Did Roy Jones start losing at LHW when his competition stepped up?

[SergioMaravilla]

What a ****** thread, Eric Harding beat Tarver before fighting Roy

Tarver was only 3 years into his career, and he got revenge in the rematch.


Furthermore, Styles make fights. For example, Frazier beats Ali, Foreman knocks out Frazier, so Foreman beats Ali right?

[Mr. Invincible]

That's unfair, with his sound fundamentals and defence I feel Andre Ward would give Roy a tough fight. I also feel he'd have a difficult night with Chad Dawson.

Fighters I feel would beat Roy Jones, and fighters I give a chance to.

At MW,

Jake LaMotta
SRR
Marvin Hagler
Charley Burley
Carlos Monzon
Harry Greb

I also give chances to

Thomas Hearns
Mike Mccallum
Gerald Mccellan (beat Roy in the amateurs)

At SMW

I give chances to

Joe Calzaghe
Chris Eubank
Nigel Benn
Gerald Mccellan

At LHW

Billy Conn
Bob Foster
Michael Spinks
Ezzard Charles
Archie Moore
Dwight Muhammad Qawi
Michael Moorer


There are obviously fighters I've missed, this is just off the top of my head

I said current fighters and besides Ward, nobody could win more than a round or twi against prime Roy.

If Ward were to face prime Jones, he would look silly, much like Hopkins and Tony did when it mattered.

[Mr. Invincible]

in the first fight yes not the 2nd. he had a year to lose the weight and hired mackie shilstone to do it for the 2nd fight. he got caught. no excuses.

Roy got caught because he just wasn't the same fighter he was prior to the move to heavyweight. That closed eye Tarver shot doesn't touch prime Jones.

From the 1st round of the 1st Tarver fight I knew something was wrong with Roy as I had never seen him as passive and unable to pull the trigger. That Roy was not himself. Seeing as how he toyed with a top 5 heavyweight in his prior fight, I would say Roy lost himself between those two fights and the rest is history.

That said, I do think he was beatable, everyone is. But can you honestly say that another fighter was more dominant or seemingly as unbeatable over a ten year period than Roy was from 1993-2003? Mayweather? Pacquiao? Lewis?

I just don't think so.

[Mr. Invincible]

How is he unbeatable at 168? his SMW resume (bar Toney) is terrible. Toney was completely drained when they fought, he had to cut 30 pounds in a few weeks to make weight, furthermore Toney wasn't a great SMW.

This proves you probably didn't see Jones fight much at the weight. He was the best SMW to ever fight in the division. The length of time he stayed there is irrelevant.

[Mr. Invincible]

Tarver was only 3 years into his career, and he got revenge in the rematch.


Furthermore, Styles make fights. For example, Frazier beats Ali, Foreman knocks out Frazier, so Foreman beats Ali right?

What don't you get about Roy being pretty much shot after moving down from heavyweight? Anyone with at least one working eye could see that with watching his previous lhw fight and then watching the 1st Tarver fight. The style matchup had nothing to do with it.

Johnson beating Jones right after Tarver is proof to how faded he was.
Jones had wasted a dozen fighters exactly like Johnson when he was still on his game.

[SCtrojansbaby]

Tarver was only 3 years into his career, and he got revenge in the rematch.


Furthermore, Styles make fights. For example, Frazier beats Ali, Foreman knocks out Frazier, so Foreman beats Ali right?

Tarver's style isn't much different than Harding.

[SergioMaravilla]

Roy got caught because he just wasn't the same fighter he was prior to the move to heavyweight. That closed eye Tarver shot doesn't touch prime Jones.

From the 1st round of the 1st Tarver fight I knew something was wrong with Roy as I had never seen him as passive and unable to pull the trigger. That Roy was not himself. Seeing as how he toyed with a top 5 heavyweight in his prior fight, I would say Roy lost himself between those two fights and the rest is history.

That said, I do think he was beatable, everyone is. But can you honestly say that another fighter was more dominant or seemingly as unbeatable over a ten year period than Roy was from 1993-2003? Mayweather? Pacquiao? Lewis?

