What if Roy Jones stayed at HW to defend his title after beating Ruiz? Who could he have defended it against?
Maybe Chris Byrd or a James Toney Rematch guys of that size, its hard to imagine him against the giants of the division like the Klitshko's and Lewis. As a Jones fan i would have love to see him go for real greatness and challenge Lewis, he wouldnt had anything to lose if he lost he lost to a much bigger fighter and one of the best ever in the HW division it wouldnt affect his legacy but if he somehow someway were he able to come up with something special and beat Lewis and then retire he would have been a top 10 ATG. But sadly as it is with most fighters cases the end was far from perfect.
He just wouldnt have been big enough to take on Lewis. But Byrd,Toney, Holyfield, Oquendo,Williamson I even think he could have totally outboxed Tua, and stayed away from his power. So, basically not the Super HW's. but most guys south of 235, and 6'4....he'd have a shot against. People talk a lot of crap about Ruiz, but the guy was basically a top 5 HW, with good names on his record( Golota,Rahman,Kirk Johnson,Holyfield,Oquendo,) Dropped controversial decisions to Valuev and Chagaev. He was certainly no joke, even if he was awful to watch
Did you not see how he won those fights?:huh He lost to Golota. He was knocked down twice and had a point deducted for holding. Rahman was a clinchfest, Johnson he faked low blows to win, Holyfield again he faked a low blow to avoid a knockdown, the Oquendo fight do you not remember how little action and awful it was with the crowd booing from round 1 all the way through the fight the first combination Ruiz landed the referee waved off the fight in a mercy stoppage for the fans :roflatsch These 'wins' as you but them were always with controversy or close controversial scorecards. Ruiz never unanimously beat anyone.
He took the easiest path to a portion of the championship, then he fled after throwing around names. People like to bring up Antonio Tarver, but the true reason RJJ fled the HW division was that he wouldn't hang with the big guys around.
And his losses tended to be controversial too. He was impossible to look good against. The only person who ever dominated him in his prime over an entire fight was Jones. Tua blasted him out in about 10 seconds, but outside of that,you had to wait until he was shot against Haye before he was dominated again, taking the Jones fight away. In his prime 2 guys beat him convincinly, Tua wo landed huge and Jonesd who won every single round
Jones would´ve played it safe - going on the road defending on a monthgly basis around the world against local champions. I think he would´ve changed the heawyweight picture completely and drawn a lot of attention for his stylish performances. Jones is a man who likes to box - champions today seems to dislike boxing, the fans and each other.
He would have fought Lennox Lewis for 50 million and retired with a UD loss as he'd run for 12 rds.... Would look eerily similar to Wlad vs Haye. But Roy woulda been richer and woulda had a retirement payday.:thumbsup
The only HEAVYWEIGHT fight RJ wanted at the time was Mike Tyson. When RJ realized that wasnt gonna happen he had no other reason/motivation to stay at heavyweight
I would have loved to see him stay at HW but as stated, he would have been taken out on a stretcher had he fought either Klitschko or Lewis. He's been knocked cold by LHW and CW fighters, what would happen if a 250 lb. ATG like Klit or Lewis got a hold of him? Yes his speed was great, but you will get hit considering the guys are bigger, thus making the ring appear smaller.
Shows how great he was, that some people expected him to get in the ring with guys 7 inches taller and 60 lbs heavier.