It kinda does because they both wouldn't have really done anything against him. I could see if they had a chance but they really didn't. Roy was much more talented then Pac.
Regardless, it is a fact that he ducked both of them. I believe he had a mistrust of non-US judges on account of what happened in Seoul. That said, I don't think he had anything much to worry about...maybe judges would not even have been needed. Everyone always has at least some small chance in a boxing match. He was somewhat more talented, but not by much. Like Marciano on here, Pac's actual talent is often underrated.
Agree with most of your post. Benn of course would have a slim shot because of his power. Collins has zero chance. He isn't fast nor does he hit hard. He would have been massacred.
Benn wanted to fight Roy but Roy didn`t want to deal with Don King who was co-promoting Benn with Frank Warren, Benn already crossed the pond and blew away Barkley in a round. Collins fought Reggie Johnson and McCallum in the US.
Manny accomplished more and he obviously had better longevity. So most people will pick him. And I don’t have an issue with that. But IMHO, prime for prime, Roy was the better fighter. He barely lost rounds in most of his fights. He didn’t get knocked out on the way up like Manny did. He didn’t need to fight a guy like JMM 4 times. So you can say that Manny had a better overall career. But when they were both at their best, Roy was the better P4P fighter.
There’s nothing silly about at all. Bernard Hopkins could never beat the best version of Roy Jones. Yes, he had greater longevity. Longevity is only one factor to consider out of many others.
Why would Roy have fought outside of the U.S.? When did Floyd fight outside of the U.S.? When did guys like Hagler, SRL and Toney etc? Manny moved to the U.S. because that’s where the majority of his best competition fought. Roy had the luxury of already living in that same country where the majority of his best competition were based.
Slightly harsh. Roy didn’t need to fight a guy like Toney two or three times, in the way that Manny needed rematches against Morales and 4 fights with JMM etc. He beat Hopkins and Hopkins wouldn’t go near him when everyone wanted to see a rematch in 2002. Roy never looked vulnerable like Manny did where he was knocked out on the way up. Roy wasn’t just content to make money. I have no issue with people choosing Manny for their overall career, but when they were both at their best, Roy was the better P4P fighter in my opinion.
I lived through that era. Honestly, Roy was really in a no-win situation back then. The “Roycott’ was totally unfair. He was penalised because he was too good, which made most of his fights uncompetitive, and because he wasn’t fighting guys who were seen as being better opposition. People were both bored and frustrated. But the fighters he was easily beating were actually good fighters, and the other fighters who they wanted Roy to fight, wouldn’t come to the negotiating table. His PPV figures were poor because there was no intrigue. But he was a victim of the modern era. If there’s a great fighter who has a belt in a division, then the fans naturally want them to win the other belts too. And if they don’t, they get criticised for it. But the problem is, if a fighter does win the other belts and becomes the unified/undisputed champion in a division, then in this era of multiple organisations, the fighter then has mandatory obligations from all of them. And there’s nothing you can do about that. HBO wanted Roy to unify the LHW division against Reggie Johnson. And after he did that, they gave him a new 6 fight contract in the hope of him fighting Dariusz, which was seen as the missing piece of the puzzle. But when that fight couldn’t be made, they then had to watch him fight mandatories against the likes of Ricky Frazier and Glen Kelly etc. Completely pointless. I was as frustrated as everyone else. But unless Roy had moved to CW or up to HW sooner, there’s nothing much that could be done. Manny never faced a situation like that, and he could always move up as well as finding C-W’s, as the lower divisions are closer together.
Regarding Roy’s situation, how can you make fights when the opponents and their teams literally won’t even meet with the relevant people to negotiate? Regarding Ward, The 3 B’s weren’t even relevant when Ward retired. They’d done nothing. You can’t accuse him of ducking/avoiding them.