Roy Jones Jr: More Than an Athlete

[Kid12]

Amazing fighter, tons of talent, skill and style. Always good watching him.

[.:: JSFD26 ::.]

If we are going to ignore Jones inability to fight the best and concentrate on his skills alone even they are far lower than other atgs. That's the reason he started getting kod the moment his natural reflexes gave way.

The man had no understanding if defence, distance and how to survive. The myth of him being this supreme athlete is just that,a myth.

He was a great specimen no doubt, natural ability through the roof but the greatest athletes have more than that.

Are you being serious right now?

[UNBIASED BOXING]

Are you being serious right now?

You know that saying:

HDKSAB


...definitely applies here.

[.:: JSFD26 ::.]

You know that saying:

HDKSAB


...definitely applies here.

Lol I'm waiting for an explanation before I jump to conclusions. I just hope it was a misunderstanding.

[_Maxi]

I see a lot of Lomachenko there. So, I mean, a lot of Roy inside Lomachenko.

[robertzimmerman]

Jones was wasted. he neevr became the star HBo hoped and pumped money into, he never became the household name the US boxing industry needed with Tyson's implosion and he never achieved assured greatness through accomplishments, no matter how much HBO wanted to sell us the heavyweight "championship".

Don't get me wrong, he was great but he was never upper tier great and that was what he was supposed to be in the early to mid 90s when thats all the US media wanted.

Of course he was upper tier great.

The issues were that he wasn't media friendly and he couldn't obtain the biggest fights out there such as: Darius M and a Hopkins rematch.

[soul_survivor]

Of course he was upper tier great.

The issues were that he wasn't media friendly and he couldn't obtain the biggest fights out there such as: Darius M and a Hopkins rematch.

Why and how was he upper tier?

[soul_survivor]

Are you being serious right now?

No understanding was probably exaggerating but he had a very limited understanding of it. Just because he could leap in with hooks doesn't mean he understood how to gauge distance. In his prime, he just had the physical ability to make up for his technical deficiencies. The moment he slipped physically, he became a punching bag. He got destroyed by Traver and Johnson for God's sake.

Look at fighters who have a genuinely great understanding of how to gauge distance, Ali, Leonard, Hagler, lil Duran, Chavez sr etc etc. They all fought on and were successful even after their physical gifts deserted them.

[robertzimmerman]

Why and how was he upper tier?

On a P4P basis, Roy is one of the greatest fighters of all time.

What's your criteria of upper tier?

[robertzimmerman]

No understanding was probably exaggerating but he had a very limited understanding of it. Just because he could leap in with hooks doesn't mean he understood how to gauge distance. In his prime, he just had the physical ability to make up for his technical deficiencies. The moment he slipped physically, he became a punching bag. He got destroyed by Traver and Johnson for God's sake.

Look at fighters who have a genuinely great understanding of how to gauge distance, Ali, Leonard, Hagler, lil Duran, Chavez sr etc etc. They all fought on and were successful even after their physical gifts deserted them.

He relied heavily on his freakish athleticism. But he also had excellent technique and timing. Of course he could gauge distance.

An athlete as gifted as Roy couldn't naturally be able to execute the shots that Roy did.

He didn't just jump in. Why are you trying to simplify things?

If you were as athletic as Roy was, you would not be able to just jump in and take someone like Roy did.

Go and watch his knockout of Vinny Paz. Yes, I know Vinny wasn't great, and again, Roy relied heavily on his physical gifts. But just go and watch that in slow motion. He threw a 6 punch combination whilst he was walking forward. Go and watch his feet. He threw 3 uppercuts, off of 2 hands. Who else did you see throw a 6 punch combination with 3 uppercuts whilst walking forwards? Nobody. That was skill. That was balance, timing, leverage, power and skill.

Regarding Tarver, Tarver caught him with a peach.

Regarding Johnson, he should never have been in the ring that night.