He weighed in at under 155 for every fight that he had up until at least his 26th year. I think he is comparable to Armstrong, though I agree that Henry's clear superiority is reason enough to remove him from the #1 spot argument.
And how about level of competition? Is that relevant here? How much do we all know about the guys Fitz was beating?
He beat a few good fighters, some very good, guys like Corbett, Sharkey, Maher, Choynski, Dempsey, etc. Not one of the resumes that could put him near the top, but very good considering he was just a skinny kid who often didn't weigh more than 167 even for the HW fights.
Really, you think he has a shot at beating the lot? Wow, that is MASSIVE praise - though, for a top ten ranking he probably should have that ability. How do you think he beats Hopkins?
And that is crucial in my view. I consider the Ruiz win Roy Jones' best. See what I mean? p4p Hopkins may be the better man, but in real terms Ruiz was the best fighter Jones beat (that is, Ruiz would beat Hopkins at boxing). On a p4p list that is relevant. Fitz was succesfull and competitive regardless of who was put in front of him.
I think so. Fitz was champ at middle, light heavy and heavy. He was an all time puncher ( can a middle really take his punch? ), fought well as an older fighter, and claimed to have been in 300 fights. Top 10 p4p, in my book.
Well, Jones beat the best Toney, and Toney's fat ass at HW beat Ruiz. So I don't really think the Ruiz win was better, given the style matchups. I think both of them, especially Bernard, were capable of giving Roy a much better fight than Ruiz.
No, I won't go that far - I think that he's very difficult to pick against and I think that he would have a chance with literally anybody. What strikes me about Fitz (And again, i'm claiming no real expertise here) is that he seems a very clever fighter. He seemed to have an almost uncanny ability to find a way to nulify his opponents strengths. Quick example, here is an account of Fitz's fight with McCarty (wins over Billy Smith, draw with Slavin are two of his better results) "McCarty tried all he knew during the four rounds. He did not succeed in landing a fair blow through the first two rounds, his lightning deliveries which normally got the best of his opponents were taken on the guard cooly and neatly." Here Fitz uthenises his opponents great speed with technical defencive excellence whilst setting up counterpunches. But a short whils after against Slavin: "Fitz...jumped back by jumping back and away each time the brawny Slavin through [a right hand]." Here he uses footwork to duck out of the way of a harder puncher, a man who's punches you don't want to take on your guard. Two different fighters, two differnt ways of fighting, he took them on within 5 weeks of each other. Hopkins is good at this too. I think it's quite possible that Fitz could have out-generaled Hopkins, and in my view that is Hopkins done in this fight, because Fitz is by far the more powerful of the two and also the quicker. What else is there for Bernard?
But who did Fitz beat for two of his title claims? Washed up welterweight and a very poor light heavy (who was really only a middleweight). That's not that impressive at all!
Corbett was always over the light heavy limit. He was the same weight as Marciano, and Dempsey for the most part.