Why is Roy Jones Jr chin considered so terrible?

Yes, it's easy to say with hindsight isn't it. But much harder when you're living in the moment, and you're doing what you've always done for years, where you've been successful.

He really should have changed after the knockouts though.

But he didn't. He just dropped down a level or two instead.

But what was he doing taking the Lebed and Enzo Mac fights?

Suicide.

 

Faded or not, it does not matter. It is the same chin. In his prime, his chin was not tested cause he was so good.

 

His chin was tested.


The point is:

How many other fighters would have survived those specific shots from Tarver etc?


Do you not think that that specific punch by Tarver wouldn't have knocked out the vast majority of LHW's/former MW's and SMW's?

 

It was the same old story we've seen too many times, a guy letting his ego convince him he can go on when his body is betraying him. Roy was truly one of one in the sport, a guy totally reliant on insane reflexes and speed. Once those elements frayed just a bit it exposed those parts of his game that he never needed to develop. But at that point he had a FIFTEEN year pro career behind him, twice the length of ATG's like Marciano or Armstrong. I don't judge fighters' resumes on bad career management. I judge them on a sustained prime.

 

Why are you focusing on Tarver? Jones was stopped several times, including by Johnson and Green. His chin just was not good. It is what it is.

 

I've asked you a simple question.

We can look at all of the knockouts if you wish.

Tarver was the first one.

 

Totally agree - some of those later career fight choices were pure head scratchers. Heading to Russia to take on a KO artist in his back yard after being knocked clean out several times? It was obvious how it would end ... Some of those later career bouts were hard to watch.
I followed Roy's career in real time and, after the Johnson fight it was clear it was over. He looked dreadful. The eye test and the stats don't lie - before and after the HW fight he was a different guy

 

From what I saw, his chin wasn't a visible issue until he moved up to full 175. Prior to that, he withstood big punches from the likes of Castro, Hopkins, Sosa, & even a well-timed wallop from Toney. But things changed when he started facing full-fledged LHWs. Griffin's power (which was no better than average for 175) shook him enough to make him very wary & defensive minded throughout their 1st fight, resulting in a prolonged tactical battle that he ended up losing. DelValle turned his legs to jelly w/ a short left cross to the opposite side of his head w/o full extension on the punch. His later KO losses speak for themselves.

 

Naturally bigger men hit harder. Mic drop, the end.

 

I think his record in his first 50 fights puts it beyond doubt that he is one of the best fighters in history.

 

He did lose, technically.

And in the second fight ?
He didn't seem the least bit concerned with anything Griffin might bring.


And of course, he did fight Ruiz, who while far from being an ATG HW, did have decent power for a former junior middle weight to be facing.

In his prime, and until 35, there were never any chin questions.

 

Then we must reconsider Ezzard Charles, who also fought on beyond his prime (and generally against lesser opposition than RJJ). Starting with the KO loss to Walcott (we’ll begin his decline here, parallel with the Roy Jr loss to Tarver), Ezz got stopped more times than RJJ. Not to mention dropped by some lesser fighters as well.

I guess Charles was packing glass all along?

 

His chin was fine in his prime, lot of people saying it’s glass simply don’t know **** about boxing/new to watching it, or simply hate Jones for whatever reason.

The punch Tarver hit Jones with in the rematch was an extremely devastating punch, it gave Jones a concussion and he didn’t properly recover from it. He fought Glen Johnson shortly after as a tune up and got brutally knocked out again, being concussed at the same spot. By this time Jones was 36 years old, 50 plus fight veteran. He should have retired after but foolishly fought on. To discredit his durability and entire career after those knockouts seems pretty absurd to me, borderline stupid. Almost like the same people who claimed Roy was being spoon fed roids his entire career(even as a teenager during the Olympics) to explain his natural talent.

 

This probably the dumbest **** I ever read on this forum.

 

Griffin's "power" was just average, if even that, for the weight - it should never have been a cause for concern in the 1st place. He's lost other fights specifically b/c his opponent just stormed thru his best punches w/o even flinching. The rematch w/ Jones just showed what Jones was always capable of doing if he'd simply committed to letting his hands go & instead of engaging in a tit for tat chess match.