Where does Roy Jones rank?

Probably in the top 50 all-time pound-for-pound.

 

Works for me.

 

somewhere in the top ten. too bad about all his ko losses. they really hurt his standing

 

Outside of top 100. If it is restricted to fighters filmed in color then he might make top 100.

 

Had he hung them up after the Ruiz bout, he would be a consensus top 20. Ask yourself, how many fighters do you subtract from their legacy for performances after the age of 35? Do we hold Holmes and Berbick against Ali? Maxim and Pender and Basilio and Fulmer against Robinson? Langford losing to Tut Jackson, Anderson, Tate?

I chose not to penalize fighters for bad career planning and prefer to look at their peak runs. During Jones' peak run, which lasted a decade from 93 to 03, he barely lost a handful of rounds. He was rightly considered unbeatable.

 

1. Roy Jones Jr








The Rest

There's levels

 

Maybe top 60 all time, yea he was good, but there were so many guy's a helluv a lot better that were NOT burned out at only 36....

 

Name them, please.

George Foreman
Archie Moore
B-Hop
Wlad

and then...

and then...

and then...

 

Pretty evident that you are well under 40 and/or have no background in athletics ... forget Jones ...

What is this list of "SO MANY GUYS" in ANY SPORT that are so formidable starting from 36 years?

It is the exception as the best years of athletes generally is before not after this age.

Now, back to Jones ... what percentage of boxers in history relative to all boxers - PERIOD - are encompassed on YOUR list of "SO MANY GUYS" that were formidable from 36 years and beyond?

Out of that percentage (i.e., your list of "SO MANY GUYS") who are these guys that are "a helluv a lot better"? Win-loss record after 36? Titles won?

Then let me ask you this ... which is more difficult .. to be fighting on professionally from and after 36 years of age (and in Jones' case he is still officially active at 46 - and that includes fifteen more fights after reaching 36) or being retired in one's mid-30s or even earlier?


If you want to use pejorative descriptions just say you don't like the guy. Most fighters [or athletes in any professional sport] that fought into their late 30s (or 40s) have mixed success with poor performances interspersed. It is far easier to compile a list of great fighters with laudable careers and/or ring accomplishments (though shorter in aggregate years) that were effectively or essentially "burned out" in their early 30s or that retired and went to sitting on the sofa with a bag of donuts at their side.

Maybe someone should start a thread compiling a list of (decent) fighters that fought after or beyond their mid-30s to really identify those that had impressive records (from that point forward to career end), quality wins (obviously against younger fighters), few devastating losses or dire performances, obtained titles or belts, etc., etc.

Perhaps that would be an interesting list (and even place Jones' efforts in a more accurate perspective). I think it would become more evident that age is an unrelenting opponent and that there is a certain base level of substantive quality that would need to be assumed and present in any fighter including Jones that is still entering the ring at 46 years and counting.


Edit: Sorry, had this open to write and post but didn't bother to go back and see Seamus had the same reaction ... (before sending it through) to make the same point.

 

Calzaghe was still kicking ass at 36, and beat the hell out of Roy I may add..

Floyd Mayweather is a better all around fighter than Roy, and is still kicking ass and will be 38 in 2 months..

Vitali Klitchko..

What about Tarver older than Jones but beat him 2x, and even knocked him out in a single round:deal.

Carl Froch, 37 or 38 now, Jones was no better than him...

There are more, but top 50-60 is fair, jeez some on here think he's the greatest thing since sliced bread...

Excuse me while I go watch Roy take a long nap against Glen Johnson..:dead

 

If all you looked at was age, then you would be right. But if you look at everything, their history in the ring it paints a different picture.

 

Joe retired at 36. Joe was an unknown prospect when Roy held a title. They had different career arcs.

Does his legacy rest on his two Maidana fights and Alvarez or does it rest on the 42 fights before that? If he gets KO'd in his next fight does that lessen his dominance over the previous 15 years?

A carefully crafted comeback for which he deserves credit. However, Vitali is not even in the league of Roy. Roy was at the very top for 10 years. He was rated in the Rings Pound for Pound TOP THREE for 10 straight years. The two are not even comparable.

Again, different career arcs. Where the hell was Tarver in 1993? Roy was beating Bernard Hopkins and Jorge Castro and was the number one middleweight in the world.

TEN YEARS in Ring Magazines top 3 Pound for Pound rankings. How close has Froch come to that? Do you care to inform us all?

I don't even like Roy but the I recognize the truth.

 

Floyd Mayweather ok here's the main course, i don't like the guy i think he's an a$$hole, but so was Roy but anyway's his legacy is A HELLUVA LOT MORE IMPRESSIVE THAN Roy's 5 division world champ, he's won 10 world titles, and the lineal championship in 4 different weight classes, 2 time ring mag fighter of the year, been best p4p world championship for about 10 years now, won a gold medal 1996 olympics, beat Diego Corrales, Oscar de la hoya, Hatton, Maidana, Alvarez, Cotto, Marquez, Zab Judah, Shambra Mitchell, Gatti, yea he had no defense, but still is in the HOF, Genaro Hernandez, never beaten, LET ALONE KO'D MULTIPLE TIMES, and still going strong at 38:deal, what's Roy's claim to fame beating a weight drained Toney in 1994? , Roy had Mayweather's career in his dreams last night..

And when Mayweather get's KO'D a very big IF i may add, then we will talk about it, kinda hard to talk about a guy getting KO'D when he has never even been knocked down, Roy after 36 sure was spending a lot of time on the canvas, gee i have never seen Floyd there:hi:

And about Froch at 38 he's still waxing strong guy's like Groves, when Roy was 38 he was shining Calzaghe's shoes, and getting slammed by Denis Lebedev..

 

H2H, in his prime, No.1