Greater fighter: Roy Jones Jr or Floyd Mayweather?

[Mooshashi]

Maybe it comes down to who you'd rather see fight. RJJ was ALWAYS entertaining. Floyd was fast and awesome in the Gatti-Hatton days, but has become a seriously dull fighter to watch....but not to true boxing fans. They understand his uncanny ability to hit and not get hit.

I say it's a draw.

[Chollo Vista]

It's totally asinine to even compare them now. Even if you don't include all of RJJ's past prime losses, Mayweather has not just beat but dominated the best guys in 5 different divisions. Roy's resume is weak in comparison and if you're looking at their skill sets then Mayweather is miles better. He's like Hopkins/RJJ combined but way more talented/intelligent. If you guy's don't think he's the best of the last 20 years at this point you might as well go and watch another sport like the UFC because it's clear you don't know much about the sport of boxing.

Dominated?

And at 154, Floyd fought 3 fights or so... How is that dominating a division? Floyd was never undisputed champ in a division. He picked and chose which champs to beat.

Floyd arguably lost to Castillo and DLH in his prime... I'm not even talking about the Maidana fight.

And yes, Augustus did bust him up.

But since we count out of prime losses, then we might has well count SRR, Tyson, SRL, Ali and Ezzard Charles losses at the end of their careers. Charles, who's considered the greatest light heavy of all time, had 25 losses. So what.

[elfag]

Dominated?

Floyd arguably lost to Castillo and DLH in his prime... I'm not even talking about the Maidana fight.

And yes, Augustus did bust him up.

But since we count out of prime losses, then we might has well count SRR, Tyson, SRL, Ali and Ezzard Charles losses at the end of their careers. Charles, who's considered the greatest light heavy of all time, had 25 losses. So what.

Castillo was close but DLH was no where near close. Floyd clearly landed the cleaner punches. DLH hit air and threw arm punch flurries that missed everything at the ten second bell every round.

[Chollo Vista]

Castillo was close but DLH was no where near close. Floyd clearly landed the cleaner punches. DLH hit air and threw arm punch flurries that missed everything at the ten second bell every round.

The DLH fight wasn't close? Is this why Floyd almost passed out and start crying when Buffer said he won?

[JK1700]

Maybe it comes down to who you'd rather see fight. RJJ was ALWAYS entertaining. Floyd was fast and awesome in the Gatti-Hatton days, but has become a seriously dull fighter to watch....but not to true boxing fans. They understand his uncanny ability to hit and not get hit.

I say it's a draw.

Roy was great to watch in his prime for sure, did some crazy things in the ring. I tend not to hold the performances at the end of their career's against them though, Floyd has been past it for a few years now he's obviously not as athletic/quick but this happens with everyone. Roy has some dull fights against overmatched guy's too (McCallum, Telesco, Harmon to name a few). I'd probably agree that he was more entertaining, but I also feel like Floyd would've had a lot more knockouts if not for his hand problems and always fighting bigger guys and going up in weight.

[JK1700]

Dominated?

And at 154, Floyd fought 3 fights or so... How is that dominating a division? Floyd was never undisputed champ in a division. He picked and chose which champs to beat.

Floyd arguably lost to Castillo and DLH in his prime... I'm not even talking about the Maidana fight.

And yes, Augustus did bust him up.

But since we count out of prime losses, then we might has well count SRR, Tyson, SRL, Ali and Ezzard Charles losses at the end of their careers. Charles, who's considered the greatest light heavy of all time, had 25 losses. So what.

At 154 he beat De La Hoya (lineal champ), Cotto (#1 JMW) and Canelo (#1 JMW) so that's 3 guys who were all considered the best in the whole division at the time so yeah you can say he dominated this division. These guys were all like 20lbs naturally bigger and they between all of them they won about 7 rounds.

The first Castillo fight and the first Maidana fight are the only fights in his career that were close, he rematched both straight away and won both rematches easily. The De La Hoya fight wasn't even close, if you watch it without the commentary at best you will give him 3 rounds. If you watch that fight and seriously think he won you don't know **** about boxing, he landed 100+ more punches FFS.

"Augustus busted him up", LOL he lost every single round clearly.

