is a moot point. No one listed will ever be inducted in the HOF and will be an afterthought in the history books. All the excuses come from the haters. Jones would have destroyed everyone you listed above during that period of time. To think otherwise would be nothing more than ignorance. Even if you hate Roy you can't take away from his ability and what he accomplished.

I understand what your saying, i agree roy would have beaten benn but in the fight after Benn Malinga did not get beat by jones