Roy Jones: How Good Was He?

They made a mistake at the official weigh in, but didn't get the opportunity to weigh in again until the following day. When he weighed in on fight night he was 199, but 196 if you subtracted three pounds for his clothes.

I don't agree with your comment where you've said Ruiz still managed to lose. Roy was an exceptional fighter.

 

I know it's a detail, but you don't really "burn" muscle if you boil back down towards your bodys natural weight. Rather, you skip out on the weight lifting it would require to remain pumped up. It's just one of those misconseptions that seem to stick at ESB.

 

I said that because Ruiz lost against another former MW in James Toney, who was long past his best when he fought Ruiz, not to mention Ruiz's long string of controversial decision against other fighters. My point is any half-decent boxer could beat Ruiz so Roy's victory is not that great. I would pick both Tarver and Adamek to beat Ruiz.

 

You can you use whatever terminology you like.

He lost the muscle he gained in a short space of time by doing lots of running. He was still open to fighting at HW in the summer of 03, if the money was right, and the Tarver fight was signed in September. So if he'd kept his physique from the Ruiz fight, he'd have been in the 190's with a low percentage of body fat.

 

Okay, you're entitled to your opinion. But I wouldn't say that any half decent fighter could have beaten him.

 

Ruiz's style is mind-numbingly boring yet he kept winning fight, I guess it's some kind of talent. Almost felt bad for him when he got robbeb against Valuev.

 

He was awful to watch, but he was effective.

But guys like Rico talk as though he was a domestic level guy.

 

It was literally impossible to score his fights because there were so few punches thrown/landed and there was so much hugging. The guy NEVER had a decisive victory in his title run. He never KOed anyone and there was never a wide Decision win. They were all close controversial decisions. The guy was awful. You think Roy didn't look at these things before he decided to fight him?

It was the perfect opponent for Roy which is why we never saw him fight any other Heavyweights. It was a one time handpicked joke of a fight that resembled a sparring session. Lennox Lewis was THE Heavyweight Champion not John Ruiz. Roy DID NOT make any kind of 'history' in that fight.

 

That doesn't make sense in the slightest. First of all what is 'natural weight'. Lifting weights builds muscle, not lifting weights means losing muscle. You don't just get a 'pump' as you're seemingly trying to imply, you are physiologically and functionally changed.

 

How many more times?

I agree that Ruiz wasn't a great HW. But you talk about him as though he was a domestic level guy. Do you think (no disrespect intended) that guys like Sam S*xton and Martin Rogan etc could have beaten Evander etc?

Yes, despite Roy not fighting 'The Man' of the division, he did make history. He won the WBA belt. Like yourself, I wish there was only one belt per division. But there isn't. Joe Calzaghe made a record number of defences of his WBO belt that was won against Eubank, after Collins had relinquished it. So basically, if Roy's title didn't mean anything, then you'd have to use the same criteria for every other boxer, that included the likes of Wlad. That would mean that hardly anyone would have achieved anything.

No, Ruiz wasn't a one time picked HW, because a fight against Evander was almost made afterwards.

 

:good

Roy was ripped at almost 200 pounds for the Ruiz fight, with a low percentage of body fat. So if he'd kept that physique in the summer, and then had to hit 175 for the weigh in against Tarver, he couldn't have just simply boiled back down. He had to shed muscle not just fat.

 

Roids

 

In fact, it does.

The weight you will be at if you have a normal, healthy lifestyle. You may not have noticed, but the flexibiltity when it comes to changing weightclass is limited. That's why lightweights doesn't become heavyweights and the other way around.

Correct. Roy Jones Jr moved up to HW by lifting weights. In order to lose weight, he didn't need to run, he could just stop lifting.

You're trolling.

 

No, that's very, very unlikely :nono If you have built up your body with muscles like he had, the way to lose them is to do ... nothing. Why would Roy starve himself and burn muscle tissue by running, when he could just as well have sticked to a normal gym routine but without any excessive weight lifting?

In fact, Roy could have sat in front of his TV, watching David Letterman talk shows. Or he could have played minigolf. That would have shed those muscles just fine.

Losing fat is, unlike losing extra muscle mass, something that would actually require some kind of physical activity, like running.

 

Great fighter during his peak.

His best division was 168. Since the division has been in existence, roughly 30 years, there isn't anyone I'd pick at that weight over him H2H.

Of all the light-heavyweights of the past 50 or so years, I'd only favor Bob Foster & Michael Spinks to beat the late 90s RJJ at 175. I haven't seen enough footage to pick a winner between RJJ and the likes of Moore and Charles.