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Originally posted by cally83
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He was exciting to watch, for sure, but let's analyse his career. He got himself rolling by beating 20 bums to build up a 20-0 record, which is fair enough as is often done. In that run he beat the likes of Ricky Randall, Rollin Pin Williams and and Tony Waddles. Heard of them? Don't worry, neither has anybody else.
In his 21st fight he fought the Legend Bernard Hopkins 22-1 for the vacant IBF World title. Roy deservedly won the decision, but this was a pre prime Bernard Hopkins! Hopkins was a late bloomer, a fine wine who aged majestically, at this stage, he was merely a good domestic fighter.
He had four further soft touches in his following fights, leading into a big fight against James Toney 44-0-2. Jones got the win on points and deserved it, his second good win of his career. He may have hit top 20 P4P in the world at this stage, but he was nowhere near the elite.
He then failed to continue this momentum and fought six more nobodies, before facing Mike Macallum 49-3-1, which might sound like a good name on paper, but at this time, Mike was 40 and completely finished. Roy won again, obviously. Around this time Roy was running and hiding from Dariusz Michalczewski, who he knew he couldn't beat. Instead he faced Montell Griffin 26-0.
They both had a victory over James Tony in common, Montell also had wins over Randy McGaugh, Terrence Wright and Tony Golden. It seemed like a really 50-50 on paper and so it proved. In the later rounds, Jones was seemingly 3-4 rounds down on the scorecards, he caught Griffin with a good punch knocking him down to close the deficit, but his frustration in his own performance and self realisation that he's not as good as he though he was, he hit Griffin whilst he was on the floor, suffering his first defeat by DQ. To be fair to Jones, they rematched and he won by first round KO.
His next fight was Virgil Hill 43-2, another good opponent, but he had just come off a heavy points loss to the man Roy was still running from - Dariusz Michalczewski. Roy won by KO against a faded 34 year old Hill.
Another 10 wins, some decent, some average, some useless, lead to a fight with Clinton Woods 32-1. Woods had beaten Paul Bonson, John Duckworth and Ernie Loveridge, with his sole loss coming to journeyman David Starie, so he was definitely one of Roy's toughest fights. Jones won by knockout.
He then fought "Heavyweight" "Champion" John Ruiz. He won the "Heavyweight Championship" Then vacated and ran from the real heavyweights. His fight with Antonio Tarver came next, Tarver 21-1. He was 1-1 with another Jones victim, the decent Eric Harding, and was 1-0 against Griffin, as opposed to Jones 1-1 against Griffin. Tarver had also beaten Tracy Barrios, Boyer Chew, and Roy Francis. Jones won a close fight that could have went either way by a MD decision. They rematched, and Tarver won by KO, giving Roy his second defeat, first according to his many fans who disregarded the DQ loss. Excuses such as going up in weight killed his prime were thrown around, but the reality is, he just lost to a slightly better guy.
He rebounded by beating Glenn Johnson 40-9-2, a decent, yet completely overrated fighter and won by KO(I know Roy actually lost this fight!). A rubber match with Tarver went as expected with Tarver's superior boxing skills earning him a points win. Two bums followed, then he fought Felix Trinaded 42-2, but 2-2 in his last four fights. As expected, Jones won against the overrated Trinadad.
Then a massive fight with Joe Calzaghe 45-0, both men past their primes, but still a worthy fight. Jones knocked Calzaghe down in R1. But Calzaghe responded with his superior skills and speed to win 11 rounds on the bounce. A win against a journeyan, and the shell of Jeff Lacy followed.
Then Roy was knocked out by Danny Green 27-3. Two losses to Markus Beyer and one to Anthony Mundine, and wins over Eni Latu, Joel Bourke and Brad Mayonese, he proved to much for Roy. Roy then fought a rematch with Bernard Hopkins, now in his prime and he took Roy to school, winning an easy decision. Roy then faced Denis Lebedev 21-1. A sole loss to Marko Huck and wins over Berry Butler, Nick Okoth and Dmitry adamovich. Roy was knocked out.
Roy then beat 8 journeyman to pad his record before facing Enzo Maccaranelli 40-7, who was well past his best and never any good, yet he splattered Roy all over the canvas to win by KO. Since then Roy has won his last four fights. Vyron Phillips in his one and only fight, Rodney Moore 17-11, Bobby Gunn 21-6 and Scott Sigmon 30-11. All in all Roy was a good boxer, but far from a great one.
