Let's say RJJ was born and raised in London. How would have it affected his career?

he'd have went to LHW and HW regardless.

Also he'd have faced more brits and beaten them up. And it would become way more obvious to brits that many of them were avoiding him.... like considering NONE of them fought him...the same would transpire, but with the more obvious lack of an atlantic barrier really showing the truth.

 

This is a great thread, but it's so hard to provide theories due to the different variables.

After being robbed in the Olympics, you would have to assume that he'd have been well received and hyped.

You would have to assume that he'd have signed with one the big 2 promoters.

It gets really interesting when you throw big Roy into the scene. He held Roy back by overprotecting him. But would Frank have been happy to have also held him back to have protected his investment? I'd have to assume that he'd have still split with his father at some point, and that he wouldn't have tied himself into a long term contract with either Barry or Frank. He was so independent, maybe he'd have gone and lived in the U.S. of his own accord. It's really impossible to say.

 

In today's British boxing scene he most likely wouldn't be the Roy Jones Jr we all know and love. British trainers are notorious for moulding every fighter into their one size fits all "british boxing style".

 

also Brits would be able to pretend that Brit fighters were avoided by Jones, when it would be painfully obvious they are avoiding him.

of course, jones being also "brit" alters the meaning there.

 

See I think he'd have gone with Barry and I think with his style he'd have been a sensation in the UK, picking up a Joshua level of support and fighting at stadia ala Benn and Eubank. Joe might have never got his career going or may have picked up a loss early ala Hopkins. I wonder if being a draw in the UK coupled with the confidence/arrogance that came with his abilities he would of been so keen to cross the ponds.

 

joe? u mean jones?

 

And I thought your obsession may be rearing its ugly head again. Good news all round should you be able to have any potential match up with Calzaghe as just one variable in his 'european' career.

 

so you did mean calzaghe.

no, calzaghe is never facing prime hopkins, and that has nothing to do with jones career, not sure why hes mentioned. I guess i dnt know why you introduced him there.

 

No. I meant a young Calzaghe would have probably picked up a loss challenging Jones should that fight have been made and it prob would have as Jones would no doubt have been holding a WBO title so popular with Brits at the time.

I think fights with Reid, Eubank and Benn would have been made at some point. It's the Germany based fighters I think would pose problems matchmaking wise and I'm not sure he'd travel if he were a significant draw in the UK. That's not meant to correlate with other Brit fighters of that era who I believe he would have surpassed in popularity with his abilities.

Would he have done a Naz and hopped on a plane? Or would he have destroyed mandos in front of UK crowds?

 

He wouldn't have been exposed to the US hip hop culture and would have never pursued a dream of being a rapper and music producer. A dream that cost him $10-20 million dollars as he has pursued it without any success.

In short, an RJJ raised in London - all things being equal - wouldn't have to fight at age 55 in order to pay off IRS debt. He'd live off of his vast fortune and enjoy his retirement.

 

You've misunderstood that reference. I'm saying Roy would have prob handed Calzaghe a loss early like he did Bernard. He would have prob held the strap Calzaghe ended up winning. Anyway I have another post going more into that.

I think Reid, Benn and Eubank would have all been good fights that would have also got made but I don't think Jones necessarily heads to the US if he makes it big at home.

 

Roy Jones was teached by his father, that's the first thing, he also was part of the USA boxing system that back then was really solid and put him trough tough amateur fights against the likes of Frankie Liles and Gerald McClellan, the system also send him to the olympics that is a really important experience, including sparring and workouts with other olympic medalists like Kenneth Gould, Andrew Maynard, Kennedy McKinney and Ray Mercer, he also sparred with the likes of Sugar Ray Leonard at 17 years old, so is not like Roy Jones was a world class boxer just because of his talent, the traning methods, experiences and talent put him there, if he was born in London he wouldn't had access to those experiences.

 

This is a great thread man.

Honestly, there's so many variables.

There's so much to consider and to speculate on.


Despite what people claim, Roy was ambitious.

If Roy had had the same father who controlled him, then again, I think he'd have broken free at some point and been independent. Which means that even if he'd have signed with Barry, he wouldn't have committed himself long term.

He simply would had to have crossed the pond, and with his ego and his confidence in his unique abilities, I think he would have done.

Look at his career as it played out.

He moved up from MW to fight Toney.

When he couldn't unify with Benn and Liles, he moved up to his 3rd weight class.

All of which tells me that if he'd have been in that same mindset, he would have left the U.K. early like Naz did.

People love to say that Roy was unambitious and he was happy on his HBO contract etc. But if that was true, he'd have sat on his IBF, SMW title and defended it on numerous occasions. He could have had a 20 plus title reign like Joe or Bernard. But he didn't. He vacated, and targeted the likes of Hill.

 

I think he could have had fights with Reid and Benn, but Eubank is on record as saying he didn't want to fight Roy, as it would have been career suicide. There would have been huge pressure on them to have fought, but if Roy had shown the exact same abilities as what he did, then would Eubank have fought him? We don't know.

I don't see Joe fighting him. Not unless Joe had've been in a different mindset.

I think the German fighters would have been overlooked. But I think it's clear that the likes of Ottke wouldn't have fought him, seeing as though he didn't want to fight Joe.

 

yeh i didnt not get u. calzaghe wouldnt have fought jones until jones was 40, same as real time.He didnt want tough fights, and roy being born in england wouldnt change joes opinion that he didnt want tough fights, the two are mutually exclusive points.

Joe mght have pretended he was fighting him, and instead faced myger mychergahan, though, thats quite possible, he did that kind of thing all his career.

note again I am only bringing this up in reply to YOU bringing joe up. YOU.