How popular was RJJ in the 90's?

Benn never turned down any offer from Jones

Thats not true either. Collins collapsed in sparring as he was getting ready to face Calzaghe. Lou Dibella had promised him a Jones fight if he could beat Calzaghe and get a belt

 

There can always be an excuse to deflate a fighter's victory over a notable opponent. Pacquiao fought a 0-1-1 Mosley who was over the hill. Hatton was never the same since Mayweather KO'd him as evidenced in his unconvincing victories after Mayweather. Same with Cotto. Margarito had been off a year and looked like crap against a no name in his tune-up.

The bottom line is Toney was 44-0 going into that fight and Super Middleweight was his division. Roy went up to fight him. However, because Jones won every round and made it look easy like in most of his fights, the other fighters were diminished.

 

Also, like most fighters.. time, drastic muscle loss, and a ko loss made ROy more likely to be hurt by punches. He had a solid chin before the Tarver loss. "THepunchingbag" you don't know anything about Roy Jones career or his opponents.

 

When I was a kid, we all wanted to imitate RJJ.

I'm from a small town in Washington state. He was popular enough.

 

Watch it from beginning ..A classic ep and a great way to show respect to Hitman ..The was one funny ass show ..

 

1. Jones proposed a 1 off fight to King to fight Benn, King demanded Jones sign a multi-fight contract to make the fight:

In September of '95 Jones dispatched Tony Thornton with somethig like 25 unanswered punches, Jones made a suitably bizarre dedication:

"This is for everyone in the chicken business!"

But he also had a bit to say about Nigel Benn.

"You go tell Don King i'll take that fight [Benn] anytime! Nigel Benn is a great warrior and that's why I want to fight him!"


The problem was that Benn was with King. King wanted Jones to sign a "winning options" clause. Though Jones was happy to work with King for the right amount of dollar, he, and perhaps to an even greater degree, Stanley Levin (something to do with Roy's management team - don't know his exact role, he seems to be mostly labelled as a "advisor"?) did not want any part of Don long term, and you absolutley cannot blame them for that. Furthermore, King was determined that a fight this big should be on Showtime, Jones was connected to HBO.

Later, Jones was inerviewed by Claude Abrahams for Boxing News:

"I hear about King offring $25m for me and Benn. Instead, he can come up with $10m apiece and we can fight [without giving up long-term control]. I want a three fight package!"

Jones's "three fight package" wasn't a long-term deal for King, but rather an idea whereby he would come to England but not alone.

"My bros must go with me. I must have some cover if I go to another country. Bruno-[Alfred] Cole would be a good fight. Let's make it a great night. I've seen Hamed. He's a pretty good fighter but [Derek] Gainer watched the fight against Robinson, he says he can beat him. Derrick don't turn no-one down. Bruno can punch but Cole has more skill. That will balance it out into a good fight. Me and Benn - enough said. I like Benn and that's why I want to fight him. It's a sportsman's challenge. But they can't speak for themselves. They can't make their own decisions without King. They can't make their own decisions. We can. They don't have the power. They are denying the public some great fights. I really like the big challanges. When I fought Toney it was a project. Benn is a project because he is a warrior and it will be a test for me. I really believe Benn wants to fight me. I respect him."

Several things strike me about this. Firstly, I believe Roy was up for this. That strikes me. Do you? Or just bombast? Secondly, he really seems bored with the Sosas of this world. I think it screams of the page that he wants to be challenged. Thirdly, Jones shows real give. He doesn't make problems. Read between the lines. He's talking about coming to the UK AND taking a pay cut in this passage. I don't think you can hold it against him that he didn't want to sell his soul to the devil.

Of course it never came off. After the Sosa fight Jones said: "Boxing isnt a challenge for me no more. The only challenge is Benn and he don't return my phone calls." You can see the boredom.


Benn, for his part, was probably not the problem. After the Nardiello fight talking to Ian Darke: "Roy Jones...I don't mind being second to Roy Jones. I think he's a class act. I'd really like to fight him. He'll frighten me. That's what I need - somebody to really frighten me. I'd be up for that fight like a mother...so please, God, Don King, Frank ****** HBO, if you can get that fight i'll fight him in his - no, my back yard. Roy Jones is the only one who's gonna give me that real fear. He's going to put the fear of God up me."

