People often say he was cherry picked by RJJ. But is there any proof of this? Who's to say RJJ doesn't beat Lennox Lewis? After all, RJJ was the best ever.
RJJ was p4p probably the best fighter that I watched in real time when I was old enough to appreciate what I was watching, at his best. More explosive, powerful and 'impressive' than Floyd, even if not as orthodox or technically correct. Ruiz was the right choice for a fight - everything about the style and choice of opponent made it winnable. Lennox woulda really made Roy must've forget. He would never take that fight and it's cruel and inhumane punishment to sanction it.
Roy Jones wasn't Harry Greb, he didn't have loose screws in his head like Greb did in order to fight Lewis. Given how fresh the Benn and Mcclellan fight was in his mind, he would be incredibly delusional to fight one of the best Heavyweights ever.
I’ll say this. Roy did NOT want to fight the majority of the top heavies that were around at the time on the basis that many of them were too big and hit too hard. He said so himself. There was of course Chris Byrd who might have been a moderately safe opponent but I don’t remember if there was ever any talk about them squaring off.
I agree and felt the exact same thing at the time. He was about as athletic and naturally gifted as any fighter who ever stepped in the ring. There are plenty of people who might have had a better legacy but when it comes to just shear ability I can’t think of anyone superior to him. He was the complete package.
Hmmm, the only thing Roy did that I don't like was trap himself against the ropes, close his eyes and prematurely turn his head. Recipe for disaster - at his best tho, only a handful of elite fighters would find that chin and exploit it, I feel. I've often said on this site, Roy could be argued to be top of the tree H2H from 160 - 175 lbs in a one fight, winner takes it all type event. The worst thing to happen to Roy, apart from Tarver landing the 'miracle punch', was visiting G-Man after the Benn fight; it destroyed his killer instinct.
I think Jones took a calculated risk. Ruiz is never going to be mistaken for the second coming of Ali. But he was a big, tough heavyweight with some decent wins. Roy knew he was a beltholder who could be beaten with speed. So he took the risk and it paid off. No, Jones didn't beat Lennox Lewis. But he would never have tried to. It was a good win, considering Roy's smaller natural size... a win which sometimes gets downplayed. After all, if it was that easy for former middleweights to snatch a belt at heavyweight more fighters would be doing it.
The fact he didn't stay at HW reinforces the idea he chose John Ruiz as an opponent so he could win a HW belt. Even if its not true thats just what it looks like. For example I remember Jones and Lewis had a little dust up awhile back when the anniversary came up. This is not to say Ruiz didn't have a chance or anything just he was the easiest path Roy Jones had to a legacy acheivement. I think a bit of it was disapointment because HW was about to enter into that period without a clear champ. And it would have been interesting for Jones to stick around at HW a little more until he lost. Its not even fighting Lennox or not it would have been interesting to see him fighting Chris Bryd or someone like that. Given he had crossed a HW belt off the bucket list he was "playing with house money" so to speak.