Roy Jones Jr: More Than an Athlete

[soul_survivor]

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.

You answered your own question, or rather debunked your own myth. Paz was brutally undersized and far from a top, world class fighter at that weight. World class fighters like Jones are supposed to do that to him.

He never managed to do anything close to that to a somewhat green Hopkins, his best opponent at that time. He didn't manage to do anything like that against Tarver.

Look, I get it, most of you are on the Jones hype still but no, he wasn't as great as internet highlight reels and HBO want you to believe he was.

[soul_survivor]

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

What's your criteria of upper tier?

I've spoken about my criteria plenty of times and I'm not going to go over that. I'm just gonna list the guys I think were upper tier great:

Ali
Robinson
Leonard
Pep
Armstrong
Duran
Charles

A few others but its a very, very small club. Jones does not have the accomplishments, the successful longevity, the wins nor the skill to match any of them.

[.:: JSFD26 ::.]

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.

So, you were talking about once he diminished? If that's the case then we have nothing to debate.

[robertzimmerman]

soul_survivor,

You answered your own question, or rather debunked your own myth. Paz was brutally undersized and far from a top, world class fighter at that weight. World class fighters like Jones are supposed to do that to him.

It makes no difference. Paz was still a world rated professional fighter, and not just anybody could have done that to him. Stop being ignorant. Again: look at the technique, balance, timing, leverage and power etc. Look at his feet. Do you think he just got lucky landing those shots? They were timed to perfection whilst walking forward. It was a mixture of power and precision. That is the definition of someone who was a master at gauging distance. If you were an adequate boxer and you sparred a novice, do you think you could just walk up to them and execute those exact same shots? What hampered Roy, was that his skills were built around his incredible reflexes. And when he aged, although he could still gauge distance, he didn't have the legs or the reflexes to slip the shots with milliseconds to spare like he could do in his youth. He needed to adapt his game. And obviously he didn't. He paid the price. Nobody is dis*****g that. But he wasn't just a great athlete. He also had great skills.

He never managed to do anything close to that to a somewhat green Hopkins, his best opponent at that time. He didn't manage to do anything like that against Tarver.

Styles make fights. He wasn't as aggressive against Bernard, and he had a fractured hand. Tarver was a rangy southpaw who he fought after 50 fights, having come back from HW. However, he took out a very good fighter in Montell Griffin, with a lead left uppercut. Tell me who else you know who knocked a guy out with a lead uppercut. Again, that's a perfect example of gauging distance. Or do you just think it was lucky? Also, he was the only guy to knock out Virgil Hill in almost 60 fights. Go and look at the precise body shot. Watch it in slow motion. Again, that is an example of gauging distance.

Look, I get it, most of you are on the Jones hype still but no, he wasn't as great as internet highlight reels and HBO want you to believe he was.

Well, he beat Toney and Hopkins, and he dominated for 10 years, fighting across 4 weight classes, whilst barely losing rounds to many top 10 rated fighters.

[robertzimmerman]

I've spoken about my criteria plenty of times and I'm not going to go over that. I'm just gonna list the guys I think were upper tier great:

Ali
Robinson
Leonard
Pep
Armstrong
Duran
Charles

A few others but its a very, very small club. Jones does not have the accomplishments, the successful longevity, the wins nor the skill to match any of them.

That's your opinion.

I think he had the skill, but his ego prevented him from changing his style when he aged.

Yes, he doesn't have the resume that some of those guys had, but that was due to circumstances. He never had a Duran, Leonard, Hearns and Hagler type rival to fight. His Tommy Hearns or Joe Frazier type rival was James Toney in 1994. And that's why I said that I rate him on a P4P basis.

[Owlzfan84]

You answered your own question, or rather debunked your own myth. Paz was brutally undersized and far from a top, world class fighter at that weight. World class fighters like Jones are supposed to do that to him.

He never managed to do anything close to that to a somewhat green Hopkins, his best opponent at that time. He didn't manage to do anything like that against Tarver.

Look, I get it, most of you are on the Jones hype still but no, he wasn't as great as internet highlight reels and HBO want you to believe he was.

While I agree with you that he wasn't elite skilled and that he relied mainly on his athleticism, He was great in his prime. Not sure how many 168-175 guys all time could beat a prime Roy Jones.

[Madison Boxing]

roy jones was a great fighter but we all saw what happened when he fought joe calzaghe...

[robertzimmerman]

roy jones was a great fighter but we all saw what happened when he fought joe calzaghe...

Ha!

You've gotta love Joe and his hardcore fans.


2007:

"A fight with Roy would now be pointless. He's no longer a great fighter. And neither is Tarver. He only beat Roy because he was shot, and Johnson did the same."

2008:

"I knew when I went back home I wouldn't get the credit I deserved for beating Roy."


If only you'd have been around to witness Roy's prime. I feel sorry for guys like you who missed out. He would have given you some great entertainment, and it would have saved us all from reading your nonsense. A real shame.

[GhostofDempsey]

I was fortunate to watch his career as it unfolded. There wasn't too many fighters who were as exciting to watch, and Roy did things that no other fighter has done since with his hand speed, reflexes and quickness. Roy punched too hard and fast for his hands to support that degree of trauma, so he had to work around the issue with his hands.

Once he moved to HW and came back down he was never the same fighter again. Losing 30 pounds of muscle weight to drop back down to 175 took a lot out of him and that was the beginning of the end. I always hoped he would have made a stop at CW to grab a title along the way. Now, he's a shell of himself hanging around past his expiration date trying to get that CW strap. Hope he hangs them up before he gets seriously hurt. He was one of a kind in his prime.

[pasawayako]

That's the true boxing skill. He has the skill of not getting hit and ko the opponent.