Best of the past 20 years: Roy Jones Jr or Manny Pacquiao

[lx!!]

Oscar de la hoya

[ELPacman]

Jones Jr. was no doubt the more "talented" guy in terms of the tricks he could pull off wit his speed, but that's mostly because of the speed/reflexes he had. Once you remove those from him, he wasn't too impressive. Also I don't think he took nearly enough risks to to let others test him the way Tarver did by exposing what happens if he meets someone who doesn't let him "toy" with them.

On the other hand, Pacquaio got where he was at from sheer determination and will. He had nothing super extraordinary when he was younger. Just guts and a will to win. He ate a lot of punches but pushed through with his own arsenal until he overpowered his opponents. I like Pacquiao to a similar mindset of Duran(not comparing careers to Duran). Pacquiao didn't give a ***** who he fought as long as he had a fight. The way he broke his opponents down was like watching a surgeon go to work. It wasn't just breaking them down to a boring UD, it was breaking them down to the point of KO or retiring on the stools.

I think based on the fact that there were plenty of fights Pacquiao was in where he wasn't the favorite to win and then won automatically sets his achievements higher. How many times was Jones Jr. not favored to win? Even at heavy, who the hell had John Ruiz winning that fight? That's like imagining Fraud Jr. in a fight that he's actually not favored to win...

Call me a fan of Pacquiao, but trying to speak clearly, because I do love watching some of Jones older fights, I just can't see Jones Jr. career opponents being that high up there aside from Hopkins and maybe Toney...

[LHK]

What made Roy superman was the unreal athletic ability.

The craft and the skill were there, but they were all tied to his athletic ability. That was his style. B-Hop, Mayweather and the likes have a different style.

The things that made him superman were taken away when he moved down from HW. I don't even consider Roy's post-HW resume when I think about his greatness.

At which point you are being selective. It is easy to make anyone look better if you are willing to ignore parts of their career.

His style was his style, and he proved he didn't have the craft, knowledge or ability to change it. That is a terrible stain on his record.

Maybe consistently but he never fought anyone as good as Hopkins or James Toney, so not really. Why should we consider his career as a whole, that's ******ed, that doesn't take away from his accomplishments, if we did that Roberto Duran wouldn't be called great. Just drop it man, you obviously have a man crush towards Pacquiao. You can make a case for Pacquiao without being irrational, I'd say Pacquiao is greater, Roy was the much better fighter however.

So what, JMM, Morales, and Barrera aren't that good anymore?

I wouldn't pick either of these guys, but out of these two, I'd take Pacman. But I'd probably have a trouble putting either in my top 5 over that period of time.

[straightleft]

His power and speed great but technically was nowhere Jones was and Jones took over the light heavyweight division. Something Pacquiao never really did!

Technically, undefeated or skills will never make you a greater fighter than the other. Resume and accomplishments did. Ask someone with half of his braincells still intact who is greater Floyd or Pac, there you will get the answer.

[Good Boy]

Roy Jones by a few spots actually. Pac isn't even the greatest in the last 10 years let alone 20-25 yrs. Roy fought top contenders and hardly lost ANY Rounds.

[iLovesoccermoms]

i do know that Morales is the most underated in the past 25 yrs

i hate how hes always excluded from certain lists, its like his solid ass resume before the second Barrera Fight doesnt even exist..

pacquiao has been fighting basically in the same weight class since his 130 days with passed it opposition..man i love how he got knocked out..

[gmc_rfc_06]

At which point you are being selective. It is easy to make anyone look better if you are willing to ignore parts of their career.

His style was his style, and he proved he didn't have the craft, knowledge or ability to change it. That is a terrible stain on his record.

I personally see no reason to judge a fighters greatness based on what happened when they were shot. To me, that is nothing.

Be it Ali, Roy, Mosley, Toney, Holyfield or whoever. When talking about their greatness, you look at them when they were great and the things they achieved at their best.

[p4p-champ]

Roy Jones and it isn't even close. In fact its laughable to even put Pacquiao in the same sentence as Roy.

[straightleft]

but out of those 8 divisions

135-he beat david diaz who was the weakest champion there-no impressive

147-won the title at a catchweight

and that 154 title he won as a vacant title at a catchweight of 150 against an unranked fighter

so thats not really that impressive at all

It is easy to say than done. Choose any fighter who started boxing at 106 then let him fight at catchweight all the weakest champ at 112, then move up to 122 and fight the weakest champ there at catchweight and so on at 126, 130, 135, 140, 147 and finally at 154. So easy right? No wonder there are many 8 divisions title holder and 4 lineal divisions champ in the world. Pacquiao is just smoke and mirror.

[lfc19titles]

tough one.....I think P4P you prob go with jones but I think Pac defeated better p4p fighters

In terms of ATG list, 100 percent Pacman for the reasons stated above

You have put the awards jones won, but not Pacmans, why not?