How good was Roy Jones?

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoCOg8ZzUfg[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWIqZKhNY90&feature=related[/ame]

that your answer

 

About as good as any fighter thats ever put on gloves.

 

Those aren't the only two options on the table.

At his peak, he could have hung with many great fighters, but his talent was a combination of raw athleticism (speed, balance, lightning reactions) with an ok-to-good skillset. You can't separate one from the other because, in his prime they both contributed to the overall effect. When the athleticism started to go, that changed the balance.

Actually, that's not strictly accurate, either. It's more that his skillset required a certain level of athleticism, and when that faded, he didn't really develop another skillset to compensate.

 

Jones had more skills then say Ali. Ali really had not so great skills, and once his athleticsim faded he got by on his heart, chin, conditioning, and great mind. I.E. Ali couldnt fight for **** on the inside, Roy could. And Ali also slapped most the time w/his hook.

 

Foreman Hoooooooooook

 

IMO we don´t know. He never was in with opposition that pushed him to his limit and thus we can´t know. What we do know that he was better than his resume shows. Another poster said his skills were athleticism and an okay to good skillset. While he isn´t wrong, he isn´t really right either. He was a very good ring general too, always made his opponents fight his fights. I think this played a good role in what made him the fighter he was.

 

Skills were A+ but his heart and willingness to prove he was great was a D. He was a lot like Floyd. He did not want his skills to maybe be put to the test. Guys like Hagler and Hearns and Duran and Leonard fought them all. They might have lost by knockout, but they did fight them all.

 

He did things in the ring that no one has done before him or since. He was what I like to call a "creative" fighter. The combinations that he put together were not only eye catching but masterful. His speed was a lot of it, but his timing was superb and his ring generalship was beyond commanding. Simply put, his skills were extraordinary.

 

Roy was a bad mutha "shut yo mouth". Such speed, power, and accuracy. He's really the only fighter that I saw that can keep his hands dropped the entire fight openly and never get caught. He would sometime taunt his opponent and then immediately knock them out or hit them with a hard blow. I really wish Roy would of retired when he was on top.

 

One of the most skilldul fighters ever. And I mean that in a technical sense as well. Brutally underestimated as a techincian.

But. His chin will always be there for questioning. Was it the weight drain, was it not? We'll never know. His perfomance in the rubber match against Tarver extinguishes all hopes of real greatness IMO, though. He lost the fight because of his fear of a KO. I can see that (who am I to judge?), but it's not a menatility to compete with the true gods of boxing (SRR, Armstrong, Ali etc). Simple as that.

In terms of pure skill, he can hold his own with anyone who ever laced them on, though.

 

Nicely put, I agree completely. Jones' success was based strictly on his athleticism, and once it left him, that was it. He had no Plan B. His reflexes were everything.

 

The greatest fighter i've ever seen fight, in terms if skill, co-ordination, athletic ability.

 

If you fight several ATG fighters and never get pushed to your limit, then you can say you are quite a bit better than several ATG fighters.

As for the main thread, IMO he was the most athletically gifted boxer ever, however his technique was only reasonable, unlike say Sugar Ray Leonard who had very solid technique as well as great athleticism. That is why he got caught so badly once his reflexes and speed went, a bit like the late Ali, except Roy didn't have Ali's chin, mental toughness, or determination.

Prime RJJ was good enough to beat any middleweight or light-heavyweight on his day, only a tiny handful of fighters would have more than a puncher's chance.

 

Bettereven than Sweet Pea?

BTW RJJ fans what fights would you recommend me watching tonight. I don' have **** to do but a term paper