Is it Controversial to Rank Roy Jones above Mayweather ?

RJJ would've had the most dominant career of the modern era his H2H ability would've been ridiculous and he would've retired after doing an achievement that hadn't been done in 100 years. I guarantee you alot of people would've he had him in the top 10/20 of all time.

As for his opposition it's actually alot better than people believe I have done numerous breakdowns on his career if you want to search it up and see what you think.

 

It's wrong.

 

IMO, Roy had more all-around talent/athleticism and reached greater individual heights in his career (i.e., Toney, Ruiz) but Floyd has more depth to his resume. Roy's legacy suffers from extended stretches where he fought mediocre/forgettable competition IMO.

I personally rate May several spots higher than Roy all-time, but I wouldn't consider it "controversial" to reverse them.

 

Reasonable view. Roy Jones looked more formidable of the two when at their very bests. Might even have been a better head to head fighter. But Mayweather has more statistical accomplishments and remained consistent even in old age.

 

Well for one, he didn’t. But for another, it still would’ve been below Mayweather’s achievements for mine.

 

If Mayweather got stopped by Cotto and his career hit the dumps afterward, I'd rate them roughly equally.

 

No, it isn't. Floyd had better longevity, but Roy a better prime.

 

Seems a bit unfair? Every fighter is different and has different skill sets and peaks. Jones was great until he wasn't. But carried on for a second career that was longer than his first (until he lost to Tarver). Mayweather had different skills which lasted longer. At their best, they were both incredible. Jones was not Jones from 2004 onwards.

 

Floyd picked and poked through his career, occasionally taking risks. He was not considered anywhere near the level of Jones when both were active, between 1998 - 2004. I guess you could say he was more skilled in a conventional sense. But Jones was more gifted - until the wheels fell off aged 34.
Roy still had excellent wins (Hopkins, Toney) and very good ones (Tarver, Ruiz, Woods, Griffin, Harding).
If he was that predictable, easy to counter and beat then someone would have done it sooner.
At least try to give some credit where it's due instead of being a one dimensional Floyd fan. I lived through both of their careers. I still consider Jones at his best to be more impressive .

 

You mistake me as a Fl*mo. I am not. I am an RJJ hater, and proud of it. You can’t claim that Floyd ducked guys and cherrypicked without acknowledging that Roy did the exact thing. He ducked Dariusz for his entire career, while Floyd at least had the stones to fight Manny even if he was late to the party. Roy cherrypicked a title at HW by choosing by far the weakest title holder with John Ruiz, which was criticised as a freak show fight at the time and a waste of time for Roy who people still wanted to see fight somebody. Has there ever been another fighter who was so heavily criticised by fans for their poor resume that they had to write a song about it? Hopkins was a nobody when Roy fought him btw, he was green and barely even ranked at the time. Roy fought an unheralded fringe contender and people make it out to be an ATG win because it aged well in hindsight. Roy’s only A tier win was against a Toney who hadn’t trained and wasn’t trying. And Floyd was considered to be the same level as Roy when they were active too, if you watch the HBO commentary for the Philip N’Dou fight, Jim Lampley states something along the lines of ‘RJJ and ODLH have company after this sensational performance from Mayweather’ iirc.

 

Well that's why I said hypothetically "If he retired" that's my whole argument.

Yes Mayweather has more filler to his resume but Jones has the best single win in regards to a prime James Toney and looked more impressive in his prime.

There would be very little to choose between them if RJJ retired after Ruiz.

 

“Prime Toney” is favourable revisionism.

 

I don't think RJJ ducked Michalczewski neither were willing to travel so it was a stale mate.

Theres no way RJJ would travel to Germany and Michalczewski was a big name in Germany and didn't need to travel.

But needless to say had they fought and we've had this discussion before RJJ wins all day everyday he was a class above Michalczewski.

 

I don’t think it would have been that hard for Roy to ask for judges from neutral countries though. It wasn’t a problem for Virgil Hill. If you’re supposed to be an ATG then what better win could you have then beating the lineal champ in their own backyard? Dariusz was the man at 175, Roy was the challenger but he still got gifted The Ring belt before earning it, and waited Dariusz out until Julio Gonzalez beat him for him. Dariusz would have been a legacy defining fight for Roy if he had chosen to travel out of his comfort zone of American judges in Pensacola.

 

Not really it isn't Toney was 44-0 P4P number 3 and coming off a good performance and KO vs Charles Williams so he was considered in his prime.

If Toney wasn't in the best shape of his career for the biggest fight of his life that's on him theres no excuses he was considered in his prime prior to fighting RJJ.

If you want to use the weight drained argument then let's be fair and apply to Mayweathers win over Corrales aswell who was also weight drained and having issues outside the ring.

We can all make excuses me personally I think the only relevant excuses are if a fighter has a legitimate injury or if a boxer is way past their best anything else is just coping IMO.