Who was the greater overall? Jones or Mayweather?

hmm tough one fully agree.

 

Has no idea how it plays out. Tells us his idea of how it plays out anyway

 

I think Roy Jones is the pound for pound g.o.a.t. and theres no one lightheavyweight or under i think could beat him, but its hard to argue that mayweather has the greatest record of all time.

50 to 0, never tasted defeat as a pro, only been knocked down twice I believe, won championships in 5 different weight classes, but what's more impressive to me is that if you look at the people he fought he always took on the best.

 

Legacy for boxing: Floyd by a lot.
Hall of fame fighters beaten that are or will very likely be enshrined: Floyd, no contest.
Overall ring record: Floyd by a lot

Signature wins: Manny, Canelo, and Oscar were some of the biggest fights in history, so Floyd. Hopkins may have been the most difficult opponent. Toney may have been the best on paper. Canelo had Floyd ridiculously outsized though and Floyd was in his late-thirties, so that was a very unusual kind of win.

Better overall competition beat:

Canelo was better than Ruiz and under similar circumstances
Toney was better than an older Pacquiao
Corrales was much more highly regarded than Hopkins at the time of the bout. In hindsight, he wasn't better.
Castillo was a little better than Tarver
Cotto was about the same as Virgil Hill
Hatton was better than Griffin
Mosley better than 40 year old McCallum
Oscar better than Reggie Johnson
Hernandez better than Harding
Marquez better than Pazienza
Judah bettter than Del Valle
...basically Floyd beat the better comp but Roy has claim to at least two of the top five wins between.

Fighters avoided: Roy ducked Buster Douglas and didn't fight Dariusz or any of the UK 168 guys for whatever reasons. Floyd had brief windows to fight Lara, Andrade, and Williams. He likely avoided Casamayor. I don't think Zoo or Margo were realistically on the table. I don't like this criterion.

Controversial moments on the cards or during a loss.
Basically a bunch of nothing. Floyd could've been DQ'd against Judah due to Roger jumping the ring. Roy had a controversially DQ loss but avenged it. Floyd had a single close fight that ringside media favored him in and he granted the rematch.

Bonus: Roy tested positive for roids against Richard Hall

 

...
28 Hearns
29 Mayweather
30 Jones Jr
31 Pacquiao
32 Sanchez
33 Canzoneri
...
They're so close on my all time p4p. Mayweather by a hair.

 

First time i seen floyd was against jesus chavez. I thought he was p4p1 & better than roy at that moment. Roy a much cooler guy though.

 

Prime for prime, I'd pick Jones because he was the better all-round fighter. He could do it all. But if we're talking the complete expanse of their careers then the edge is now with Mayweather, I think.

 

Both products of the 'turn of millennium' era of Boxing. Heavily invested in, protected talents-for-television, who's abilities, whilst undoubted, were not consistently tested against the greatest challenges, over the course of their respective careers. That about sums up their legacy to Boxing, from my point of view.

Mayweather's overall ring record looks better, on paper, than that of Jones. Mayweather still has that [controversial] '0'.

Both their signature wins, against prime opposition (not just names on a page), came early on, at lower weights than where they ended up, after which the challenges against high quality, prime opposition became less frequent and more modest.

To be fair to Roy, his moving up to Heavyweight, despite it being a one-time thing against Ruiz, was still a huge test, in which he won with relative ease (and this is where his meaningful career effectively came to a close. Beyond that, his legacy falls into the doldrums and high profile losses). Mayweather's biggest challenge, IMO, came against a past prime, semi-retired-now-promoter Oscar de la Hoya. And, was nowhere near as convincing in victory. The re-match fell through and Mayweather went into his first 'retirement'.

In my opinion, complete victories over Toney and Hopkins easily trump Mayweather's over Corrales and Castillo.

While Roy's failure to meet Michalczewski is a blot, it pales into comparative insignificance against Mayweather's epic hesitation, before facing Pacquiao.

Roy's alleged use of illegal Performance Enhancing substances are equally matched, if not surpassed, by the Mayweather IV debacle.


On balance, Roy is greater than Mayweather, overall.

 

Cheers mate. It was the first time I watched Floyd, too. I wasnt impressed, and as Floyd said it was his worst fight at 130 (I agree). I thought at that time that he is not on the Jones or Mosley level (yes, its when then undefeated Mosley still was at the top p4p). Floyd proved me wrong later.

To ansver the thread question, Jones was considered absolutely unbeatable in his prime years, while Floyd performed MUCH better after 35. Floyd beat good/very good fighters while he was past prime, unlike Jones who was knocked out multiple times. Jones was fantastic athlete with great speed and offensive skills, but Floyd has clearly better defense and chin.

 

mays gots a braodr body of good work, but jones reached higher.

Jones had a greater spiritual impact on the sport, floyd a greater economic one.

 

This post sums it up.

RJJ dared to scale higher heights; Mayweather didn't.

If Jones had retired after Ruiz there would be legions proclaiming his P4P greatness. Mayweather managed his career much better - read: picked opponents at the right time.

 

Canelo was four weight classes above Floyd’s starting weight just like Ruiz was four weights above Roy’s original weight (he won a belt at). Furthermore, Ruiz sucked and Canelo can fight.

Roy fought a 40 y/o McCallum, an inexperienced Hopkins, and a poorly conditioned Toney so that knife cuts both ways.

Roy can claim to be better on his best night, but that’s it.

 

Do you honestly believe it is the number of divisions they each moved up in that’s the important factor here?

There are no catchweights at Heavyweight, are there?

Your view on the experience and conditioning of Hopkins and Toney is purely speculative. In any event, both went on to achieve much more in their careers, after losing to Roy Jones Junior. And, much more than either Castillo and Corrales did in theirs, after losing to Mayweather.

Mayweather never faced opponents of that caliber in their prime.