Comments Thread For: Even in Decline, Roy Jones’ Hall Legacy Remains Pristine

[NachoMan]

"one-sided wins over myriad Hall of Famers...???"

Bernard Hopkins, James Toney, an ancient Mike McCallum and who else? Solid wins, no doubt, but quite a bit shy of a myriad. Without question, the most overrated fighter in the modern era of the sport. RJJ truly could have been the great that his fans claim that he was if he only had the ballz to challenge the very best in the game. He had complete control of the sport for years, so he could certainly have made any fight he wanted. For most of his career though, he was satisfied to be amazing against hand-picked and utterly ordinary competition. He went on rapping about his greatness and talking **** about other top-tier fighters (Chavez, ODLH, Mosley, Barrera, etc., etc..) who every now and then came up short in great fights againts other great fighters. Wasted talent.

[NachoMan]

At this very moment, RJ is one of the top 10 greatest fighters to ever lace them up. If he wins the Cruiserweight Title, his stock sores top the top 5. How many boxers would have titles ranging from middleweight to heavyweight, 5 different weight classes but most of all, held the Heavyweight Title of the world. Roy is working on history and if he obtains the Cruiserweight Title, the L's that he took doesn't matter. Win, lose or draw he is "Superman" with a goal and he's not letting anyone stand in his way. After looking at RJ's last fight again, my mind hasn't changed. Roy landed more shots from the opening bell. Glazewski fought hard from round 6 on but he just didn't do enough to clearly win over the legend.
In my opinion, rematching RJ will be a mistake. Suffering 2 L's from RJ will hurt his stock so Glazewski should take this as a learning experience and focus on someone different. RJ should continue towards his goal against Wlodarczyk or Tarver.
Wlodarczyk says he would have finished Jones in the 6 th round. To me it sounds like Wlodarczyk want it with Superman. Jones can beat Wlodarczyk if he doesn't get into a brawling match and just use his skills. Stick and move, Jab, Hook and Uppercut his way to victory. Did I say Jab!!! Wlodarczyk isn't as good as Lebedev and doesn't punch as hard. Roy should win this one too. This time Roy will know who he's fighting with ample time to prepare. Therefore, Team Jones needs to arrive in Poland early so everything will not seem so rushed. With the media pressing for interviews, fans wanting autographs and other schedule meetings, I'm worried that RJ may not have much time to train once he lands in Poland. Plus it's a 6 hr time change from the US.
But..... If RJ gets his time in to train and he's all rested up, he will pull off the W. I look forward to Jones vs Wlodarczyk for the Cruiserweight Title. If Jones does manage to win, he will be high on the food chain with Tarver, Lebedev and maybe even BHop licking their chops, wanting another shot at "Superman" Jones. But the results will be different this go around with Jones winning by decision against them all.

You are a deluded sadist.

[AnthrAxNSB]

You are a deluded sadist.

Deluded, for sure. This comment: "Wlodarczyk isn't as good as Lebedev," somehow, bothers me almost as much as the notion that Jones has a real chance to decision Tarver, Lebedev, or B-Hop. I guess it's possible that he could win a decision against Lebedev (that fight was actually close), but he doesn't have enough left to out-point B-Hop, and, at this stage, Tarver would still pressure him and rack up points. I will forever be shocked that Roy fell off as he did after dropping back down to LHW. His lateral movement was gone (hand speed was still there). His reflexes slowed a little. His hand speed was still great, but he couldn't pull the trigger like he used to and couldn't string together combinations. He just wasn't the same fighter.

Anyway, while I have seen Wlodarcyzk fight since his pair of fights with Steve Cunningham, if he's anywhere close to that level now -- and, his undefeated record against varied levels of competition since those fights with Cunningham suggests he's doing just fine -- I expect him to easily defeat Roy.

I still love Roy Jones Jr., though, and I basically agree with Lyle.

[Drunk Punch]

Roy has earned the right to do whatever he wants.

If he wants to carry on fighting even though he has lost his reflexes and punch resistance and is probably going to sustain long term brain damage then as crazy as it sounds - it's up to him. He knows the risks, he knows what people say about him and probably to his face, and he chooses to fight on.

[jray100k]

Deluded, for sure. This comment: "Wlodarczyk isn't as good as Lebedev," somehow, bothers me almost as much as the notion that Jones has a real chance to decision Tarver, Lebedev, or B-Hop. I guess it's possible that he could win a decision against Lebedev (that fight was actually close), but he doesn't have enough left to out-point B-Hop, and, at this stage, Tarver would still pressure him and rack up points. I will forever be shocked that Roy fell off as he did after dropping back down to LHW. His lateral movement was gone (handR speed was still there). His reflexes slowed a little. His hand speed was still great, but he couldn't pull the trigger like he used to and couldn't string together combinations. He just wasn't the same fighter.

Anyway, while I have seen Wlodarcyzk fight since his pair of fights with Steve Cunningham, if he's anywhere close to that level now -- and, his undefeated record against varied levels of competition since those fights with Cunningham suggests he's doing just fine -- I expect him to easily defeat Roy.

I still love Roy Jones Jr., though, and I basically agree with Lyle.

The way Tarver fought against Lateef is a pure indication that he's washed up. Heck, he even cheated to get a win against someone who in (Tarver's Opinion) has very little boxing skills. On fight night, Tarver was given a W when he actually got beat. I am a fan of Tarver but on that night, Lateef spanked him and Roy would have beat him with no problems....even on steroids.

I also believe Lebedev would have beat Tarver that night. Tarver and his wins are suspect right now. There may be a possibility that Tarver toyed with a performance enhancing drug against a Prime Superman Jones. I mean, if he took it against a person like Lateef....heck he may have also taken it against Jones and Green. Tarver just looked to good against Green but against Lateef, he looked like he was begging for a retirement check.

Now, Green nearly beat Wlodarczyk, he was ahead on all score cards before the fight was stopped in the 11th round and Lebedev's only L is against Huck, which was a controversial L. Many people believe Lebedev won and Huck is a Beast! If Lebedev took a controversial L against Huck, I believe he will cause trouble for Wlodarczyk and get a decision victory.

What I like most about boxing foru
s is everybody is entitled to their own opinion and my opinion is...Tarver is suspect, Lebedev will handle Wlodarczyk, Roy is still Superman and I believe he has a chance of winning a rematch against Tarver, Lebedev and BHop. Many people may disagree with me but I think RJ will pull off the upset and become Cruiserweight Champion. RJ knows what he has to do to become champ...he has been there before. Wlodarczyk is good but he can be beat, even by a past his prime Jones.

[SonnyG8R]

It's always sad to see great boxers decline and get beat by guys they would have killed in their prime. I felt bad watching such greats as Ali, Duran, Leonard and a slew of others including RJJ lose fights late in their careers, but it happens. Does it take away from their legacy? Absolutely not! It's sad in the moment but when you look back, when historians have their say they focus more on the great accomplishments of your prime than what happened when they were over the hill.