How Good Was Roy Jones Exactly?

See, I can't take it that far. He really it a cut BELOW the very best. His performances are great, but not that great. Lomachenko, Pep, Duran, Robinson, Jofre, Whitaker, Mayweather (maybe), Leonard, Gomez - these guys I feel comfortable saying that about. Not Roy.
What's worse, his record. Maybe if he beat better opponents I would feel that way?

I put him on par with guys like Arguello, Fenech, Griffith, Monzon, Pacauiao, Olivares, though. Isn't that pretty amazing?

 

I don't buy some of the talk about his competition being bad, or even mediocre frankly. People say that because Roy Jones was there, and beat them so easily. It almost diminished their careers, and then by proxy, it now diminishes Roy's. Which doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. If Roy wasn't there, many of these guys might've been champion, and likely would've had a better career. See who else did to them and made them look as Roy did, it will be a big 0 almost every time.

I'm sure I'm in the minority, and many would disagree, but imo, his combination of speed, reflexes, movement, and power; is simply the likes of which we've never seen before in the history of boxing, yes in the history of boxing. So many people here and elsewhere know way more than me about this great sport, but that is just how I see it. Doesn't mean he had the best career, or was the best champion, but I've never seen anybody like him when he was at his best,. So he guess in my view, he was pretty damn good.

 

He was phenomenal

 

Felix Trinidad is also another faded fighter

 

Yeah, but Roy won that, and it was post-prime.

Felix hurt himself by cutting to 147 lbs., IMO. Would've had a greater legacy if he spent more time at Jr. Middleweight.

 

No because he was dominant in his prime. Roy rarely lost a round much less a fight. We know the Griffin fight was an anomaly and he avenged it rather decisively.
Other than McClellan at middleweight and Super Middleweight there was nobody that stood a chance. He won his first title in 1993 at 160 and didn't get beat until after he had gone up to heavyweight. 8-10 years without anyone actually beating him.. I'm not giving him credit for what happened at heavy. He was using PED. That moving up and back down fuk up his ability to take a punch. He took Tarver's punch in their first fight pretty well.
Anyway the guy dominated several divisions long enough to be in the top tier. Some people may not like that but it the truth.

PS
Let's remember he won the Gold Medal in Korea. Whether he received had nothing to do with what happened in the ring.

 

I think at 160 and 168 he was untouchable .. Even Bernard Hopkins said he doubts anyone ever beats that Roy ..

 

Nice one!

 

47.9 Greatness Points, exactly.

 

McCallum didn't win a single round on any of the judges scorecards. I'm not sure how a shutout would give the conclusion that the shutee would smoke thru the shutouter if he was prime.

A lot of respected people believe Roy coasted against one of his idols and it sure looked that way. Roy is exactly the type of speedster McCallum would struggle badly against.

 

Well stated.

 

RJJ was close to unbeatable in his prime. Exceptional is the only word to describe him.

 

I think he was an all time great welterweight .. he never even lost at 147. He had a ton of title defenses .. the guy is very underrated today at 147 where he was a monster ..he edged out a prime De La Hoya .. the man was a beast ..

 

Nah...Tarver had some skills but he was inactive a lot of the rounds.

You don't win rounds by being active for 30 seconds and then doing nothing the rest of the round.

Tarver could have made it decisive but he just didn't close the show Roy had to dog it out.

It was not a robbery. Tarver got him in the rematch fair and square but Roy was done by then.

The reason I say this is I wasn't really a Roy fan before the first fight because I thought he was too cocky.

It showed me he had determination whilst being under the kosh.

The fact Tarver acted like a hoe after the fight doesn't mean anything.

It's not disimilar to Hopkins v JC. he didn't do enough in each round.

It's scored round by round and each round is 3 minutes.

So being active for 30 seconds and then taking the rest of the round off does not constitute winning the round unless a knockdown is scored.

 

I feel like DLh deserved that loss because he coasted across the final rounds. Hubris.

I also don't know if he beats a healthy and focused Whitaker.

But yes, he was great at 147. Very underrated. I rank him very, very high H2H. I just think he should have campaigned at 154 lbs. longer. I really think it was a horrible decision to fight Hopkins. Maybe that's just hindsight (Tito was the favorite). But that was a fight he didn't need to rush into.