How do you think Roy Jones Jr would do at cruiserweight?

Completely accept cruiser wasn't his home. But he dominated the division below with incredible ease. And had no issues overcoming a heavyweight (albeit hand-picked. Am not suggesting for a moment Ruiz is some kind of ATG - although he's better than he's often given credit for. But it shows that Jones could operate successfully against larger guys).
I do accept that all of these terrific fighters facing each other at cruiser creates a kind of round-robin scenario, where wins and losses are traded. But as one off, one on one bouts I can see Jones winning them all. I like to think of myself as a reasonable boxing fan. I've been following the sport since 1996 and then delved deep into its history. But as someone who lived through it, I can never shake the memory of peak Jones. I feel he gets undervalued here sometimes (though I do think wins and losses in this thread is not an unreasonable position).

 

He did but Toney was weight drained to within an inch of his existence and never fought anywhere near that light again.

Toney was better once he fought at his natural weight post the Jones loss. But then, to your point RJJ might just have had his number.

 

If he's at his physical peak? He beats them all and each of them would take a prestige hit because the RJJr I'm referring to would make it look easy.

 

This is pure fanboy fantasy delusion. Keep on dreaming. Roys glass jaw gets shattered by each and everyone of these guys.

 

You're free to think that. My point was that none of these guys would touch him.

 

Lol.... Who did Roid fight in his prime that was a dangerous as any of the fighters listed in this thread? and this would have been around 2002-2003 when Roid was at the peak of his LHW powers and moving up to HW to fight Ruiz. Which was around the time he struggled with and eventually KTFO by Tarver. But carry and believing that none of these guys even "touch" the mythical "prime" RJJ.

 

Toney was slower at cruiser, his peak was at 168 when he beat Barkley, also at 160 in his two fights v McCallum.

 

Who did Roy beat that was as good as Holy or Usyk?

 

I think he is favourite against all of these besides Usyk and Holyfield who I believe KO him.

 

Marciano Usky Holy field and wildcard Moorer are all in the running to beat Jones at cruiser.

Also Jones went 15 years and 50 fights with only being dropped once before he fell apart. He fought guys that could punch and wasn't KOd until his mid thirties. He either always had a glass jaw but was so good it never mattered or his punch resistance was completely shot after Tarver 2.

Im realistic, I don't think Jones is beating all these guys obviously, but I also remember how good he was in his prime, I've rarely seen anything like it. I do wish he fought Michalczewski and the Don King stable as well.

 

Toney and Bhop are pretty good company for those names. But what I'm basing my opinion on is mostly eye test. We're talking about a list of fantasy matchups. Each it's own entity. Jones Jr at his physical peak each time. No injuries from camp. No stress other than the job in the ring at that moment. I just think that particular athletic phenom was too twitchy, too quick and too fast to take much damage from anybody on that list. Also I don't buy that Jones Jr at his peak could just automatically be knocked out cold because Holyfield (for example) breathed on him. That has become a meme because of his career after Ruiz.

 

I do agree. People tend to forget that Jones was 34 when he lost to Tarver. And had never been wobbled and only down once until that point, nearly 50 fights in. And had barely lost a round in that time against the likes of Toney, Hopkins, Ruiz up at heavy.
It does irk me a little when he is just dismissed instantly as chinny in hypothetical matchups. When this issue only arose when he was older and obviously finished as a top level fighter. Yes he carried on way too long, but it's like basing Ali in a matchup on how he looked against Holmes. Very strange - and devoid of any nuance.
The fact is he was done at 34. And he'd already beaten Tarver by that point - and he did it while he was rapidly declining.
Have your opinion and make your argument. But please accept there are lots of nuance and shades of grey in most boxing discussions. And I will continue to call Jones what I think he is - the most impressive and dominant talent I've ever seen in 30 years of watching boxing.