So was Roy Jones JR a Heavyweight world champion or not?

[Vadrigar.]

yep... paper title. Lewis was the real champ tho.

What do you mean by paper title?

[Toe Injury]

no, ruiz was never capable of handing out a lineal title

which makes it even more sad that a 40 year old version of the same guy is hayes biggest name win...

[boxer2k5]

he won the belt from a legit HW champion like someone said no he wasnt lineal HW champion but he was a champion at HW. he didnt fight some cruiserweight at a HW catchweight that wasnt even ranked at HW. He fought a legit reigining HW champion. not the best champion but a champion and at whatever weight he wanted to come in at.

[lyonheart]

You haters dont want to give anyone credit. Darius M. should have come over to the states. He had no pull in the situation. Plus, he was beaten by Julio Gonzalez, who was beaten handily by Roy. So, that is out the window. Roy defeated a legit heavyweight champion, not a vacant or created, and no one thought Roy was gonna win. Yall just shut up please. The problem with fans now a days is they are sooo critical and think they know everything. These guys deserve credit, especially Roy. He did something only one other man can claim, so that speaks for itself

[Gordon Gekko]

Pull, the point you're missing is that RJJ didn't have to defend his HW title to be recognized as a real HW champ. Why? Because Ruiz was a real HW. A top 5 HW. A top 5 HW with a title. So that means that Roy Jones had a legit win over a legit HW title holder.

In Pac and Margarito's case, they fought for a title that had been vacated (by Martinez to make matters worse) and neither one was a worthy JMW contender. I don't think Margarito has ever been ranked as a top 10 JMW and sure as hell has never had a title at 154. Same goes for Pacquiao. So, you had two unranked guys at JMW fighting for a vacant JMW belt at catchweight.

So, until Pacquiao can beat a real JMW at the JMW limit, he's not a real JMW champ.

There's a difference between being a champ (having the WBA, WBO, IBF, WBC) and being THE champ (lineal). Roy Jones was A champ at HW. Pacquiao is neither at JMW.