Leroy Jones

Not very. He had decent boxing skills, but was grossly overweight with no power.

 

Slapper

 

Didn't he retire due to a detached retina?

 

Bobby Lewis was the head coach of the 1972 U.S. Olympic Boxing team. Leroy Jones won the 1971 and 1972 New York Golden Gloves, but Jones lost to Nick Wells in the finals of the National Championships.

Lewis thought Leroy Jones was the best U.S. heavyweight.

Leroy Jones ended up losing to Duane Bobick in the 1972 Olympic Trials. After the Olympics, Lewis said he thought Leroy Jones was better than Bobick, Wells and Larry Holmes, so Bobby Lewis signed Jones and managed him as a pro.

Leroy Jones was from Colorado, like Ron Lyle, so the two sparred regularly and sometimes fought on the same cards.

Despite his size, Leroy Jones didn't hit very hard. That really hurt him.

Whatever Bobby Lewis saw in Jones, I don't know if anyone else really saw it.

 

He wasn't much good, but if he'd fought 15 years later (as "1990s" heavyweight) people on the internet would probably be dropping his name as some sort of heavyweight of super quality.
He peaked in a very unfashionable heavyweight era (end of 70s, early 80s).

 

Well, as far as I know, other than a 30 second highlight clip in the pre-fight buildup on the Holmes-Jones fight, that's all anyone ever saw of Jones, so that's what we have to go on. He seemed like a good boxer, durable, but nothing special and with no great power and that left him at Larry's mercy. And yes, the Holmes Thumb ended his career with a detached retina.
The real interesting part to Jones is what he did after he retired and other than some claims that he served as a bodyguard for some high profile artists in the late 80's, he is invisible- which is strange for a modern heavyweight title challenger.

 

I thought he looked like an excellent boxer, fast hands, good movement from what I remember, but he was in against Holmes in that loss. Anyone else would have lost too. Too look like a good boxer against Larry Holmes, you must be a good boxer

 

I remember watching that fight. From the build up I thought Jones was good; once the bell rang I was very disappointed.

 

Right. Seemed like he just stood upright in a corner most of the night and took shots. Weird. That went against everything everyone said about how he fought. Not a performance you want to be remembered for.

 

Sounds like one of the current beltholders today

 

Anyone else would have lost? Of the mediocre 1980 HW crop or any HW in history? I hope you're not claiming the latter.

 

Jones was solid and rightly gets the odd bit of kudos.

The upgrade was Tubbs, who had just as fast hands, was just as in-disciplined in the gym, but was just a little cuter in the ring.

 

right on tbooze, and yea, I meant at the time saad, but I don't really remember what timeframe that fight was in Larry's career, if it was peak Hoomes, then yea, he could beat anyone, not a sure thing of course, but he could beat anyone!

 

May have fared better against Big John Tate.