Roy Jones winning a HW title.

:deal

 

Its noteworthy, but he did it on the perfect match up vs John Ruiz who wasn't a puncher and was a jab and grab type of guy who in this fight did not do much of either. I'd pick quite a few light heavies to beat Ruiz.

in 2002 Ruiz was ranked 5th by Ring Magazine annual ratings.

After Jones beat him he dropped to 7th in 2003

Essentially Jones beat the 5th to 7th best heavy out there. He did not beat " the man ".

At the time Jones stock was high. Then a year later he was taken out by one punch by Tarver in round two.

 

:good


Roy almost fought Evander directly afterwards.

IMHO, Roy moved up too late.

He should have gone up a bit earlier.

Although to be fair, his handlers and HBO did try and make the DM fight in 2001.


Ruiz wasn't able to grab as much, due to Roy's speed.

I too would pick a few LHW's to beat Ruiz on paper, but the question is, would they have taken the fight?

Like others have said, if Ruiz was so easy, where were all the other LHW's clamouring to sign for him?

What if Ruiz was a champ today?

I don't think there'd be a queue.

The fact that nothing much has happened in the last eleven years, proves that it's noteworthy.

Also, I've always believed that Roy would have gained much more credit, had he struggled, and the fight had been highly entertaining and competitive.

 

It means almost nothing. Jones juiced himself up to the eyeballs to make the weight. He went after the weakest champion in Ruiz to just claim some bragging rights.

For the whole fight he played hide and seek with Ruiz only averaging about 10 punches a round.

Lennox Lewis who was the real HW champion called him out but Jones fancied picking the low hanging fruit against the weakest belt holder.

 

Thats simple.

In the era of same day weigh ins Jones would never have been a Middleweight. He needed the time to rehydrate.

Too much credit is given to how much modern day fighters can boil down to. Perhaps all that boiling down, and putting weight back on over the years is why he ended up with a **** chin. I just rewatched the Johnson fight today on Boxnation, and it wasn't even his chin that got clumped it was the back of his ear, and he saw it coming and tried to roll with it. He is just fvcked, no resistance at all to any decent head shot.

 

You've deviated off course.

I don't think he ever had a great chin.

Which is why he deserves respect for easily beating a guy who knocked down Evander.

 

explain

 

Oh come on now you can do better than that.

1.Not too many elite fighters at the top of their game took Ruiz seriously, (a) because he was so shitty paint watched him dry, and ( b ) because to do so meant having to deal with that parasitical filth King.

2. The ONLY reason Jones took the fight is because he knew the above to be true, and unless he provided the excitement and entertainment there was never going to be any.

Dancing around and committing to an average 10 shots per round might well be considered by some to be exciting and entertaining, its all a matter of choice.

 

I really shouldn't need to.

 

I never felt that Ruiz was a world beater, but he is nowhere near being the worst fighter ever to hold a version of the heavyweight title.

Its not like there are a lot of former middleweights, waiting for a version of the heavyweight title to fall into the hands of a weak champion.

 

Ruiz is one example.

Like others have said, there's always been weak belt holders.

Let's assume that Ruiz was champ today, and he had nothing to do with King.

Do you honestly think there'd be LHW's falling over each other trying to get a fight with him?


I can see why many people thought the Ruiz fight was boring.

But to me it was intriguing.

But people on here have double standards.

They like to say he had a glass jaw etc, but then won't give him credit for dominating a top ten HW.


These same people then give Toney huge credit for the Jirov fight.

Why?

Because it was a great, exciting, back and forth fight.

But was Jirov leagues above Ruiz as a fighter?

No.


Now if Roy had've been hurt, dropped, or cut etc, and he'd have got off the floor to win an exciting fight, I'd bet my life there'd be more people on here giving him credit.

But because there was no action, they won't give him the credit.

At times, Roy was too good for his own good.


People need to respect two things.


1. He took the fight at 34, after 50 fights.

2. He won with absolute ease.


Anyone who says that the fight was absolutely meaningless, is a complete moron.

 

:good

At the end of the day, a 34 year old LHW should have no business at HW.

Any LHW who dominates ANY HW, in ANY era, deserves respect.