Roy Jones's prime competition... exactly how good was it?

[GEOFFHAYES]

Toney on Thornton (prior to their fight):
"Well, he hasn't tried to diss me. I respect Tony Thornton. He's a cagey veteran. When I was a kid I used to watch him on TV. He beats lots of great fighters before I even turned pro. So he knows his way round a ring as well as anyone. He knows all the angles, all the moves. He can be real slippery and I know he's tough. But when the fights over he's just a regular guy."

[GEOFFHAYES]

Jones Jr on Thornton (prior to their fight):
"He's a good technician and a tough nut to crack. If I have an off-night, he can take me."

[GEOFFHAYES]

Thornton gave Eubank and Toney quite tough fights and was anything but a punching bag for Jones. In the first round he made Jones miss many times, but got caught right in the last second of the second round if I remember by a peach of a left hook and went down.. if not for Jones' freakish power he might of had a tough night with Thornton. In the third, Tony was rocking back and forth, hardly getting hit by that flurry. He couldn't find an opening to throw a punch because his shoulder was gone so the ref stopped it. The ref should have realised that nothing was landing and left it go, but I think he stopped it because Thornton was holding his shoulder if I remember.

[MikeHunt]

Let's get this **** over and done with once and for all.

What I've done below is list all Roy's prime opponents, from his winning the vacant IBF middleweight title against Hopkins all the way up to John Ruiz.

What I'm asking you to do is rate each opponent from A to D, like a school report. You can even add + or -, just to give yourself some leeway.

I don't wanna hear **** about "but Eubank never fought good competition" or any of that BS, I'm not ****ing mentioning Eubank, I don't give a ****. I'm talking about ROY JONES.

To make it even fairer, you might want to rate the opponents AS ROY FOUGHT THEM. For example, if you think that, say, Hopkins gets an "A" as a boxer, you might also think that he was greener when he fought Roy and only got "B-" or something. Conversely, while you might rate John Ruiz as a "C-" for a heavyweight, the fact that he IS a heavyweight might make him a "A" opponent in theory for a blown-up little guy like Roy.

Let's get it on!!!

Bernard Hopkins
Fermin Chirino
Danny Garcia
Thomas Tate
James Toney
Antoine Byrd
Vinny Pazienza
Tony Thornton
Merqui Sosa
Eric Lucas
Bryant Brannon
Mike McCallum
Montell Griffin
Virgil Hill
Lou Del Valle
Otis Grant
Richard Frazier
Reggie Johnson
David Telesco
Richard Hall
Eric Harding
Derrick Harmon
Julio Gonzalez
Glen Kelly
Clinton Woods
John Ruiz

RJJ fought more Tijuana cab drivers than Julio Cesar Chavez..........(Always loved that Greg Haugen quote)

We all saw what happened when he actually fought a legitimate contender.....

RJJ went T I M B E R R R R R R R R R !!

[The Noose]

RJJ fought more Tijuana cab drivers than Julio Cesar Chavez..........(Always loved that Greg Haugen quote)

We all saw what happened when he actually fought a legitimate contender.....

RJJ went T I M B E R R R R R R R R R !!

That fact that he was also knocked out by Johnson shows that Jones punch resistance had vanished.
Plus Tarver only became a 'legit' contender wen he was beaten by Jones. Thats hardly a great acomplishment.
Tarver fought a washed up Jones.

[MikeHunt]

RJJ was soooooooooooooo overrated.

[GEOFFHAYES]

He was an awesome athlete at 168.

[paul750]

Mike, Roy beat Hopkins and Toney, who with all due respect, have more ability in their little toe than Mr Jonhson or Tarver. He may not of got the fight with Darisuz, but theres no doubting the guys talent.

[The Noose]

I believe Nigel Benn said the "Jones wasnt human in his prime".

And Benn wouldnt praise somone like that for no reason.

[LiLHopkins]

I would agree on Hopkins, but not Toney. When he fought Roy, Toney was considered top 2 P4P...

Yeah Toney was 44 and 0 with 2 draws when he fought Roy.