If Roy Jones Jr. had retired after Tarver 1 where would you have ranked him?

49-1 being a top P4P fighter for a decade with 23 world title wins over 4 different weightclasses and one of the most dominant careers of all time barely losing a round ?

Top 15 easily.

 

Roy is the best fighter I’ve ever seen live in his prime

 

Do you hold this standard to every boxer who got popped dirty just once?

 

Top 10. And I still rank him there. I rate him at how he was at his best, and don't penalise him for carrying on too long (just as I don't with other fighters).
The problem is that he carried on for so long he handed ammunition to his detractors. There were never any question marks around his chin until 2004. But now those comments appear all over any thread about him. He is rated by his losses as an old man rather than his wins as a young one. And that's a real pity.

 

I am just saying it is questionable I am not denying he was a great fighter. I have seen a lot of people hail him as the greatest in his prime. No doubt he had an impressive run but it is just my opinion that he was fueled by something else. My first post may have been unfair.

 

I was under the impression that Jones had avoided testing until the Hall fight but I maybe wrong.

 

Top 20 ATG and I probably still would have him around there. I have him higher than Usyk. Behind PAC and Floyd.

 

Honestly his losses don't change much of anything for me. I have him way ahead of most other modern LHWs and way behind the guys from the early 20tfh century I rate in front of him. Appearing more dominant in that era doesn't do a lot for RJJ because he already cleared it.

Besides Tunney who split his career between HW and LHW all of RJJs peers in the ATG discussion have quite a few losses. So having no unavenged losses(which he has two of at LHW)wouldn't really help him here. Only feats could and besides Mich and Glen Johnson RJJ isn't really missing any names from his resume.

RJJ was 5-5 at LHW after Tarver I and the losses were Tarver, Johnson, Tarver, Calzaghe, Hopkins. 3 of those were wins over fighters he beat when they were younger and he knocked down Calzaghe. RJJ was 40+ for all his CW losses.


Not to say retiring after Tarver I doesn't give RJJ an allure but are there LHW fighters you have ahead of RJJ who would be behind if not for that? And for me thats probably a no. He accomplished almost everything he could have and that wasn't really taken away by the losses.

 

I believe he beats Calzaghe, prime vs. prime. He has wins over Hopkins and Toney, along with a heavyweight belt that guarantees him a place in history forever. I consider him unbeatable at super middleweight, against anyone in history. At his full potential, he’s more like a top 5 ATG, but due to poor career choices and a lack of wins over strong competition, he ends up closer to the top 20.

To answer: Top 5 ATG if he had a flawless career, which he was capable of. Top 10 ATG prior to the Tarver loss. Ultimately, top 20 now.

 

Way higher than that.

If he had quit after Tarver 1, He'd be in my top ten.

 

And where do you rate him now?

Which of his past prime losses did you consider relevant enough to affect how you ranked him?

 

Any loss after Tarver 2 does not count much. He was totally shot from the Johnson fight. He literally sat on the ropes and was a punching bag vs a journeyman and was knocked out.

 

Johnson a journeyman? Wtf?

 

He did not look shot at all in the first two Tarver fights. It's just excuses.

He'd had a glass jaw since the amateurs but just hid it well mostly by fighting weak opposition.