Who do you believe to be greater. I saw this in the general and wanted to bring it here as this for me is a tough one. I mean I can only imagine a select few beating JCC at his best weight in 135 (Duran, mabye Mosley) while I struggle to see anyone beating RJJ at his 175. I mean while JCC was a devastating machine Jones was unhittable and no one seemingly had any form of success against him. His fights were like exhibitions to show of his skills. In a h2h sense I feel he surpasses pretty much anyone at 168 and 175. In a resume sense I find this quiete hard to assess. Its very hard to label Chavez's top 5 wins for example as he fought so many opponents and so few were big names, wheras its easier with Jones. But does this make Jones's wins better? There are a number of boxers who prime RJJ never fought while Chavez is one of a handul of fighters who its hard to point out who he never got in the ring with. Who do you think will rank greater in boxing's historybook? I know RJJ is still fighting but like 99% of people out there I recognise he ain't gonna add to his legacy so bar him beating Adamak or something silly who do you prefer and were do you rank them?
I see more people beating Jones at lhw than Chavez at lw. Jones spanned more weight and his win over Ruiz is a better achievement than Chavez has. Chavez´opposition is a bit better and his run until he finally was defeated, even so his record was padded, is very impressive. Pretty close IMO.
How so was it 'padded'. His first 40 fights were definatly against poor opposition but its important to realise he haden't fought as a amateur and was barely a teenager. Same thing as with his son really, however he is on PPV which pisses evreyone off.
Ok well yeah I suppose I just defeated my own aim. But the first 40 odd fights were just simple prospect building. He didn't have accolades or a top promoter, one of hundreds of Mexican kids earning money.
Roy Jones Jr is far greater in my eyes , the fact he grew from middleweight and won the heavyweight championship of the world alone does enough for me
Yeah, and like I wrote, it is very impressive. :good Where do you rank Iran Barkley? Pretty high I suppose since he although fought from mw to hw and won a belt there. Only the WBB one but hey that´s probably as meaning ful as the WBA one when there is a real champ like Lennox Lewis around. :good
JCC clearly. Never much of a Jone's fan. Suspicion over drugs and the average quality of his LH opposition plus his questionable whiskers when he started to slow. Great fighter obviously but I don't appreciate him as much as many in boxing do.
I might be inclined to rating Chavez just a tad higher, by virtue of having the longest winning streak in history coupled with a few wins that might have been marginally better than Jones' best opponents. Throughout his career, Chavez was mightily criticized for taking fights with journeyman, but I don't think that the whole story was ever told. Julio was defending his belt 3-4 times per year against top contenders and even other belt holders, but often took tune-up bouts just weeks before a major title defense, against some lesser fighters. There are few to almost no men who did this in the modern era, with the possible exception of James Toney who fought some 6 times in 1991, but that's about it... Jones resume is stellar, and unlike many, I do rate him in my light heavyweight top 10. He won belts at middleweight, supermiddleweight, lightheavyweight and heavyweight, something that no man has done since Bob Fitszimmons did it over 100 years ago.. His comp list isn't pretty, but I'm not about to pretend that he fought 50 tomato cans either.. An undefeated James Toney was a huge feat, as were Virgil Hill, and an unbeaten highly tauted Montell Griffin, along with several others. His light heavyweight reign spanned for some 6 years and around 13 title defenses. Chavez incredible record, prolific activity and wins over men like Camacho, Taylor, Ramirez, Rosario, Mayweather, and a few others are what tips the scales for me, but it will always be a damn close comparison.
Thx, saved me a few keystrokes I'd rather not waste on John Ruiz (oops, guess I just did). It's real close for me. Don't know. I'd lean to Chavez but I'm biased as a longtime fan.