2. Collins was going to fight Calzaghe but decided he only wanted to come back for Jones - presumably because he didn't want to risk the Jones fight. Jones proposed Collins to HBO he preferred he take on IBF LHW champ Reggie Johnson who'd beaten Collins. Jones invited Collins to his fight to hype the fight on HBO and HBO ignored Collins. Collins suffered a brain injury when sparring with Howard Eastman and the rest is history

 

and stilllllll

 

You're crazy! He beat the likes of Toney and Hopkins too you know atsch

 

Benn vs Jones negotiations part 1:​

Benn took the McClellan fight hoping to get a shot at Jones:

War, baby page 6

Jones talks Benn-McClellan

Dark trade p180

After beating McClellan Benn starts to call out Jones. You can hear King in the background promising to get Benn the fight
Jones response

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/jones-only-has-eyes-for-benn-1323327.html

Benn

Dark Trade page 263

Jones

DARK TRADE 263

 

Benn vs Jones negotiations part 2:​

Jones

Dark trade 264
Benn

War, Baby page 111

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLIvbLH1Z94[/ame]

Two months before the Benn-Malinga fight

Benn :

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4161/is_19960114/ai_n9700832/?tag=content;col1
Roy Jones Jr. Chat Transcript (9/6/2010)

http://www.8countnews.com/news/125/ARTICLE/2884/2010-09-06.html

Jones is lying here because Benn didnt get divorced until mid 96

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-61330740.html

 

You guys just can't handle the truth, this topic was discussed to death but the RJJ-fans just won't accept the facts.
RJJ was a media-sensation, he was in a position were he didn't need to fight the best to make a shitload of money, so he didn't. I don't really blame him for that.
But ignoring the fact that he failed to take on the bigger challenges
to fight far lesser opponents to secure his status, minimize the risks and milk his career as long as possible is a bit narrow-minded.
That's not an ATG in my eyes.
You can have all the talent in the world, if you are not willing to test yourself vs the best, thats worth ****.
We will never know how good RJJ really was in his prime, bc he ran from his biggest challenges.
Pac took fights nobody expected him to win, he was always looking for the best opposition out there. Then when he beat those guys, those wins were discredited bc the opponents were shot, weight-trained etc.
RJJ never took those risky kinds of fights in the first place.

 

OK, one last time...

Toney -> weight-drained
Hopkins -> not prime

If you choose to ignore these facts thats your fault.

 

Thats not how it happened

The Collins-Jones negotiations part 1:​

Steve Collins came up through the ranks of boxing the hard way. He didnt get to earn a big purse until he got lucky and fought Eubank, after Ray Close pulled out of the bout with Eubank. After the fight he calls out Jones saying that he wants to prove he is the best smw out there
Source: post fight interview for: Collins-Eubank I
Frank ****** made offers to Jones on behalf of Collins:

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/ALAS+...r+ever+for+over-rated+Roy,+vows...-a061337441

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/IT'S+WAR;+Words+fly+over+Steve+super+fight.-a061108823
In 1997 Collins said he wasnt motivated to fight anymore and announced his retirement. Saying he wanted to only fight Jones and no one else
Jones would then make him an offer:

http://groups.google.com/group/rec....l=en&lnk=gst&q=benn+vs+jones#d483fe01f9ec9280
Collins was skeptical of the offer:

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Collins+pounds+5m+'no'.-a061065836

http://www.cyberboxingzone.com/boxing/box12-97.htm

Collins still wanted to fight Jones so he went to America and called out Jones to his face in 99
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0Erh4RKbHE[/ame]

Enter Lou Dibella

http://archives.tcm.ie/irishexaminer/1999/01/15/fshead.htm

 

They were negotiating the fight in '95, a divorce can take a long time to go through, 18months is quite normal for a divorce, Benn was said to be very depressed around this time, at 1 point he said he was suicidal, although I'm unsure when that was.

The key reason though is King wouldn't do business unless he got a multi-fight deal with Jones, King was Benn's puppet master who had Benn under contract, therefore the fight can't be made without King agreeing to the terms

 

GTFO! Just the fact you think Jones is just like Hamed shows you're a ****ing idiot. And yes Jones is more talented physically than Pac. And I'm a huge Pac fan.