Was RJJ at 168lbs the most unbeatable fighter ever?

I know! I'm far too kind.

On a different, and completely unrelated note, I'd be a wonderful king in the Tudor era.

 

Ha ha ! You'd never have got through six wives showing that sort of compassion !

 

With the speed and power I just dont see anyone beating a prime Roy at 168. Not Hagler, not Robinson and not Monzon. I dont want to hear any bs escuses about Toney being drained. He was not beating that version of Roy and it wasn't close. Crazy thing is Toney was an absolute beast and to see him get beat that easily is insane!!! I remember watching that fight in disbelief. He also schooled Bhop with one hand which people also make excuses for saying Bhop wasn't as good as he later became. gtfoh.

 

Your view of Jones is pretty much what people at the time thought, too.

If Roy Jones had retired after the John Ruiz fight, where he won the WBA heavyweight belt, when he was 48-1, or had he retired after the first Tarver fight, when he was 49-1, he might be considered one of if not the best fighter who ever lived.

Old timers at the time had him just behind Ray Robinson after the Ruiz fight. That's how highly he was regarded at that moment in time, 14 years into his career.

At that point, he had wins over James Toney, Bernard Hopkins, Mike McCallum, Virgil Hill, John Ruiz, Antonio Tarver, Sugarboy Malinga, Reggie Johnson, Jorge Castro, Clinton Woods, Montell Griffin, Julio Gonzales, etc. And he dominated basically all of them but Tarver.

His lone loss to that point was a DQ because he hit Montell Griffin when Griffin had knee on the floor as Jones was knocking him out. And he wiped out Griffin in one round in the rematch.

It was a pretty flawless run through Ruiz.

Monzon was a long-reigning champ, but he wasn't unbeatable at middleweight. He had 11 losses/draws and some pretty close fights in there (including split decisions).

Jones was pretty freaking dominant during his run.

Monzon knew when to call it quits. He retired at 35. Jones should've retired at 35 (after the first Tarver fight/win). Jones didn't. And then the wheels totally came off. And Jones seemed to lose almost as often as he won.

That happens to all-timers, sometimes. Lots of greats have finished their careers as steppingstones for guys who never amounted to anything.

It's sad.

But, for a time, Jones was among the best who ever lived. And the Toney fight was a great example of his talent.

 

Yes. You're right. Whoever says he didn't fight punchers are just blowing smoke. Hell, Jorge Castro scored 90 KOs himself.

 

Didn't Castro have like 750 fights against Argentinians.

 

Considering the savage punchers available to Roy to fight he fought a very low percentage of them. Some of the names listed weren’t even punchers much less savage punchers. It’s very strange.

 

They didn't fight him, either. (LOL)

You can look at it as that was convenient for them, too.

 

No, that was Monzon. (LOL)

 

Lamar Parks was screaming for that fight. Thomas Tate was a MUCH softer touch.

 

But they were willing to fight the other fighters Roy wasn’t willing to fight also. That’s the problem here. They took the chances that Roy wouldn’t. Why do you think that was?

 

The Jones-Toney fight was the first time HBO weighed a boxer after the weigh-in just before a fight. And they were surprised how much weight he'd put on. Like 14 pounds or whatever it was.

Fighters today routinely add that much weight. I think for the Canelo-Jacobs 'middleweight' fight, they were both light heavyweights when the bell rang.

Nobody says they are WEIGHT drained. Now it's called being a weight bully.

Toney was a weight bully. And it didn't help in that fight.

 

I think it's the same reason fighters today don't meet. Everyone today says they're willing to fight everyone. Everyone back then said they were willing to fight everyone.

Then the Don King promoted guys fought other Don King promoted guys. And the Top Rank guys fought other Top Rank guys.

Same story, different names.

 

Lamar Parks was banned from boxing for having HIV when Roy Jones fought Thomas Tate.

Jesus, freaking Lamar Parks? Are you kidding? Of all the names you said Jones "didn't" fight.

 

Watching Roy in the 90s is why I started to love boxing. It was about as God-level as a fighter can get.