Better resume: Mayweather Jr or Roy Jones Jr

Cotto better than Toney?

LMAAAAOOOOOOO!!! I just saw that one.

Forgive Mark Ant. The guy started following boxing in like 2018.

 

It's like comparing apples and oranges. I feel there were more big name opponents around Floyd's weight than there were at Roy's. Granted, I missed Roy's dominance in the 90s, I'm aware of his big name wins, but maybe I'm disregarding some opponents as mediocre when they were actually better if you were paying attention to the scene in the 90s.

 

I think when all's said and done, Mayweather will rank higher. I think Roy's peak was better than Floyd's, and his very best (let's say top two, maybe top three) wins are better, however I'd say that Floyd has a larger pool of good / very good wins and opponents underneath that, and obviously sustained his world-class level for longer than Roy did (that's not to say that Roy didn't have longevity, because he did).

I think the problem for Roy, particularly from around 1998 - 2002, was that there just weren't any big money or potentially great fights out there for him, and nobody who could test him. Not as straightforward to move across weights to find a viable and legacy-enhancing fight at that point, either. It's always a risk moving back down (albeit he always said he was really just a natural Super-Middleweight and hinted that he was going to return there after beating Harding in 2000), and of course the weight gap between Light-Heavy and Cruiser is big enough - even bigger between Light-Heavyweight and Heavyweight. Cruiser was absolutely dead in the late nineties and early 2000s, so Jones was basically stuck with what he had at 175 for the time being. I can fully understand why he deliberated for so long about whether or not to test the waters at Heavyweight.

Floyd, operating in and around divisions with much smaller weight gaps between them and featuring bigger PPV attractions, never really had that problem once he'd stepped into Jones' pound for pound shoes.

Also, I guess it's just inescapable that Roy's failure to call time on his career once he started going downhill will distort the picture for some people. Obviously nobody in their right mind is going to hold Calzaghe, Green, Lebedev, Maccarinelli etc. against him, and even then I'm sure most will make some kind of allowance for him being on the slide for Tarver and Johnson...But if you're talking about comparing him directly to Mayweather, I guess it's inevitable that this will play a part. That's a tough school and probably nitpicking, but if you're comparing two greats against each other, you've got to nitpick, I guess.

One thing I will say in Roy's favour, though, is that there is no black mark on his record over him dragging his heels or failing to test himself to the max while he was pound for pound king like the couple Mayweather has on his record in not fighting Cotto in 2008 and not fighting Pacquiao in 2010. Yes, Floyd beat them both later down the line, but not when they were the fights everyone wanted to see, and not when they were at their strongest. Accusations of who Roy 'ducked' get more and more outlandish all the time, but the fact is that there's no fight of a similar stature missing from (or delayed on) his record which he takes any blame for. Don't come at me with Michalczewski, because that's only a black mark if: a) Michalczewski was even remotely close to being in the same league as Jones - he wasn't; b) Michalczewski actually wanted the fight or made any kind of effort to make it happen - on both counts, he didn't; and c) if the fans and pundits had wanted to see it the same way they wanted to see Cotto-Mayweather in 2008 or Pacquiao-Mayweather in 2010 - they didn't.

 

Mayweather and it's not close.

 

Both were awesome but Floyd’s resume is better

 

I was not aware that this thread is a debate of who has the best two wins.

 

Hopkins wasn't a 'top shelf victory' by any stretch. He was considered a quite ordinary contender. In hindsight he was very very good however

 

Jones by far

 

I guess beating Hopkins when Jones did was great because of what Hopkins became.

 

Umm that's how resumes are measured.

 

First guy to ever drop CONCRETE Tony Thornton, though he dislocated his shoulder after. Thomas Tate went 12 with Julian Jackson, Jones nearly took his head off in a few rounds. First guy to drop McCallum, with that lightning speed. First guy to stop Hill and Malinga. Beat a tall southpaw Tarver over 12. I know Mayweather had bad hands, but he just didn't do what Jones did against top guys, he ran to the ropes and hid behind his shoulder. Knocking out a guy out with his hands behind his back, four hooks in a second, come on. I know it's strictly resume talk, but you can see who the man is between them.

Toney was better than Floyd. One ran with the shoulder roll, and rope a doped with it, while the other stood right inside the pocket with it at all times AND countered. We know who is who

 

how many fighters Floyd fought with the longer reach?

 

Floyd of course and pfp he is better too h2h.