Jones is the #1 supermiddle weight of all time. It's not even debatable. You could put a prime Jones in with any fighter of any era at that weight and Jones would probably win by KO. Hopkins may be the greatest middleweight but even this is debatable because didn't Jones beat him at middleweight? Jones was undefeated until he went to light heavyweight, and he never really truly lost a fight until he went all the way up to heavyweight so we could say the only reason Jones started losing is because he went too high in weight.
Lets not forget that the ONLY reason Hopkins even had a middleweight regin is because Jones moved up.
While Jones did fight a lot of very good fighters and a couple of great ones, it's who is not on his list that is often criticised. Benn, DM, Collins etc.
No to the highlighted part. Especially not when considering achievement and longevity. I rate Hopkins and Jones pretty much even. There isn“t much between them. Both between 35 and 45.
He wasnt really favored over Tito? I cant think of one boxing writer, trainer, or fighter who thought Tito would even be very competetive, let alone win. Here on ESB, in my prediction league, out of the 27 people who picked on the fight, only 5 picked Tito to win, and that also reflected largely at the opinion at the time (meaning yes, jones was favored over Tito) In fact, i remember thinking exactly that if Roy didnt stop Tito, he himself was finished, not that it wasnt apparent already (and funny enough, roy stated this HIMSELF before the fight)
he was favoured against ruiz, at the very least he was 50/50 but the general consensus of the time was jones by UD. he was favoured against trinidad and by pretty decent odds. hopkins was nobody at the time and no one really knew or cared who he was. the only fight in which his opponent was favoured was toney not disputing their worth as wins (well trinidad was meaningless) but he was favoured. their weren't a lot, or maybe ANY fighters, he wouldn't have been favoured against but there were a few fighters who would have had a great impact on his legacy. moving up to heavyweight was huge, which is one of the reasons he's in my top 20
There was always talk of Jones and Mcclellan fighting that was supposed to happen accoriding to both but we all know what happened to McClellan .Prime Calzaghe really is that really a duck considering that 1 money was the main issue and 2 no catch weight had been agreed on .. And Lennox Lewis ?So he ducked him considering Jones started his career @154 can we really say he ducked Lennox :huhAnd **** DM who the **** was he to be calling the shots ?Why didn't he come to US to fight Jones like Hatton and Calzaghe ?Imagine if Hatton was the lineal champ and demanded that Mayweather come to him ??Yeah I can see how thats a duck ..
Both are very close, but the wins over Virgil Hill and James Toney make the difference. If Hopkins goes to win one more big fight, I will rank him above (example: if he beats Bute, Dawson, etc).
here is an older thread about hopkins "amazing" 20 defenses that started First let me say i like Bhop. But he is overrated at 160 . Yeah this took alot of time to research but i also watched him fight before he ever won a title, back in 1992 and 1993 when he fought on USA Network and BET up until his last fight... ..so im not some boxrec warrior, but i used it as a reference to look at how bad the opponents of bhop not only were, but how undeserving and the abysmal opponents they fought to get a shot a legitimate champ and belt. 1993 L12 Roy Jones Jr IBF 160 1994 D12 Segundo Mercado 1 - IBF 160 1995 TKO7 Segundo Mercado 2 - IBF 160 biggest name win on resume Alex Ramos 30-8 since Bhop lost 7 out 9 all by KO 1996 TKO1 Steve Frank IBF 160 15-2-1 (15 of his 18 opponents had a combined 45 wins or 3 each) biggest win leading to title shot - absoultely no one 1996 Joe Lipsey 25-0 IBF 160 oppenents had a combine 225 losses and 230 wins tyron trice accounting for 42 of those wins and 3 others having about 20 each