Comments Thread For: Weekend Review: Roy Jones Closes The Book on His Long Career

[BIGPOPPAPUMP]

Roy Jones Jr.: Roy Jones hasn't been Roy Jones for more than a decade. The real Roy Jones was something to behold. The four-division titleholder, now 49, outpointed someone named Scott Sigmon on Thursday in his hometown of Pensacola, Florida, which Jones says was his final fight after almost 30 years yes, 30 as a professional boxer.
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[SUBZER0ED]

Prime Jones was awesome, but he stayed in the game far too long. Enjoy your retirement champ, and please, please, don't ever box again.

[JimmyD729]

See you back in the ring in six months

[lowblows420]

Roy shoulda sent Hopkins 2.0 Andre Ward into retirement all those bi t c he's who hit and hold.

[ShoulderRoll]

Roy and Floyd are the two greatest boxers of the last 30 years in my opinion.

I do think Floyd was technically superior, though. Which is why he was able to stay on top even at close to 40 years old.

[Illmatic94]

And Jones did fight and beat a number of elite opponents. Among them: Bernard Hopkins, James Toney, Mike McCallum, Montell Griffin (who had beaten Jones by DQ earlier), Virgil Hill and Antonio Tarver. Critics will say, among many things, that Hopkins had yet to mature, Toney had trouble making weight and Tarver deserved the decision. The fact is Jones won those fights.

hopkins was not prime in 1993. sorry.

james toney was weight drained. period. he lost almost 50 pounds in six weeks. roy knew that toney was weak. he admitted it after the fight.

its amazing that roy gets to make weight excuses to discredit tarver but weight excuses for toney are not accepted.

mccallum was not prime. sorry.

montell griffin is arguably roys best win in his prime. griffin had two (disputed) wins over james toney goin in.

virgil hill . meh.

ruiz at HW was carefully selected. ruiz is maybe slower than carlos baldomir. but hey it did make history. but why not target lennox lewis or a faded tyson?

roy weighed in 193 vs ruiz. maybe less because he had on sneakers and a sweatsuit. maybe with weights underneath. fight night they said he was 199. this fight and the fight vs tarver is separated by 8 months.

tarver gets zero credit. he exploited jones weakness on the ropes. a weakness griffin exposed in their first fight. so this myth that prime jones was "unbeatable" is just that a myth. a great elite pressure fighter would dominate him. hagler pulverizes roy at 160. tua at HW puts him in a coffin. on the ropes he was always vulnerable.

jones.. athletically gifted but resume was a weak C minus.

i stopped analyzing after the first tarver fight. im not even gonna talk the tarver KO or about johnson. a cherry pick gone wrong. and im not even gonna discuss his 15 year reign as a bum and punchline joke.

[robbyheartbaby]

They never go out at the right time, imagine if Roy had retired at 35 years old with a career record of 49-1, a heavyweight title & a light heavyweight title after beating Tarver. Oh well.

[Kiowhatta]

IMO Jones Jr was the at least in the top five boxers of the modern era (I class the modern era as mid to late eighties onward because of the round reduction, and various other changes), if not the best boxer of his generation.
RJJ would have beat Floyd had they met on equal terms, and the closest evidence we have for that is Jones v Toney in 1994 (With Floyd mirroring Toney's style).
His blistering speed, athleticism and ring smarts were nothing short of superlative. Outstanding, mesmerising, brilliant and astonishing.
The only two marks against Jone's name would have to be a potentially better resumé (I do believe later in his career he ducked fighters, whilst still in his prime), and obviously fighting waaay too long past his use by date.

He has a solid career as a commentator, and I enjoy listening to his insights.