Let's be honest, Roy Jones JR was good but not great.

[jas]

Roy jones jr was unique

Unmatched athleticism

In his prime he was possibly the most unbeatable fighter...ever

[chrisJS]

Roy Jones was great. I remember forums were rough back then too because he had a lot of fanboys that would cry if you didn't agree he's the best ever but he was truly great. He did things wrong but did them so good they were so right but only for him. A lot of Mayweather fanboys today were crushing on Jones something terrible then gave up on him after he lost.

I guess the legitimate gripes against him are that his fall from grace was one of the steepest in history, he did spend a lot of his prime not fighting top opposition (the Michelscki fight should have happened somehow), his 175 titles were unfairly taken from Michelscki and ended in his lap and the PED thing was real. He did get busted and he was obviously juiced for a long time.

He was something special though. Speed, power, timing, reflexes, movement etc; an incredibly gifted athlete and he was dominant and there are good wins in there like Toney, Hopkins, Johnson, Hill, Griffin etc; He was the only fighter I ever considered unbeatable

I'd probably rate him around 35-45 all-time p4p, probably around 10-12 all-time at 175 and IMO he's top 5 of the last 25 years.

[Boxing Goat]

Roy Jones was great. I remember forums were rough back then too because he had a lot of fanboys that would cry if you didn't agree he's the best ever but he was truly great. He did things wrong but did them so good they were so right but only for him. A lot of Mayweather fanboys today were crushing on Jones something terrible then gave up on him after he lost.

I guess the legitimate gripes against him are that his fall from grace was one of the steepest in history, he did spend a lot of his prime not fighting top opposition (the Michelscki fight should have happened somehow), his 175 titles were unfairly taken from Michelscki and ended in his lap and the PED thing was real. He did get busted and he was obviously juiced for a long time.

He was something special though. Speed, power, timing, reflexes, movement etc; an incredibly gifted athlete and he was dominant and there are good wins in there like Toney, Hopkins, Johnson, Hill, Griffin etc; He was the only fighter I ever considered unbeatable

I'd probably rate him around 35-45 all-time p4p, probably around 10-12 all-time at 175 and IMO he's top 5 of the last 25 years.

Name 9 fighters better at LHW. I guarantee you can't.

[chrisJS]

Name 9 fighters better at LHW. I guarantee you can't.

In head-to-head I can't because I'd have Jones in the top 5 for sure but in terms of legacy and what they did at 175 I'll have a go. Remember Jones didn't really win the lineal title and got his belts from an unfair stripping of Michealski who he'd have beaten IMO.

Ezzard Charles
Archie Moore
Harry Greb (his 175 resume is INSANE)
Michael Spinks
Gene Tunney
Billy Conn
Tommy Loughran
Bob Foster
Harold Johnson

For sure based on 175 career and resume and then you've got a lot of arguable and some probables like John Henry Lewis, Jimmy Bivins, Maxie Rosenbloom.

It's a ridiculously stacked and deep division.

[Boxing Goat]

In head-to-head I can't because I'd have Jones in the top 5 for sure but in terms of legacy and what they did at 175 I'll have a go. Remember Jones didn't really win the lineal title and got his belts from an unfair stripping of Michealski who he'd have beaten IMO.

Ezzard Charles
Archie Moore
Harry Greb (his 175 resume is INSANE)
Michael Spinks
Gene Tunney
Billy Conn
Tommy Loughran
Bob Foster
Harold Johnson

For sure based on 175 career and resume and then you've got a lot of arguable and some probables like John Henry Lewis, Jimmy Bivins, Maxie Rosenbloom.

It's a ridiculously stacked and deep division.

You're name ranking. Do you really want me to break down their careers to show you how that's totally not true?

[chrisJS]

You're name ranking. Do you really want me to break down their careers to show you how that's totally not true?

If you want to. Generally most of the lists I've seen by historians and consensus panels would have Jones around 10 or so strictly at 175. I'd agree with them. His wins at 175 aren't that impressive compared to a lot of the men that I'd personally have ahead of him. His skill and dominance stands up though, no doubt.

Do you honestly think he has a better claim at 175 than Charles, Spinks, Greb, Moore for example? He was never lineal and never got the previous #1 in the ring despite both sharing the top 2 spots for about 6 years. That counts against him when we strictly are ranking based solely on his 175 career. Technically in a previous era he'd not have even been champion AND his list of opposition at the weight was weak in general.

[Boxing Goat]

If you want to. Generally most of the lists I've seen by historians and consensus panels would have Jones around 10 or so strictly at 175. I'd agree with them. His wins at 175 aren't that impressive compared to a lot of the men that I'd personally have ahead of him. His skill and dominance stands up though, no doubt.

Do you honestly think he has a better claim at 175 than Charles, Spinks, Greb, Moore for example? He was never lineal and never got the previous #1 in the ring despite both sharing the top 2 spots for about 6 years. That counts against him when we strictly are ranking based solely on his 175 career. Technically in a previous era he'd not have even been champion AND his list of opposition at the weight was weak in general.

1) 5th - https://www.talksports24x7.com/2018/...s-of-all-time/

2) 2nd -
http://www.boxingnewsonline.net/the-...f-all-time/10/

3) 3rd -
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/...boxing-history

I get that it's just an opinion, but based on resume's and wins vs. losses in the division, not very many fighters stack up to Roy Jones Jr., who was 16-1 (only loss was DQ) in title fights at LHW before moving up to HW.

[paulf]

**** your article, no ones readin that shieeet.

[Raggamuffin]

I always wondered what would've happened if Roy didn't move up to heavyweight. Going up and down in weight ruined him. It's funny how Tarver said that the weight loss had nothing to do with it, then the same thing happened to him against Hopkins (moving up in weight for the Rocky movie then losing it and looking like crap).

I remember around the time Roy fought Ruiz, my dad was telling me that Roy should consider retirement soon because he made good money and took relatively little damage. In hindsight that might not have been a bad idea.

Good post...!!!

[Motofan]

I never really cared for Roy but at his peak he was as close to an unbeatable fighter as I've ever seen. An absolute freak of nature when it came to reflexes and overall athleticism.