I'm done, thanks for the comedy!

[JasonBoxing]

I'm just asking who was the greater fighter. How you quantify that is on you.

But to respond to your above post, one can make the argument that Roy didn't age as gracefully as Floyd did because Roy took on all comers in his prime and pursued greatness. I'm sure you'll have your fair share if people who will say Roy ducked Collins, Eubank, Benn, etc, when the reality was Roy beat the guys that beat the aforementioned fighters and it wasn't even close.

Let's take someone like Steve Collins for example. Why would Roy fight Collins when he opted to beat the 2 guys (Johnson/McCallum) that beats Collins. Its almost like if Floyd opted not to fight Margarito because he wanted to go after Paul Williams.

Or it's like, Floyd opted not to fight Cotto in 2008 because he wanted to go after Margarito.

This makes zero sense. Styles make fights. According to your bizarre logic of making excuses for Roy:

Ali never had to fight Frazier. Only Foreman. Since Foreman destroyed Frazier. Ali kayoed Foreman, so Ali will destroy Frazier even more? Except Frazier actually beat a BETTER VERSION of the Ali that Foreman lost to. Yet Foreman destroyed Frazier and lost to Ali.

Jones in all likelyhood would have beaten Benn/Eubank/Dariuz/Mccellan but they all presented aggressive hard punching styles that could have been Jone's biggest issue. A slick fighter like Hopkins or Toney would never have beaten Jones, but a come forward brawler the level of Benn might have landed a Hail Mary on his weak chin.


The single dumbest logic in boxing by noobs is

FIGHTER A BEAT FIGHTER B WHO BEAT FIGHTER C
SO
FIGHTER A BEAT FIGHTER C.

[Chollo Vista]

At 154 he beat De La Hoya (lineal champ

The DLH that was one fight removed from being stopped by Hopkins and getting his ass kicked by Felix Sturm? He beat Mayorga. Ok

, Cotto (#1 JMW)

The same Cotto that was beaten to a pulp by the plasterman, stopped by Pac and arguably lost to Clottey? The Cotto that beat Yuri Foreman for the title?

and Canelo (#1 JMW)

Come on man... If Canelo goes on to beat GGG and enhance his legacy, this will be one of Floyd's best wins. But at that time, there were still a lot unproven things about Canleo.

so that's 3 guys who were all considered the best in the whole division at the time so yeah you can say he dominated this division

You mentioned 3 guys over a 6 year period. That's not dominating schit.

The first Castillo fight and the first Maidana fight are the only fights in his career that were close

Fights he arguably lost. I'm not saying he lost them, but I know a lot of people that think he did. Again, Roy never had this problem in his prime.

If you watch that fight and seriously think he won you don't know **** about boxing, he landed 100+ more punches.

So you use compubox for the DLH fight, but you do realize that compubox said Castillo outlanded Floyd by 100 punches right? If you say compubox is why Floyd beat DLH then you have to say compubox is why Floyd lost to Castillo. Checkmate.

"Augustus busted him up", LOL he lost every single round clearly.

"Emmanuel Augustus is the best fighter I've every faced"

- Floyd Mayweather Jr

"If you want to see Pretty Boy all bloody, then let Roger train him".

- Floyd Mayweather Sr after Augustus fight

I'm done, thanks for the comedy!

No, thank you

[JasonBoxing]

Also Roy didn't beat half the top guys around his weight during his reign.
He did beat Toney though but he missed out on Dariuz/Benn/Eubank/Mccellan. Those guys were seriously dangerous for Roy. This is a bit different from Floyd missing out on some fighters during his prime. Floyd's competitor pool was much larger than Roy's, in order for Floyd to fight everyone around their primes, he would had to fight like 10 fights a year. Roy's competitive pool around his weights at the time was maybe a dozen fighters at best. So missing out on a full third is not acceptable.

Around his 160-175 weight, a case can be made that Benn/Dariuz/Eubank/and Mccellan were 4 of the top 10 of the 90's.

[JasonBoxing]

A case could also be made that Roy avoided the Steve Collins fight, but Collins had no attributes that could trouble Roy so he should get a pass on that one.