I just don't think so.

Hi Mr Invincible, thanks for your contribution. John Ruiz is a C level fighter at best, I rank the win over Tarver higher than the win over Ruiz. Roy didn't look at his sharpest, however I also think Tarver was causing him problems by keeping him at distance, punching with him and timing Roy coming in. Roy always has a tough night with Antonio Tarver. Also, Roy has a loss in his prime, he was getting outboxed and losing to Montell Griffin ( a good fighter) before the DQ, and it was a blatant DQ, he struck him twice while Griffin was clearly down.

What don't you get about Roy being pretty much shot after moving down from heavyweight? Anyone with at least one working eye could see that with watching his previous lhw fight and then watching the 1st Tarver fight. The style matchup had nothing to do with it.

Johnson beating Jones right after Tarver is proof to how faded he was.
Jones had wasted a dozen fighters exactly like Johnson when he was still on his game.

I'm sorry but I can't take you seriously when you state that Roy went from one of the best wins of his career, to 'shot' in the matter of a few months. I don't rate Clinton Woods, personally I think he lost twice to Glen Johnson in 2003-2004. Tarver was on a good winning run when he faced Jones, he truly believed he could beat Roy and went out there to prove it. Johnson was also on a good run, in his prime and he fought a great fight against Roy, probably the best I've seen Glen fight.

Remember, after the Johnson fight Jones was still able to push Tarver in their rubber match, and then he went on a three fight winning streak, beating a top 10 contender and Trinidad, a similar calibre of opponent to who Roy was facing before Tarver. No Jones hadn't wasted 'a dozen fighters exactly like Johnson', guys like Richard Hall and Rick Frazier were terrible. Roy fought a lot of hand picked opponents before Tarver.

Roy lost 8 pounds to face Tarver, hardly life and death. Archie Moore went from HW back down to LHW and back up and back down regularly in the 1950's. Tommy Hearns went from 175 to 160 and was able to beat Roldan, then back up to 175 to beat Virgil Hill. You don't become shot overnight, what made Roy look beatable was the step up in competition, and an opponent with an awkward style, you know Tarver was easily better than Clinton Woods.

This proves you probably didn't see Jones fight much at the weight. He was the best SMW to ever fight in the division. The length of time he stayed there is irrelevant.

I can vividly remember his fights with Toney and Pazienza. Pazienza was a former LW! Toney was so drained on that night, I'd pick Eubank, Benn, Calzaghe, Collins and Ward all to beat that drained, overweight version of Toney.

[SergioMaravilla]

Tarver's style isn't much different than Harding.

How are they similar? Furthermore I just consider Tarver a superior fighter.

[110110110]

To me Roy have always reminded me of a top fuel dragster amongst pro stocks.

He was soo much faster soo much more powerfull soo fast thinking soo clever almost unhuman fysical abilitys, But he gets worn down much faster and wont work if everything is not tip top.

There have been alot of talk about why he would continued to fight if he where so over the hill, the truth is that its because he loves to fight,lose or win he loves to fight.

Watch him on youtube he keeps saying roy jones loves to fight.

He is the modern day Ali, Ali also loved boxing and couldent quit because he loves the fight more then enything else in his life, its the same with roy

[SergioMaravilla]

To me Roy have always reminded me of a top fuel dragster amongst pro stocks.

He was soo much faster soo much more powerfull soo fast thinking soo clever almost unhuman fysical abilitys, But he gets worn down much faster and wont work if everything is not tip top.

There have been alot of talk about why he would continued to fight if he where so over the hill, the truth is that its because he loves to fight,lose or win he loves to fight.

Watch him on youtube he keeps saying roy jones loves to fight.

He is the modern day Ali, Ali also loved boxing and couldent quit because he loves the fight more then enything else in his life, its the same with roy

I think Roy was beatable in his prime, Montell Griffin showed that he could be outboxed with the right gameplan.

Once again, I don't buy into this logic that Roy went from a great to 'shot' in a matter of a few months.