Roy Jones was notoverrated. Back in '93 my uncle and I were James Toney fans. I got him into Toney because his fighting style a breath of fresh air. Slipping shots and staying in range. We were watching an interview with Toney where he stated "Roy Jones ain't nothing but hype! We both wanted Toney to win but we looked at each other and my uncle says "that guy ain't hype that guy is good." So Roy Jones was so good that as a fan of Toney you still had no hope. We knew he was gonna lose.
I don't think Sosa was a defense. From memory that was Roy's first fight testing the waters at Lt Heavyweight and he took on a rugged guy who was annointed the best chin p4p in boxing by Ring magazine. Jones floored and rocked Sosa badly before he stopped him in two. Jones was ridiculously good in this fight and at that point was head and shoulders above everyone else as the best fighter in the world. I agree with your points but even when he did fight guys that previously no-one had had easy fights with (Johnson, Hill, Toney even Thulani Malinga ) he beat them with absolute ease. Even Floyd had harder fights than Jones ever did in his peak years.
Griffin gave Jones fits in their first clash and was not an elite fighter, McCallum was 39 and fighting in a division far heavier than his prime fighting weight, his body was nowhere near as defined as it was at 154.
Agreed and agreed - Hop was a very skilled operator but obviously became a greater technician, a purer ring general after their fight. I think RJJ always makes Hop look lesser up and until he goes to HW and comes back down to LHW.
Jones development was way ahead of Hopkins. The next year he put an absolute whooping on Toney. That's not to say Jones wouldn't start favorite against him, or pretty much any other middleweight really.
McCallum won a world title at 175 years before Jones fought there. It not like he was making his debut at the weight when he fought Roy. Jones basically carried McCallum that fight as well.
Meaning "active" fighters who have many fights on their resume as I state in my post … Surely, Monzon and Hagler are.. I do not knock Roy for continuing to fight. In fact, I respect it … The Ruiz win is a good win for him imo . Easily in his top 5 for me
Griffin had just beaten Toney. He was elite at the moment Jones faced him. And Jones was well on his way to KO'ing him the first time. A focussed Jones, second time around, illustrated the gap between merely elite and the GOAT candidate people were discussing him as. And for all the nonsense about who Jones ducked, none of those names are as good as the best who he beat.
This is a debate which goes under potential and drive to be the best. I think Jones head to head could have gone with SRR or anyone. He was that quick. He was not technically sound as we all said, but he was so fast a counterpunch from him would land on anyone . That is how fast he was. Incredible speed and reflexes and that is what makes Roy stand out
No. Super talented and great to watch. Fought for longer than he should have and maybe this diminished his stature.
