Roy Jones Jr. at Heavyweight

[SN!PER]

Getting destroyed by Lennox and then retiring would've looked a whole lot better than what happened.

[robertzimmerman]

Say he stayed at heavyweight after the Ruiz win, how would he have fared against the then current heavyweights. I know people don't rate Ruiz highly, but this was an upcoming HW who had knocked down Holyfield, and perhaps without the weight loss to move back down maybe the speed, reflexes and athleticism wouldn't have deteriorated.

He could have beaten guys like Evander, Byrd, and maybe a shot Tyson.

He couldn't have beaten guys like Lennox and Vitali though.

[robertzimmerman]

He would have been destroyed. Ruiz was the perfect style for RJJ to look good against. Btw, big RJJ fan here.

He could have beaten some guys, but he couldn't have had a sustained run.

[robertzimmerman]

Anyone that legit asks this, clearly wasn't following the sport back then. I remember there were little rumblings about him fighting Lewis just for ****s n giggles, but everyone with even a little knowledge of boxing knew Lewis would've killed him in the ring.

RJJ vs Ruiz was the definitiom of a 1 off fight at a higher weight class. Ruiz had just the right amount of no power at all for RJJ to take that risk.

Ruiz was still a 230 pound HW who possessed enough power to easily have put Roy to sleep.

[robertzimmerman]

He was 200 lbs for the Ruiz fight.

He was just under.

[soul_survivor]

Say he stayed at heavyweight after the Ruiz win, how would he have fared against the then current heavyweights. I know people don't rate Ruiz highly, but this was an upcoming HW who had knocked down Holyfield, and perhaps without the weight loss to move back down maybe the speed, reflexes and athleticism wouldn't have deteriorated.

Lennox might have killed Jones. Tyson, even as past his best as he was would have broken his jaw and Holyfield at 40 would have mauled him. To the KLits would have beaten him with ease too.

I guess Jones could have gone in and gotten a win against someone like Byrd or Toney.

[elfag]

I know right

Ruiz outweighed Jones by close to 40 lbs. One clean punch could've KOd him. It was still a dangerous matchup. Very dangerous.

Classic bout of speed, smarts and an undersized fighter going against the bigger guy.

You have to remember that RJJ started as a JMW.

It's like Jermall Charlo going up to heavy to fight Chris Arreola or Stiverne.

Ruiz was a top 5 heavyweight if not higher at the time

Roy claimed he was more than 193 and the scale was off, I forget what it was but closer to 200. 193 takes away from the excuse of having to drain down massive amounts of muscle to make 175 again for the tarver rematch.

Anyways, Ruiz did have a belt and was in the top but it was also hand picked due to styles and a ref hand picked that would not allow ruiz "huggy bear" to hold much.

No way roy beats lewis but it would have been cool to see him fight toney again or someone like byrd. I think he needed to put on more weight though if he wanted to stay there and compete with larger and mobile fighters.

[elfag]

Lennox might have killed Jones. Tyson, even as past his best as he was would have broken his jaw and Holyfield at 40 would have mauled him. To the KLits would have beaten him with ease too.

I guess Jones could have gone in and gotten a win against someone like Byrd or Toney.

He could compete against them but I think he would need to put on some weight more permanently. Theyre a lot more mobile than ruiz. Ruiz was notorious for holding and forget the ref but it was one that was known to break up holding quickly. Take a flat flooted guy like ruiz and take away his most trusted fouling methods and hes tailor made for a lightening fast pot shotter.

[Big_L]

No he wasn't

Lol he was 189 at the weigh in and the HBO fight night scale scale is unofficial

if you look up the documentary "the sweet science" that was made for this fight roy gets on a scale right after the weigh in and is 200. Mark Ratner read it wrong.

[juggernaut666]

RJJ not fighting Lewis had only to do with Lewis himself . If he had managed to make the fight ,he then would tarnish his rep even more for not giving V.Klitchko his rematch to fight a MUCH more beatable fighter not remotely in his weight class . Really it had to do with V.Klitchko coming back just 6 months later and giving Lewis second thoughts which made him decide to retire .

Lewis obviously crushes Jones who not if but when he gets hit isnt lasting long at all.