Could you argue that Roy Jones was the greatest athlete of all time?

I bet you Jones would've run a pretty amazing 40 time, not to mention other variables like vertical, broad jump, etc. The guy was simply a one in a million athlete just like LeBron James, Deion Sanders, etc. You can't teach athleticism. You either have it or you don't.

 

I don't know, it's too difficult to rate guys from different sports like this. All I know is, I don't believe anyone has ever been further ahead of his field than Michael Johnson was in the 200m and 400m in the 1990s. Johnson's 19.32 for the 200m at Atalanta 96 was just so ridiculously far ahead of anything anyone else had ever done it was insane. OK Bolt has beaten the record now, but these top guys are getting close to 19.5 seconds and 19.75 seconds at big events. In Johnson's day, this wasn't the case at all. Before he ran that time, I doubt people thought such a time was possible over that distance. Jones never did anything to match the scope of this achievement IMO.

 

Well, did Johnson ever dominate the supposed best fighter in the world? No. It's comparing apples/oranges. RJ was P4P 1 for i don't know how many years. But no doubt Johnson was a special athlete.

 

Mayweather?

 

Mayweather is a combination of skills/intelligence/athleticism. RJ athleticism was off the charts.

 

Jones? Nope.. look on the side of the fence. Anderson Silva is a superior athlete

 

Toney and Bernard were the best

 

:verysad

I love Silva, but that's not true

 

The answer is NO....compare:

Bo Jackson....All-Star in both the NFL anf Major League Baseball

Deion Sanders....started in both NFL and MLB games on the same day

Jackie Robinson.... All-American college football player and Major League MVP.


...and more names to add to this list

 

care to elaborate??? The guy has amazing stamina, foot work, speed, hand-eye coordination and so on.

 

You state athlete and not boxing so its so wide and therefore its anyone call. When I think about the Phelps 8 gold medals in a single Olympic and his dominance over all the elite of his sport. But thats just one example of many.

 

I think this thread is about real sports. :think

 

Oh yeah.

Bolt > RJJ

 

Actually, YES!!!! I have never seen any other athlete be so superior to his opposition as Roy Jones was. As far as athleticism I've never seen anything like him.