Did Jones hurt his legacy by fighting on after Ruiz?

Roy Jones jnr won every bout at the Olympics in 1988 and was robbed of a gold (payback for some US 'judging' in LA).

He went on to a near perfect professional career, defeating legendary ATG and Hofer Bernard Hopkins for a middlewt title in his 22nd outing at age 24.

At 25, he beat another legend and ATG HoFer, undefeated James Toney (by shutout) to capture a title at SMW.

After a loss by DQ (where he was (rightfully) penalized for being a little too aggressive after a KD), he avenged the loss with a very focused first round KO of undefeated Montel Griffin. This gave him a light heavywt title at 28.

After picking up two more belts at light heavy, he went on to capture a piece of the heavywt title at 34.

This was a first for a middlewt in more than a century.

In a career that spanned 49 fights till that point, he held victories over Hopkins, Toney, Griffin, McCallum, Hill and Ruiz.

And he completely dominated most of his opponents, including ultra-slick Toney, losing very few rounds over that period.

Consider his legacy, had he retired after defeating Ruiz.


But he didn't. He could have even retired largely undefeated after his 50th fight, where he recaptured the Lightheavywt crown from Tarver, two months shy of 35.


Think of his legacy at that point.





He did not retire, and instead, suffered two devastating losses to fighters he would have toyed with five years earlier.

He followed this up with three wins over second rate (or worse) competition, before losing to a well past prime Calzaghe.

And he's fighting another Calzaghe victim shortly.





Do you think his legacy will be affected by his failure to retire after Ruiz ?

Or will folks in the future remember that this was well post prime Jones who finished his career so poorly ?

Do fans remember the tail end of Larry Holme's career ?

Or Ali's

Or will they remember that Holy fought well past when he should have ?




Comments ?

 

Ruiz was not a great heavyweight, but he was a medium level one who held a split in a three fight series with Holyfield. The point is, he was a HEAVYWEIGHT and that makes Jones' win a great victory.

Hagler's situation is nothing like Jones' situation. His one career-end loss makes little difference to most as it was a close decision and many thought he won.


If Leonard had retired after Duran 2 ( I presume you meant 2, 1 makes no sense), he wouldn't have Hearns and Hagler and wouldn't be ranked anywhere near as highly as he is today. He wouldn't make the top 100.