I don't think Jones was ever quite the force at 175 as he was at 168. It's all relative, as he was still far ahead of his peers, but he wasn't as devastating a puncher in the higher weight class (hand trouble obviously played a part in that).
The guy that stepped into the ring vs an extremely underrated Malinga was a straight up ****ing beast.
'93-01. He blasted Glenn Wolfe at the time when he went the distance with Toney and Rosi, beat a physically prime Hopkins, and started visibly slipping against Clinton Woods.
Roy Jones prime years? Right about now: He's famous & respected, he gets to hang out with guys like George Foreman, he gets a nice fat paycheck just for watching fights & giving his opinion on stuff... - and nobody is trying to hit him in the face.
He was still green versus Hopkins, imo, but his lone defense at 160 versus Thomas Tate was devastating. Starting around then until he hit 31 or so. His true physical peak declined prior to 2000, but he made up for that with experience and thus he enjoyed a very long prime. I agree with the above poster than you can see clear deterioration in the Woods fight. I noticed it that night and think Roy made the best move possible to move up to HW at that time. Just wish he would have retired post-Ruiz, or at the latest post-Tarver II.
DM had the balls to fight Richard 'phenom' Hall without juicing :deal Many fanboys in here claiming Roys prime ended in 2000. Why do you think his prime ended in 2000?
No one knows if Germany even checks for any performance enhancer ..They are the originators of all the PED nonsense::hey
2000 was about his prime, he did however to have some of his greatest wins line after Hall. i reckon pretty much anything up to Ruiz can be considered prime,or at least close to it.
Agreed. Relative to more talented eras he'd have fared a lot better against the pack from 160-168 compared to 175.