What were your thoughts when...

Yes. ANCIENT McCallum.

Toney with an eating disorder and a weight issue (not Roy's fault, but be honest- Toney wasn't exactly at his best that night), and that still doesn't change the overall outcome of the fight, but Toney had the potential to make it more of a fight.

Hill is overrated.

Ruiz was chosen for a reason.


And to answer kmac: I just wanted to see when a guy who isn't scared and has some pop and ability to get it there fights Roy. For whatever reasons, he failed to fight the sternest opposition available. He may well have beaten all the guys he didn't fight, but the fact is that he didn't.

I'll never say Roy was a bum or overrated; he's simply incredible.

I remember singing the same song about Wladimir Klitschko. It took a couple years, but next thing you know, Sanders and Brewster are spraying his blood all over the ring...

 

I slept like a baby that night!!..DK is right on every aspect of this comment...A fat Toney, a hand picked Ruiz, and a very overrated Hill (grandpa McCallum speaks for its self)..Everyone knew that when Roy stopped fighting circus clowns and part time janitors this was gonna happen!. And Tarver knew it too!

 

Did Toney not know the weight limit for the fight?

And what of Hopkins? A circus clown? Reggie Johnson? A janitor perhaps? Thomas Tate, Jorge Castro, Montell Griffin, Virgil Hill?

And Ruiz was hand-picked perhaps because... oh, he had a MAJOR BELT?

It's not the deepest resume but it's not shallow... and it certainly doesn't hurt that he beat two Hall of Famers straight out, two of the very best of his generation. And the fact that none of his fights were even close until he was in his mid-30's.

 

I agree on all of the above.

But , when Delvale (sp) put him on the deck with a relative light shot, he looked hurt IMO and I did not like his overall reasction to it. By then I knew what his achilles heel ( besides father time ) was, still took many more years for some one to capatalize on it

 

Exactly. It's fair to say Jones was selective about his opposition, but let's be honest...most fighters are.
Hopkins and Toney are excellent wins in anyone's book. They say Hopkins was green, but so was Roy, and he was fighting with a broken hand. Also, Hopkins wasn't THAT green. His handlers obviously felt he was ready for a shot. That's good enough for me.
Toney had weight issues, but I think it's immaterial. For my money, Jones outright athleticism and speed would always be too much for good technical fighters like Hopkins and Toney.
Knockout wins over Hill and Malinga are very good as well.

And while Ruiz was not 'the man', he was still a heavyweight titleholder who had a massive size advantage over Jones, and Jones made him look like a fool.
I'm not a fan of Roy's really, but give credit where it's due.
He was the best of his era.

 

McClellan in 93/94 at 160
Benn in 95 at 168
Collins in 96 at 168
Michalczewski in 98-02 at 175
Byrd (or Lewis) in 03 instead of Ruiz...

 

I never understood why Jones choose not to fight Collins, Benn and Michalczewski. The paranoia about judging was not an excuse, a motivated Jones would of beat all three inside the distance.

I did not get the McClellan 'thing'. I looked at him as a fearful knock out artist, but if you had ability, and were still in the fight after three/four rounds, you beat him. Jones may of been safety first in the performance, but there would not of been a time it looked like he was in danger, on the way to a comfortable decision win.

Remember Hopkins/JonesI was considered Jones against a power puncher; World Boxing picking Jones off the floor in two. Jones would of used the same tactics he did against Hopkins to beat McClellan, and hindsight shows Hopkins was at least a level above McClellan.

As for Jones against Lewis or Byrd; I think Jones would of been able to out 'Byrd', Byrd to win a comfortable decision. Lewis would of been a different kettle of fish; Jones would of done well to still be standing after five/six rounds.

 

Love it when people accuse Roy Jones of being a cherry picker when he fought a prime Hopkins and a prime Toney and he schooled them both.

he beats the 2 best fighters of his era (who are still boxing now and never been stopped) and hes a cherry picker. Only on ESB.

Yes, i would have loved to see him vs Benn, Collins etc. However if he had foguht them but didnt face Hopkins/Toney, people woudl still be on here calling him a cherry picker.

This is boxing, some fights happen, some fights dont and its not always due to ducking or cherry picking.

Fighters will always get accused of ducking guys they never fought.

Tyson gets accused of ducking Page and Witherspoon, Lewis gets slated for missing out Byrd and Ruiz.

Wlad will probably get the same treatment for not fighting Fury and Wilder.

Calzaghe didnt fight Pavlik, Taylor, Dawson etc etc

 

He did not beat 'prime' Hopkins. Hopkins was considered a dangerous contender, but Jones was a warm favourite. Jones got a lot more kudos at the time for beating Tate than beating Hopkins. The feeling being Jones was too safety first and respectful of Hopkins.

As for Jones/Toney; it was a superb performance, and Toney was indeed in his pomp going into the bout. But Toney's weight issues really did him no favours. That was not Jones' 'fault', he could only beat what was in front of him; a bloated specimen, who had lost the fight at the scales. Sadly that hurt the fight, and thus by association, Jones' win.

 

Not suprised he was a reflex fighter who lacked basic fundimentals much like a young Ali except Ali had a chin.

 

yes, there's always an excuse when roy wins a fight. here's the ring lb for lb list at the end of 2003. when jones was #1, he had wins over three other fighters in the top 10. i think the ring has only done lb for lb rankings since '89 but i'm willing to bet that hardly any fighters, if any, have been able to claim this. but still, he never fought anyone, right?

Pound For Pound

1 Roy Jones Jr.
2 Bernard Hopkins
3 Shane Mosley
4 Oscar De La Hoya
5 Floyd Mayweather Jr.
6 Manny Pacquiao
7 Kostya Tszyu
8 Erik Morales
9 James Toney
10 Antonio Tarver

http://boxrec.com/media/index.php/The_Ring_Magazine's_Annual_Ratings:_2003

 

Honestly, my first thought was it wasn't much of a punch

 

I don't even like Jones, Jr personally, though I kinda feel sorry for him now. He was beyond arrogant and flaunted much of boxing convention.

But even I admit he was a dominant, great fighter, a true bad ass with once in a generation talent.