One of the best boxers in all history. Maybe doesn't have the resume to warrant a ranking befitting his talents but for me he's number 3 all time (I rank on the eye test)
Arguably the most naturally talented fighter of his generation. You can't teach what that man could do in the ring.
In his physical prime he was about as untouchable as a boxer will ever be. Very unorthodox, incredible speed, incredible reflexes, and very good power. You might hear that he has a glass jaw. Pretty much anything after he did after his great win over Ruiz should be taken into consideration. The man dropped 25lbs of muscle at 35 years of age and had already shown signs that he was no longer in his physical prime. Some fights he should have been in, but some fighters were not thrilled to come to America and try to face Roy Jones. Under his HBO contract he pretty much fought everyone out their in his weight division and beat them all easily. Had an off night against Montell Griffin and got DQ'd. Avenged it by a devastating first round knock out. Was the only fighter to beat both a young Bernard Hopkins and James Tony easily. His win over Ruiz is underrated. Not only was Ruiz a real heavyweight and had at least 25lbs on Jones on fight night, many people thought Jones had bitten off more then he could chew. Jones went on to dominate Ruiz, which many heavyweights couldn't and didn't do at the time. Came back down to LHW after his Ruiz win to make history again and beat Antonio Tarver at the end of his physical prime. A career worth watching. Won't be another fighter like him.
Head to head, nobody beats a prime Roy Jones. Fans can come in here, quote me with different names, but Roy would make past greats look like robots and we already seen what he did to the current greats and Hall of Famers like Hopkins, Toney, McCallum, Hill. His resume is top notch and grossly underrated, he beat very good fighters like Gonzalez, Tarver, Vaca, Malinga, Sosa, Del Valle, R. Johnson, Griffin, Woods, Ruiz.
The greatest fighter of all time. To boxing what LeBron James is currently to basketball. Head and shoulders above anything I've seen on film.
Amazing. Speed, power, foot speed, reflexes, the most physically gifted fighter of his era. Watch the film and you will be blown away. For those of us who lived through and watched his prime, I don't think we will ever favor another fighter in a H2H scenario. That said, his mouth ran constantly and his physical skills were enhanced by supplements. He claims legal, many claim otherwise.
On film, possibly the most impressive fighter ever. During his period at the top, the apparent gap between him and his peers was as great as any fighter in history. He went 50 fights and 13 years without a single conclusive defeat, winning titles from middleweight to heavyweight. From 1994 to 2003 he was clearly the best pound for pound fighter on the planet, despite occasional attempts by boxing magazines to shift more copies by annointing De La Hoya or Mosley in his place. On the negative, his resume lacks ATG opponents, and to make matters worse he didn't face a handful of fighters who would have helped solidify his greatness. His alarming late career losses raise the question of whether his chin was a potential liability in his prime, although you can't draw firm conclusions either way. His failed drugs test against Hall (and disgraceful cover-up), along with his suspicious muscle mass gain against Ruiz, all raise doubts over how far his undoubted talent was supplemented by chemical short-cuts. You won't find much balance about Jones on ESB. There's a counter to virtually any (sane) argument you can make about his abilities and accomplishments.
Before a Boxrec warrior comes at me about Vaca and Malinga. Going in to the Roy Jones fight, in which he lost by 1st round KO, Vaca had wins over 1984 Olympic Gold Medalist Mark Breland TKO6, Quincy Taylor 2x, controversial decision loss to Terry Norris, win over Loyd Honeyghan. Malinga was in controversial decision losses against prime Eubank and Benn the year prior to getting knocked out by Roy Jones. How about undefeated Julio Cesar Gonzalez? Who was coming in to the fight with an undefeated record and after the Roy Jones loss went on an 8 fight winning streak including wins over Glen Johnson and unbeaten Dariusz Michalczewski? Who ever questions Roy Jones resume just doesn't know what was going on in the 90's and is just a Boxrec warrior.