All time great fighters who could have been even greater

Freddie Steele - a recurring chest/rib injury + the sudden death of his longtime manager/mentor brought about a speedy decline & the end of his title reign.

 

I'm not sure about that. They were already satisfied when the break was announced, they had managed to reach their peak and were at a quite dangerous moment in their career, as shown by the history of such dominators as Liston, Frazier, Foreman, Tyson, Roy Jones who at one point seemed so good that they did not have to try . I think that Ali would not have won against anyone important in 1968-1969, even if he had defeated Frazier, in a historical sense it would not have been as important as in 1974-1975, and it is very possible that he would have lost to a hungry challenger. He certainly would have fought worse against Norton, Foreman, Young or Shavers. It's controversial, but I believe that the break in Ali's career in some way allowed his resume to gain more depth.

 

Roy Jones? I think Roy went farther than any fighter before or after him. He just fought on for too long

 

Didn't he turn pro as a kid? Like, younger then even the likes of Cuevas if I'm remembering correctly.

 

Yes, somewhere in his mid-late teens.

 

Roy's résumé and accomplishments aren't as good as Floyd and PacMan, not Charles, SRR, Duran, Pep, Ali, Greb, Langford - it's his H2H prowess that makes Roy an elite ATG rather than what he did/who he beat in the ring.

Imagine Roy didn't lose to Tarver, Johnson or anyone else - actually, imagine he has a B-Hop like resurgence and doesn't get viciously KO'd and goes out on his terms.

Imagine he had beaten a better title holder than Ruiz and retired.

Roy's talent in the ring was extraordinarily great but other fighters have better résumés and certainly better endings to their careers, despite losing a few as well.

 

Maybe but as far as his physical prime, we missed it. Louis too.

 

Richard Dunn.