In his 21st fight he fought the Legend Bernard Hopkins 22-1 for the vacant IBF World title. Roy deservedly won the decision, but this was a pre prime Bernard Hopkins! Hopkins was a late bloomer, a fine wine who aged majestically, at this stage, he was merely a good domestic fighter.
He had four further soft touches in his following fights, leading into a big fight against James Toney 44-0-2. Jones got the win on points and deserved it, his second good win of his career. He may have hit top 20 P4P in the world at this stage, but he was nowhere near the elite.
He then failed to continue this momentum and fought six more nobodies, before facing Mike Macallum 49-3-1, which might sound like a good name on paper, but at this time, Mike was 40 and completely finished. Roy won again, obviously. Around this time Roy was running and hiding from Dariusz Michalczewski, who he knew he couldn't beat. Instead he faced Montell Griffin 26-0.
They both had a victory over James Tony in common, Montell also had wins over Randy McGaugh, Terrence Wright and Tony Golden. It seemed like a really 50-50 on paper and so it proved. In the later rounds, Jones was seemingly 3-4 rounds down on the scorecards, he caught Griffin with a good punch knocking him down to close the deficit, but his frustration in his own performance and self realisation that he's not as good as he though he was, he hit Griffin whilst he was on the floor, suffering his first defeat by DQ. To be fair to Jones, they rematched and he won by first round KO.
His next fight was Virgil Hill 43-2, another good opponent, but he had just come off a heavy points loss to the man Roy was still running from - Dariusz Michalczewski. Roy won by KO against a faded 34 year old Hill.
Another 10 wins, some decent, some average, some useless, lead to a fight with Clinton Woods 32-1. Woods had beaten Paul Bonson, John Duckworth and Ernie Loveridge, with his sole loss coming to journeyman David Starie, so he was definitely one of Roy's toughest fights. Jones won by knockout.
He then fought "Heavyweight" "Champion" John Ruiz. He won the "Heavyweight Championship" Then vacated and ran from the real heavyweights. His fight with Antonio Tarver came next, Tarver 21-1. He was 1-1 with another Jones victim, the decent Eric Harding, and was 1-0 against Griffin, as opposed to Jones 1-1 against Griffin. Tarver had also beaten Tracy Barrios, Boyer Chew, and Roy Francis. Jones won a close fight that could have went either way by a MD decision. They rematched, and Tarver won by KO, giving Roy his second defeat, first according to his many fans who disregarded the DQ loss. Excuses such as going up in weight killed his prime were thrown around, but the reality is, he just lost to a slightly better guy.
He rebounded by beating Glenn Johnson 40-9-2, a decent, yet completely overrated fighter and won by KO(I know Roy actually lost this fight!). A rubber match with Tarver went as expected with Tarver's superior boxing skills earning him a points win. Two bums followed, then he fought Felix Trinaded 42-2, but 2-2 in his last four fights. As expected, Jones won against the overrated Trinadad.
Then a massive fight with Joe Calzaghe 45-0, both men past their primes, but still a worthy fight. Jones knocked Calzaghe down in R1. But Calzaghe responded with his superior skills and speed to win 11 rounds on the bounce. A win against a journeyan, and the shell of Jeff Lacy followed.
Then Roy was knocked out by Danny Green 27-3. Two losses to Markus Beyer and one to Anthony Mundine, and wins over Eni Latu, Joel Bourke and Brad Mayonese, he proved to much for Roy. Roy then fought a rematch with Bernard Hopkins, now in his prime and he took Roy to school, winning an easy decision. Roy then faced Denis Lebedev 21-1. A sole loss to Marko Huck and wins over Berry Butler, Nick Okoth and Dmitry adamovich. Roy was knocked out.
Roy then beat 8 journeyman to pad his record before facing Enzo Maccaranelli 40-7, who was well past his best and never any good, yet he splattered Roy all over the canvas to win by KO. Since then Roy has won his last four fights. Vyron Phillips in his one and only fight, Rodney Moore 17-11, Bobby Gunn 21-6 and Scott Sigmon 30-11. All in all Roy was a good boxer, but far from a great one.
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