Thoughts on Roy Jones Jr. Legacy

[Sugar Adam Ali]

Great fighter, but should have take more big fights in his prime. He was the money man in his divisions, could have made any fight if he really wanted to. Oscar, Chavez, Chavez jr, canelo, Leonard, Floyd, Tyson, all the money guys and they rarely had fights they wanted get rejected

[The Old LefHook]

Great fighter, but should have take more big fights in his prime. He was the money man in his divisions, could have made any fight if he really wanted to. Oscar, Chavez, Chavez jr, canelo, Leonard, Floyd, Tyson, all the money guys and they rarely had fights they wanted get rejected

Jones, too, methinks, made every fight he ever wanted. He started to run out of credible tomato cans. This can happen when you clean out divisions from the bottom up.

Michaelzewski and Calzaghe were the major omissions. The kraut would have fought. The Welshman would have had to have been chased and shamed, if I know my Joel. He was a guy with grandiose plans of ATGness acquired cheaply himself, so would not have been easily dissuaded from his careful path through the cherry orchard, and since it is more difficult to shame the smaller man, had some natural immunity. But other than divisional categories, Jones and Calzaghe were excellent size matchups for each other. Publicly Jones needed to pursue the smaller man at least for the purposes of shaming, and to keep the immediate buff on his own legacy while fending the wolves from his door.

* * * * *

What Jones and Mayweather had in common is that stylistically they were both minimalists. By doing as little as possible to beat their opponents, they got to screw the public in a strange way while proving that the public would still buy even a bad performance from them.

Ray Leonard was never a minimalist.

[robertzimmerman]

Legacy is what he is shy of when you start stitching the pieces together. He is not short of legacy for a normal fighter or even a normal ATG. Most ATGs would love to have a legacy as great as his. It is short for him, however. He should have had the greatest legacy ever, untouchable, but instead he only makes roughly the top 100 for the last quarter century. He was better than that, er, rather, he was supposed to be, er, we thought he was going to be, or should have been, or something like that.

In the end you can only have credit for what you went ahead and did. In retrospect, for Jones to dispatch of those remaining obstacles to his complete and clear invincibility, should have been routine, except for the hair on his chinny-chin-chin, that is. Yet, a raw novice, he would probably have taken care of most middleweights I have seen. But again, probably doesn't count. What actually was done counts. Jones beat too many B-leaguers and skipped too many challenges for my tastes. Pazienza was worth zero legacy points, or even negative points. Other throw away matches could be named right during the peak of his powers. McCallum was not worth any legacy points during that period either.

What challenges did he skip?

[robertzimmerman]

Great fighter, but should have take more big fights in his prime. He was the money man in his divisions, could have made any fight if he really wanted to. Oscar, Chavez, Chavez jr, canelo, Leonard, Floyd, Tyson, all the money guys and they rarely had fights they wanted get rejected

We've done this so many times.

He could not have made any fight.

You cannot make guys fight you if they don't want to.

It's just ignorant to think otherwise.

Guys like: Liles, Dariusz, Eubank, Hopkins and Joe didn't want to fight him.

Then there was boxing politics that prevented fights with the likes of Benn.

[Sugar Adam Ali]

We've done this so many times.

He could not have made any fight.

You cannot make guys fight you if they don't want to.

It's just ignorant to think otherwise.

Guys like: Liles, Dariusz, Eubank, Hopkins and Joe didn't want to fight him.

Then there was boxing politics that prevented fights with the likes of Benn.

Yes of course, Roy is the only big money man of a division to not be able to land fights in history.

Nobody wanted career high paydays.


Roy must be the must unlucky guy ever to be the biggest draw in his division and all of boxing for a decade and not be able to get opponents to sign on the dotted line for paydays.

I can’t believe frazier and Brannon were brave enough to.

[ShoulderRoll]

Prime Roy's speed and reflexes were out of this world. The most impressive that I have ever witnessed in my time watching the sport.

However, once he got older and those gifts diminished he became a mere mortal. And his boxing IQ wasn't high enough to overcome, unlike Floyd or Hopkins whose knowledge of the craft allowed them to stay on top even at an advanced age.

[The Old LefHook]

Prime Roy's speed and reflexes were out of this world. The most impressive that I have ever witnessed in my time watching the sport.

However, once he got older and those gifts diminished he became a mere mortal. And his boxing IQ wasn't high enough to overcome, unlike Floyd or Hopkins whose knowledge of the craft allowed them to stay on top even at an advanced age.

Now this, sir, is the precise truth. Take away those fabulous gifts and Jones did not have a deep medicine bag of traditional skills. It is also very likely he never had much of a chin, either.

Jirov is someone else Jones should have gotten around to thrashing. Jones could have used a cruiserweight title. He never had one. That is a serious legacy omission for someone now with unexpected legacy shortfalls.

But Jones was too busy making rap records and honoring himself. It is comical now watching him look for a black squawk-war with anyone who names someone else as the greatest. These guys have to blow their own horns--no one else will do it whose opinion is taken seriously.

We musta not forgot at all.

[mickey malone]

Now this, sir, is the precise truth. Take away those fabulous gifts and Jones did not have a deep medicine bag of traditional skills. It is also very likely he never had much of a chin, either.

Jirov is someone else Jones should have gotten around to thrashing. Jones could have used a cruiserweight title. He never had one. That is a serious legacy omission for someone now with unexpected legacy shortfalls.

But Jones was too busy making rap records and honoring himself. It is comical now watching him look for a black squawk-war with anyone who names someone else as the greatest. These guys have to blow their own horns--no one else will do it whose opinion is taken seriously.

We musta not forgot at all.

Pretty unique perspective

Few truth's in there as well

[Anthony342]

We've done this so many times.

He could not have made any fight.

You cannot make guys fight you if they don't want to.

It's just ignorant to think otherwise.

Guys like: Liles, Dariusz, Eubank, Hopkins and Joe didn't want to fight him.

Then there was boxing politics that prevented fights with the likes of Benn.

True, but from what I've read, Dariusz just didn't want to fight Jones outside of Germany.

[OctoberRed]

True, but from what I've read, Dariusz just didn't want to fight Jones outside of Germany.

He felt that he would have never won a decision in the states if it went to a decision.