since I am often accused of unfairly hating on Roy Jones Jr I thought I would post this The scenario: After Jones beat Ruiz (fair and square by the way) he was WBA Champion. Ignoring Mandatory defenses and other stuff consider he fought Byrd for the IBF belt and won (a real possibility). Then he fought Sanders for the WBO belt and won. At this point Roy would have been WBA/IBF/WBO Heavyweight Champion. All who was left is Lennox Lewis. My question is not what would happen in the fight but: 1. How many PPV's would this event have sold and how big of an "event" would this have been? 2. Where would Roy Jones be ranked all-time win or lose against Lewis? This is not a thread of who would have won and the time-lines don't exactly match up perfect but they are close enough for this. In my opinion Roy should have never left Heavyweight he should have stayed and tried to fight Byrd and some of the "smaller" Heavyweights that were winnable fights for him. Plus, even if Lennox Lewis KOed him in 10 seconds is that as bad as what happened to him anyway getting KOed in back to back fights with Tarver in Johnson? Even I would not have criticized Jones for getting KOed by a 6'5" 250 pound man. Everything in this scenario was possible had he stayed at Heavyweight. Thoughts?
it would of done big. 1.5 Million. Only to watch Jones get killed. We could of had the match anyway but Lewis turned Jones down (not because he was ducking him but because he offered nothing to Lewis)
What about #2. Where would Roy be hypothetically all time? I agree about your first part 1.5 to 2.0 million would be my guess on the PPV.
He should have done what was originally planned - fought Tyson at heavyweight and then retired. Win or lose. It wasn't a sustainable thing for Roy to fight succesfully at HW for any period of time. And it wasn't prudent for him to manipulate his body back down to LH. Moving up and beating Ruiz really left Jones nowhere to go. He had burned his bridges.
i honestly didnt think it was possible for you to make a rjj thread that was free of hate or reference to your two favorite words, but you did. i stand corrected
OK. IF he did what I said what would your answer to the 2 questions be? This is not a what would have happened thread.
I would seriously like to hear answers/opinions on the 2 questions from Roy's fans and his detractors.
If he beat Corrie Sanders? ****.. Top 20 probably. And then he if somehow beat Lewis I love Jones but yea.. If he somehow beat Lewis easily easily top 5.
This is not about the fighters he beat but for a guy that started at Middleweight to round up 3 of the belts and then take on THE Heavyweight Champion would have been a hell of an accomplishment win or lose.
eh. Win or lose. It all depends how he looks. If he gets blown out in 1. Then he cant gain anything. If he puts up a decent fight he gains some leverage. Like. It all depends. If Jones were to go in and get KOed in less than a minute you can't give him anything. If he survives 6 rounds and wins 2. He gains quite a bit.
I don't know kind of numbers PPV's do in the US. In Britain Jones-Lewis would have done significantly less numbers than FMJ-Hatton for example. Lewis didn't have a huge profile or following amongst casuals in the UK, same can be said about Jones. IF he lost to Lewis, his ATG standing would be wherever it is now. If he actually managed to do the impossible...he be troubling the top 10 all time.
becoming the best of the rest in the Heavyweight division would of been a great achievement, and so long as he showed something against Lewis he would be way higher in the ATG standings if he beats Lewis, and retires (basically undefeated) he would be up there with the very best (top 10 at worst, top 5 at best)
Jones actually started at 154, so anything he did at HW was extremely impressive. Tyson would have been the money fight, but I'd have been curious if he could have taken a couple rounds off Lewis.
RJJ said the only reason he moved up to HW was for a Tyson fight. It never materialised unfortunately.
This would have been a huge PPV I think it would've enhanced his career, besides his life he really had nothing to loose and everything to gain.
