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So of all the weight divisions in which Roy Jones jr competed in, did he duck any mandatory challenger / number one contender for any of his belts? So this includes his reign as a champion at middleweight, super middleweight and light heavyweight. In any of those weight divisions, did he duck any mandatory challenger? If yes, who are they and was there any known / unknown reason why?
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Tarver the most obvious one, but some felt he legitly ducked Michael Nunn, not sure if Nunn was ever a mandatory though -
Dont think he ducked tarver he csme down from heavyweight and struggles but still beat him.Comment
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No. To my knowledge RJJ ducked no mandatories. In fact he was criticized for fighting all of his mandatories and not fighting those that some media members were calling on him to fight. Although, according to RJJ, he attempted to make fights with the guys the media was calling on him to fight but could never come to an agreement.Comment
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Fans did criticize Roy and claimed he was ducking a few fighters during his prime. People said he was avoiding Dariusz Michalczewski....I disagree with that.
Roy Jones Jr vs Dariusz Michalczewski would've been a superfight.Comment
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In 2000, he asked the WBC for Tarver to be put into an eliminator against Eric Harding. His wish was granted, but only on the condition that he fought the winner. Harding then went on to beat Tarver, so Roy fought Harding. But despite that, he then obviously went on to fight Tarver 3 years later.
The only clear cut one, was against Michael Nunn in late 1997. To be fair, he messed Nunn around. He ended up vacating his WBC belt. Although it has to be noted that he was looking for a huge mega money fight at HW at the time, culminating in an agreement to fight Buster Douglas early in 1998. But when the fight didn't happen due to Roy pulling out at the last moment, he then went back to the WBC and asked for his old belt back. And unbelievably, they agreed. But the problem, was that whilst Roy had been negotiating with Douglas, Michael Nunn had fought for Roy's vacant belt against Graciano Rocchigiani. And Rocchigiani had beaten him. So Rocchigiani was the new WBC champ. But after the WBC stripped him to award Roy the belt back, Rocchigiani ended up taking them to court and suing them. And he was successful, ending up with a payout of millions of dollars in compensation.
Whilst it's fair for people to assume he ducked Nunn, I never believed it myself. Not as in that he feared losing to him. And the reason I say that, is because he tried to fight Frankie Liles the year before, and he went on to fight the likes of Tarver 6 years later. Whilst Nunn was still a dangerous fighter in 1997, he was faded, and in my honest opinion, he was no better than Liles (who'd beaten him) and Tarver. So in my opinion, that theory is illogical.Last edited by robertzimmerman; 05-18-2017, 09:12 PM.Comment
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To me people pick and choose/change the rules/move the goal post based on the fighter. It seems when (and I really hate to say this because I prefer to leave ethnicity out of the conversation) when there's a black fighter that beats everyone they're facing, there are always folks calling for that fighter to engage in a David vs. Goliath type fight each time out. And if that fighter does not for any reason, people seem to siht on that fighter and his abilities and accomplishments.
Look at how people critique and have /critiqued RJJ and FMJ compared to GGG. RJJ and FMJ had to have several David vs. Goliath fights through multiple divisions to be crowned P4P best by most, yet GGG has been and/or is currently anointed P4P best without moving up in weight or having any truly elite opponents ( I don't consider Jacobs elite. However I do think he's at or near the top of 160 and I felt he beat GGG).
Different strokes for different folks. Such is lifeComment
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