That fight was unnecessary. Roy should not be taking punches from 180lbs and above men. He can't handle a massive right hand to the head, he was a phenom at 160, but that's it. He's not doing himself any favors anymore.
Not in a major way, no. Of course if he had retired after the Ruiz fight, he probably would be viewed as slightly greater, as he would still have had that Superman aura of invincibility intact. But it was clear (to anyone with a brain) that his losses all came when he was a visibly diminished force. Losses when past-prime and/or shot don't erode how good you were in your prime, and Roy's ATG standing will always be based on his fantastic decade of peak perfection from 1993-2003.
No. I don't tend to give too much credence to early losses when a guy is green or late losses when a guy is shot. Tarver and Johnson might have knocked him down a hair, but I also feel like Tarver and Johnson are close to being criminally underrated around these parts.
I'd agree with this - he was not "shot" in those fights; diminished, sure, but not shot. After Hopkins (who wasn't prime) and Toney, he spent a good number of years looking unbelievable against less than stellar competition and the competition, like it or not, would always be part of the conversation. His losses raise some questions that otherwise would never have been there.
I agree,adn this raise's another question mark,was Jones shot before these fights,or did these losse's ruin him ? would a prime Tarver of beaten a prime Jones ? would a prime Johnson of beaten a prime Jones ? Sorry to the thread starter if i've kind of hijacked the thread.
The question was in no way meant to slag rjjr off in anyway. I'd have to say, he's actually my personal favorite boxer of all time. Only aim for me was to establish (in a quantitative format) exactly what other peoples opinion where, entirely out of interest... Definately agree here popkins, pound for pound king for a decade is an astonishing feat and I think his ATG rating should be based on his peak (as it is with everyones).
The way he lost tarnished his ATG rating. Truly great fighters don't get knocked out 3 times, including twice in the beginning stages of the fight, no matter how far removed they are from their prime.
:good Wouldnt happen to Hopkins or Toney. Jones was ahead of those two but its beginning to turn and will only get worse if he carries on.
That is not a great accomplishment he beat Ruiz. His greatest accomplishment is beating Hopkins and Toney and Virgil Hill. Those are 3 HOF fighters.
:fire He has actually only been Knocked out once mate, get ur facts straight, a TKO is completely different, u are at the refs mercy when it comes to these things, the Green stoppage was a joke and he couls have possibly continued against Tarver, Glen Johnson KO'd him, that was a true KO but still his ATG rating should not be tarnished by a few losses, he decimated ppl in his prime and has won 8 world titles including a heavywieght title, cmon man get ur facts straight.