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

From Rumsfield's poll five years ago:

ALL TIME BEST
1. Sugar Ray Robinson
2. Sam Langford
3. Harry Greb
4. Muhammad Ali
5. Roberto Duran
6. Hank Armstrong
7. Bob Fitzsimmons
8. Willie Pep
9. Joe Louis
10. Ezzard Charles
11. Roy Jones Junior

Tarver 2
Tarver 3
Johnson
Calzaghe
Hopkins 2

I still have him just outside the top ten.


These are all guys he would have toyed with when he was at the top of his game.

 

If he would have toyed with them when at the top of his game, why do you hold it against him that he lost when he wasn't at the top of his game?

 

Agreed that he was clearly finished after the Johnson fight. He looked awful in that one ... Flat footed, slow, fighting in bursts, bullied to the ropes.
AND YET some people still claim Jones was still 'the same ' going in against Calzaghe and against Green. Astounding really.

 

Being washed out at 35 years old should automatically exclude someone from the top 10 ATG. I give him credit for beating Lacy, Sheika, and Trinidad with great ease, though. A walk in the park.

 

Roy winning a HW title isn't that impressive. Yes, he was the first fighter in over a century to win titles from MW to HW, but there's a reason he fought John Ruiz instead of Lennox Lewis.

 

If Jones had beaten someone on the caliber of Lewis he would be the goat and it would be undisputed. Something like that is just never happening

 

Agreed, I don't rank Holyfield in the top 10

 

Did Roy have the sharpest decline of all time? Dude fell of a cliff. I still think Tarver just had his number and took his soul. I don't buy all the excuses.

 

I've never considered Roy a great light heavyweight , but even I hadn't realized his record at 175 was that bad. If he'd retired after Tarver I my opinion wouldn't have changed much,

 

You prove yourself wrong with your second sentence.

 

I am not a big Ali fan, and I think there are better fighters in history. But at 35, Ali was winning the WBC belt against what many consider the heaviest hitter of all time (Earnie Shavers). Ali actually had a decent post-35 end to his career. Not very good, but decent. Yes, it plays against him.

 

Beating Ruiz doesn't mean much. Handpicked as it gets. Several light heavies could do it. Fat ass Toney did it with ease. Spinks woulda schooled Ruiz. Tarver probably would have beaten him.

 

I'm looking at his entire career, which included IMO a few poor choices towards the end.

Tarver, Johnson and Calzaghe are part of his resume, and he lost to all three...Tarver twice.

I base my rankings mainly on the fighters body of work, modified somewhat by the eye test...hypotheticals.

As of Rummy's poll date five years ago, I had him at #11.

These things are not mathematically rigorous. They involve a degree of arbitrariness, which is in itself fluid.

Down the road I may rank him higher.

Or lower.