Roy Jones interview on Haye, Woods and retirement and UK tour dates.

Buncey said something about him doing a masterclass at the Real Fight Club, anyone know when this is?

 

Not with that resume he's not. Too much of his prime fighting very poor opposition.

 

Jones was good and just happened to hit an era when there was not great competition about, but he was never in any great memorable fights, and never in the same league as Hagler, Leonard, Hearns or Duran.

 

HE needs to retire but wouldn't begrudge him fighting woods.

He's right about the going back down to lhw destroying him. Should've gone to cruiser or stayed at heavy. Or after he beat tarver stepped back up immediately to cruiser. Hindsight is a wonderful thing though.

Could he have beat Ruiz without putting on 20 pounds or so?

 

Wins over Toney and McCallum were top-notch, beat a pre-prime B-Hop with one hand, and the pure dominance he displayed demonstrated that he was one of the top 50 fighters of all time IMO.

Don't class his Heavyweight exploit(singular) up with the likes of Ezzard Charles', Mickey Walkers or Harry Greb. He's not one of the all-time greatest, but a true H2H force IMO and definitely one of the top 50.

Certainly done more than Floyd anyway:yep

 

I understand the pros, but I need to look at what he did holistically - and his LHW run was pitiful. Some decent names, but the loss to Griffin (justified even if he was coming on - it was a flagrant foul) and his lacklustre efforts following make it hard to rate his so highly. Losses to Tarver, Johnson and his recent decline make it very hard to hold him in such high regard.

Great fighters find a way to compete even when in decline, Jones just came apart.

 

Hell yes he was.
I think he was more athletically gifted than all of them, and would have had a very good chance against any of them, and I love all the 4 fighters you mentioned.
Dont forget how good Jones was.
BHop, Toney, McCallum etc werent even competitive with him

 

When a fighter like Jones or Tysons reflex and speed diminishes, its the end, as its what their whole style was based on.
Jones at his peak was as good as anything Ive ever seen.

 

What's with all these American boxers touring and plundering England?They must be making money somehow.They wouldn't draw flies here for an autograph session.:huh

 

You can't rate someone based on something they never showed. We never saw Jones come back from adversity. How can he be "great"?

It maybe wasn't his fault he was so much better than his opposition, but you also have to accept he fought in a mediocre era. And he failed to fight the guys who would have been a challenge (Benn, Eubank, Collins). He never rematched Hopkins even when it made sense and Hopkins was willing.

Worst of all you need to take into account the final fights at his prime: a disputed win over Tarver, a brutal KO loss in the rematch and to Johnson (who you could argue would have always given him problems stylistically).

After that there’s a further embarrassing points loss to Tarver and then non-descript wins over Hanshaw and Trinidad. His loss to Calzaghe was pitiful – truly painful to watch.

Now, I like Jones in general, but his status as an ATG is hard to defend. He’s a very good fighter. Certainly one of the best of the modern era, but he lacked the quality of Leonard or Hagler in the latter part of his career.

It’s a personal thing I guess, but I don’t rate fighters on potential. I rate them on achievement. Jones had some good wins early on in his career, but in his ‘prime’ he seemed unwilling to look for challenges until he had no other option.

 

Ahh! I like that! Roy speaking there about our own Bobby Fitzsimmons!!

I have a hell of a lot of respect for RJJ. There is just something about him that differs from your typical boring, witless, ignorant, obnoxious, arrogant, posturing American boxers of the past 10-20 years.

I really do like him.

EDIT: I'm certainly seeing age on his face now, though.

 

Jones WAS a great fighter in the 90's. A definite great. There are some fighters that are just special and memorable, and Jones was certainly one of them. I think his record is just about good enough too, certainly there should be no qualms about him making a top 100. To beat any versions of Hopkins/Toney so comfortably shows how special he was. He's rather tarnished it though, despite most of us knowing he's been past it for ages it leaves a sour taste the way he's gone on.

 

Roy Jones was the greatest boxer to ever step inside the ring "In the recorded history of the sport", in terms of co-ordination, and technical skill, and pure athletic ability.

He's up there with Michael Jordon, Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps, Tiger Woods, Carl Lewis.

Totally redefining an art.

 

You realise you just named a load of Americans (minis Bolt) as complete genius' of their field??

Do something about that, you Scouse *******!!!