biggest win to title shot...a shot tyrone trice 10 rounder biggest win after...retired 1996 TKO11 William Bo James IBF 160 20-6-1 biggest win 13-5 kevin tillman since he lost to bhop...1 win in next 7 fights 1997 TKO7 John David Jackson IBF 160 32-2 90% of career a junior middle biggest win reggie johnson WBA 160, then fights 16-7 nobody, 25-12 nobody then kod in next fight by jorge castro then fights 22-8 james green, 16-10 no body, then 9-15 nobody, then a 9-6 nobody hopkins then beats him up, jackson goes 1-1 and retires 1997 TKO11 Glenn Johnson 32-0 IBF 160 everyone knows him, legit win, and first real opponent in 6 title fights 1997 W12 Andrew Council 27-5-3 IBF 160 biggest win- no one, already had lost to robert allen, winky, keith holmes, ricky thomas, and 3 draws after bhop, he wins 2 of 6 and retires 1998 TKO6 Simon Brown 47-6 former welterweight champ IBF 160 six fights at 160 with no name wins, losing 1 to Lonnie Bradley after losing to bhop he losses next 6 and retires 1998 NC4 Robert Allen fight 1 22-2 IBF 160 biggest win to date- Andrew Council, see above... what has he done since? put it this way, ive never heard anyone bring his name up on a thread 1999 W12 Antwun Echols 22-2-1 IBF 160 biggest win Brian Barbosa ? Echols fought 2 guys in 1996 that were 0-8 and 0-19 legitiamte power puncher but only big win was against charles brewer 1999 TKO7 Robert Allen II - another pointless fight that was a waste 2000 Syd Vanderpool 28-1 IBF 160 biggest win to date W10 Glenn Johnson Vanderpools first 10 opponents combine for 10 wins 48 losses next 10 were 75 wins and 240 losses after bhop 7 wins vs unranked 2 losses, 1 of which Jeff Lacy 2000 TKO10 Antwun Echols II IBF 160 since losing to bhop in fight 1, echols had 2 fights to earn him another shot vs 26 wins and 49 losses Anthony Ivory and 22-5-1 Lionel Ortiz 2001 W12 Keith Holmes 36-2 IBF, WBC 160 biggest wins to date Quincy Taylor, Paul Vaden, Cherefi Holmes was average at best....another guy that was a decent boxer, but hes never mentioned because he never did jack **** 2002 TKO12 Felix Trinidad WBA 160 Trinidad a great welterweight, dangerous junior middle, and veteran of 1 middleweight fight to date of which was dethroning william joppy by brutal KO another guy at career end...going 2-2 and retired 2003 TKO6 Carl Daniels IBF, WBA, WBC 160 another junior middlweight a veteran of 2 whole middleweight fights leading up to bhop 16-7 Anothony Atkinson and 28-4 Brian Barbosa (i guess by beating borbosa u get thrust into a title shot) after Bhop....stays above his natural weight and loses 14 out of his next 17 2003 TKO8 Morrade Hakkar 31-3 IBF, WBA, WBC 160 biggest win, no one never fought outside of france or italy, some opponents cant be verified and everyone knows this was one of the most undeserving guys to fight for a title EVER and on HBO to top that 2003 W12 William Joppy IBF, WBA, WBC 160 biggest wins leading up to behop- howard eastman, but previously being knocked out to trinidad 2 years earlier solid win over a guy whos claim to fame is winning 2 out of 3 to julio cesar green, getting kod by Felix Trinidad and beating howard eastman 2004 W12 Robert Allen fight # 3 IBF, WBA, WBC 160 after he lost to bhop II . has wins 14 vs absolute jokes records 5-23, 11-18, 10-9, 26-5, 1 win- 42 losses, 13-24, 7-20, then records get better but names like marlon hayes, dwain williams, tito mendoza, kevin hall, jesse aquino and 13-7 steve walker that list of whos WHO gets another crack at the legend in Hopkins. WOW 2004 KO9 Oscar De La Hoya IBF, WBA, WBC, WBO 160 another welter/junior middle who had ONLY 1 previous fight at 160 where he got his ass kicked by felix sturm but was given the biggest gift of his life..... 2005 W12 Howard Eastman 40-1 IBF, WBA, WBC, WBO 160 only name fighter on his resume was against joppy...and he lost that one Eastman had great skills, just never had 1 solid win vs anoyone of note 2005 L12 Jermain Taylor 1 IBF, WBA, WBC, WBO 160 2005 L12 Jermain Taylor 2 WBA, WBC, WBO 160