If Roy Jones Jr Retired after the Ruiz Fight, would he be considered top 10, top 5?

[4Corners]

Plus, Roy beat Tarver after Ruiz anyway. I think the time Roy to retire was after he beat Tarver int he first fight. He should have retired then.

And has Holyfield hurt his legacy??? No, he will always be remembered as one of the best HW's ever for what he did when he could fight.

Did Ali hurt his legacy when he fought well past his days of when he could fight??? No. Ali should have retired after Ali-Frazier III, even though be got wins over Shavers, Young, and Norton after that fight, he still should have retired then. But even though he lost to Spinks, was embarassed against Holmes, and lost to Berbick, it doesn't change that Ali is the greatest HW ever and one of the Top 5 fighters of all-time in my book.

[ironmike2012]

No, just like Tyson, Roy didn't fight in a great era, plus Roy avoided several real challenges, didn't unify middleweight or supermiddleweight (great wins over Bhop and Toney) he always hand-picked his opponents (Vinne Paz at 168, what a career defining win, would have rather seen a Nigel Benn fight).
Roy had alot of talent, but he is not top ten in the history of boxing all-time, as a fighter.

[boliodogs]

That would have been a perfect time to retire. I judge Roy up to that fight and I do think he is top 10. Many people judge a fighter as long as he fights. I throw out the fights a fighter has when he is clearly past prime but not all fans and experts do this. All those loses and KO defeats Roy has had hurt his all time great rating. Ray Robinson had 19 losses and some of them were to some pretty average fighters but almost all of those loses came when he was past prime or way past prime. Roy Jones at his best was really something special. I wish he and Hopkins would both retire. Hopkins can still compete at the top level but why? Jones is losing to guys that could hardly have hit him when he was prime.

[Spray_resistant]

I don't think he has the quality wins to be rated among the top 10 best ever forget what happened after his ability diminished a bit but I always thought h2h at his peak he could beat anyone at 175 or less who ever laced them up he was just such an amazing talent.

[elfag]

There would be more "what ifs" as far as Jones at heavyweight. Not seeing him get KTFO so many times would have people rating his potential to perform at heavyweight higher.

But as far as middle and light heavy he is already rated very highly still. I dont think those losses affected his rankings there.

[SergioMaravilla]

He had the talent to be top 5! But didn't have the competition available

Then again, part of what hurts Jones is how easily he dismantled his opponents, people like wars and life and death battles, and Jones was simply too good for anyone to keep up with him

[SonnyDempsey]

Can't answer that, but in my opinion, Roy is Top 5 based on his athletic ability alone. He was humiliating world-class opponents regularly in his prime.

[Larry the boss]

No his resume is far from great

[ROYistheGOAT]

Check the name

[wave]

You dont get bumped down for losing. You can only get bumped up for winning

Its just the wins that count, otherwise holyfield is like the #57 HW

so if floyd lost his next fight you don't think he'd get bumped down?