Mclovin has proved time and time again that he's nothing but a Roy hater and is oblivous to anything else
Roy didn't have the basics to any real degree when he was peak. A lot of guys say he didn't need them. OK. He didn't need them to beat the guys he beat, for sure, that goes without saying. But people who make him into a h2h powerhouse need to take into consideration the fact that he might need them against a better level of competition than the one he took on. There is also the obvious thing about his chin. That said - he is up there. But the best ever? Nope.
Johnson knocked Roy down but the canvas KOed him. Anyone can see Jones head bounced off that Canvas very hard. And the sad thing is, some people are happy they truly want boxing greats to have brain damage.
deal:deal Good post. The guy was just unbelievable. Its a shame he didn't have the greatest opposition at times to showcase his immense talents.
[FONT="]Guy, come on now. He fought good competition, I mean he had a few nobodies, but a lot of the guys he fought were top 10 guys. Eubanks who was offered a lot of money to fight Roy turned it down and in later interviews admits this fact and says he did so because he felt that he would not have won. He is not the best ever, but who else was he supposed to fight? DM? He beat excellent competition, he didn't have the advantage as B-Hop did fighting a bunch of blown up welter weights, had he not had that the list of people he had defended his title against could be said to be nobodies, but that's not true because he fought top 10 guys. I believe there is a lack of fairness when it comes to his competition; he beat good guys most of the time while he was in his prime. There isn't really anyone he would've struggled against, a lot I would have liked to see him against Gerald McClellan, that would've been interesting, but it was not meant to be. He lacks a lot of elite fighters, but then again even this can be disputed. A lot of people blame things on Roy, but the truth is these people didn't want to fight him, like Eubanks. I could name all the good fighters he fought, but there is no use. [/FONT]
How exactly did he waste talent? That makes absolutely no sense! You act like he dodged competition, why blame everything on him when it was a two way street where most of the time Roy was the one offering but others didn't accept so he settled for the run of the mile top 10's and others. I swear some people won't be satisfied either way it goes.
I'm only going to comment on the ones I dispute. Eubanks I already covered, you can actually go in the history of articles from a few months back and see a very detailed interview with Eubanks and see that he turned down the offer to fight Roy. B-Hop rematch, Roy would've won back then at that time, he even beat B-Hop one handed. There were BIG talks of a rematch around 02, but neither of them could come to an agreement of the split with respect to money. Roy offered B-Hops 40%, while he got 60%. This was not a bad deal considering that B-Hop at that time, (A loss the first fight, (B did not accomplish as much as Roy did and only at that point became a household name by beating Tito, C) Roy was the attraction at that time and B-Hop would've got more then he had ever gotten in a fight up to that point. So ego ruined that. DM, heh well it wasn't like he was eager to fight Roy. He stayed in Germany, which Roy didn't want to fight in because of his history with the Olympics. He could've fought him, probably would've added more to him, but I see it slightly different. He beat Julio Gonzalez very easily and made him look like a complete nobody, who then beat DM. The others, I don't know the whole story with Benn, but in an interview it was said that Benn was offered a lot, like 7 figures to fight Roy but turned it down. It's in an interview before his fight with Brannon ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjvBqSDJJoA ) and it's not Roy's word, it is confirmed by Jim Lampley. McClellan... I wish that fight could've happened, but sadly you'll never know what could've been considering what happened to McClellan in 95 with Benn. Toney was beaten so soundly he really didn't deserve a rematch, although at Cruiser it would've made sense, but of course Roy wanted one of the alphabet belts at heavy. Ruiz is a pretty good fighter, people just bad mouth him now, but don't see how he actually had power and KO'd/KD a few good heavies and even KD'd and beat up Holyfield. A Chris Byrd fight would've been good, but Roy pulled a stupid move by going down to LHW and burning off 20-30 pounds of muscle for Tarver, the only dumb move he ever made. Now I believe many of these fights still could've been made if Roy had actually had a real promoter, a promoter would've made these things happen even if the would be opponents were not initially willing. If he had fought all those guys, would've been an extremely great legacy, so I agree with that point. However I disagree with people putting all the blame on Roy, that's just not right.
Many forget this ingrates...Roy did not fight every top caliber opponent available in every division...wow...he fought a lot...so he ducked them....lol........but Calzaghe fights nobody of any high regard but a knockout artist like Lacy who really was never that good but exciting. And the guys ducked Calzaghe..this crap is endless.
:good he was simply a phenom, a athletic freak show, such talent, he could had played basketball, football he was simply a 1 of a kind athlete
i agree with most of what you're saying, but keep in mind that it's not about what could have been, it's about what was. if buster douglas had the same focus he had for tyson in all of his fights, he may have been one of the greatest heavyweights ever, so let's just go ahead and call him that, right? sorry, you know as well as i do that it doesn't work that way. roy blew his claim as the greatest of all time and every fight he takes against nobodies at county fairs in idaho do nothing to repair the damage that has already been done.