If Roy Jones had retired after Ruiz, would he have been a top 10 ATG?

No.

 

Talent wise, he is top ten easily. Including all other factors it's extremely difficult to beranked that high as a modern fighter.

 

huh? well he might have been able to beat anyone in these divisions but he never did enough i dont think to say hes was the greatest middleweight or supermiddleweight of all time...

 

Exactly. Ruiz is probably the least talented fighter to hold a portion of the HW belt ever. Without Don King to grease the way for his illegal tactics, he'd have been lucky to be a fringe contender.

 

Yes. If he retired, history would immediately begin to look at him favourably. Many will hate but his achievements will be magnified rather than his wrong doings.

 

no way. He never really was in a real fight where he went to war. He has some good wins against Toney and Hill and Hopkins, but that does not get him near top ATG ever.

 

No.

His legacy would always suffer, as it does now, from his failure to confirm has place as the best light-heavy of his era (and thus the best fighter of his era) by besting either Dariusz or Tarver.

 

if you have duran in your top ten after quittng against ray leonard and getting koed by tommy hearns then yes roy is definitely top 5:deal even with the losses.

 

Barring round 1, which could've went either way.. Jones won every second of every round against Ruiz. Toney sloppily beat Ruiz while under the influence of steroids.

 

no way...sweet pea is not even top 10...also not even top 20

 

it's gonna be totally easy for everyone to say no ... it's hind site..everybody is an expert when it comes to hind site .. it's just like trinidad was being compaired to sugar ray robinson after the damn joppy fight ..one fight later he became plain ol one dimensional cheato trinidad to most of the fans ...

 

why the **** would he fight toney again..he outclassed him??? but he is no top ten guy...he never had a superfight after toney until tarver and he got ko'd by him...ruiz is not a great win...his talent may be top ten ever but certainly not resume

 

While I agree that those were very embarrassing losses for Duran, look at who you're comparing his conquerors to:

Tarver
Glen Johnson

 

duran is the best lightweight whereas jones is borderline top 5

 

Hey I like your picture. As for Duran. Well I never had Duran in my top ten ATG. I never thought he beat enough greats to be there. He had a good lightweight reign, but never beat a really great ATG there. Buchanan and Dejesus were not near guys like Whitaker or Delahoya in caliber and Duran never beat that level there or ever really, except for Ray. And that win was taken away by the rematch. Yes,Duran's best win is Leonard, and still Leonard came back to beat Duran two times. Then Duran lost to Hearns,Benitez and Hagler. So the ATG levels are pretty much rated by who you like and who you admire. Objectivity is not something people ever really practice. As for Roy. He did not fight enough ATG's to be really at the top of the ATG list. You cannot duck people and get there. Duran did not duck people, but he did not beat them when he fought them. Duran fans will say he was old when he fought them, but then ok. Then he still lost to them, but why would he be top 10 ATG? What gets him there? Beating Dejesus and Buchanan? Beating Moore and Barkley? Hearns beat Cueves when Pipino was prime, Benitez when he held the title and Virgil Hill when Virgil was champ and undefeated. And Duran when Duran was champ at 154. Hearns also was involved in two great superfights which go down as legendary fights. Duran was in one with Leonard.I think Hearns has better wins then Duran, yet Duran gets more credit.