Is Roy Jones Overrated

He’s actually underrated IMO. Not the deepest resume by virtue of the era, but BHop, Toney and Virgil Hill are all very good wins. Passed the eye test with flying colors. If he retired at 48/49-1 after the Ruiz fight or Tarver 1 he’d be held in higher esteem.

 

I think he is rated where he is rated .. . I think he has the same problem Mayweather Jr has but on a smaller scale .. Passed on the better fights and didn't challenge himself enough at 168 .. his resume is lacking there big time .. for whatever the reason .. he missed the better guys ... so depends on how ya rate ... competition resume lacking ..but Activity, dominance, athleticism, reflexes, eye test , h2h .. off the chart .. All time p4p
top 20 to 30 for him .. where Mayweather more of a 30 - 40 guy

 

An emphatic NO from me. Roy was arguably the best super-middleweight ever.

 

No.

Next

 

Yes, overall.

No, talent wise,

though as stated, he/they, all should have fought more willing to prove it, rather than pick it.

 

Problem with RJJ is twofold. 1) his chin and 2) he never really built a legacy at any one weight. It's hard to say he was the best MW or SMW ever because he simply doesn't have the record to sustain such an evaluation. What can be said for sure is that on the eye test he looks fabulous and that you can make a case H2H that he could hang with anybody at the weights. He's hard to evaluate because of those reasons and as a result people tend to either over or underrate him.

 

Probably the most athletically gifted fighter ever. As he aged and lost that edge in speed and reflexes he became beatable but at his best he is one of the greatest fighters ever.

 

Not really! Roy suffered because he made most of his fights look easy. Also one could argue he was unlucky that his era wasn't particularly exciting as far as opponents who could test him or resonated with the public.

His resume maybe a bit thin as far as glamourous opponents but sometimes you have to look at the era and say "OK who was around who could have tested him or made an exciting fight"? There aren't many rival belt holders or contenders at the time who I look back and feel would have made particularly challenging or exciting fights, either through the limitations of the opponent or Jones simply walking through them.

At Middleweight fights with Jackson and McClellan would have been interesting, mainly due to their KO power and Roy's subsequent KO losses, although Jackson was pretty shop worn and we subsequently know Gerald was already probably suffering from neurological damage. Fights with rival belt holders Collins, Castro, Jackson or Pyatt don't set the pulse racing.

At SMW fights with Benn, Eubank or perhaps Nunn may have been interesting but I don't see any of them winning and don't feel they hold back his legacy at the weight once he beat Toney.

At LHW he beat Griffin, Hill, Woods and Tarver. A Michalczewski fight may have been nice but I doubt it would be a crowd pleaser and I don't see Jones losing.

Whenever anyone asks if X is overated I always think "would this fighter have given problems to the very best of any given era" and with Jones I see him giving anyone a tough night at his very best.

 

Lol no, how can you be overrated if you were the best fighter of the decade in the 90’s. He’s more underrated than anything.

 

Apart from Jones's signature wins over Hill, Toney, Hopkins, some of Jones's other wins are often underrated.

Thomas Tate = Went 12 hard rounds with Julian Jackson in his prime, Jones stopped him in only 2 rounds a year and a half later.

Jorge Castro = 70-3 at the time a fantastic win for an upcoming prospect, Castro went on to beat Reggie Johnson x2 and have that famous win vs John David Jackson.

Thulani Malinga = No one had ever dominated or stopped Malinga in his prime like Jones did, Maligna should've had two wins over Nigel Benn. And also went on to dethrone 25-0 Robin Reid and Nigel Benn aswell, i think this is a highly underrated win for Jones regarding the manner of victory.

Merqui Sosa = Tough awkward strong fighter who no one ever had an easy time with in his prime, Jones at that point was the only fighter to stop him in only 2 rounds aswell.

Montell Griffin = Two wins over James Toney enough said.

Reggie Johnson = No one had ever dominated Johnson like Jones did look at all of his losses to Toney, Castro x2, Jackson, they were either split decisions or UD by only 1 point. Even after the loss to Jones, Johnson went on to fight Tarver to a close split decision loss another underrated win for Jones.

Richard Hall = Gave Dariusz Michalczewski absolute hell in two fights and was unlucky not to win the 1st fight, Jones absolutely toyed with Hall like a sparring partner.

Julio Cesar Gonzalez = Dethroned long reigning Dariusz Michalczweski who was 48-0, again Jones toyed with Gonzalez like a sparring partner another underrated win.

Also another underrated aspect to Jones's resume is how many top 10 ranked fighters he beat.

Hopkins Ranked 8th
Tate Ranked 6th
Toney Ranked 1st
Hill Ranked 3rd
McCallum Ranked 9th
Griffin Ranked 4th
Del Valle Ranked 5th
Johnson Ranked 4th
Telesco Ranked 5th
Harding Ranked 3rd
Harmon Ranked 10th
Gonzalez Ranked 6th

So that's 13 fighters who Jones beat who were ranked top 10 when Jones dominated them.

Overall Jones may of missed out on some possible big fights vs Benn, Collins, Nunn, McClellan, Michalczewski, etc. But overall his resume isn't that bad and he certainly passes the eye test, he was also ranked no lower than 3rd in the P4P rankings for a decade, and was often ranked P4P number 1. So to answer the question no certainly not overrated.

 

Fantastic post, I actually learned a lot! I wasn't aware he beat Castro or that Gonzalez beat Michalczweski after his loss to Jones.

 

Nah. I think overtime he’s become less appreciated in fact

 

Good list and especially good shout on Malinga, a very overlooked performance.

I was at that fight live and was interested to see how Roy Jr would solve a puzzle that had perplexed Benn and Eubank … and he barely broke a sweat.

They didn’t look like two fighters on different levels … it was more like two different species — with Roy Jr far evolved from what Malinga was. It felt like his mental approach wasn’t ‘how do I beat this guy’ so much as ‘exactly how do I want to take him out?’

Virtuoso.

 

Good post. Wasn't Sosa and Malinga ranked as well? I think Paziensa was, and Ruiz and Tarver. I think I counted to about 20 at one time, using the annual ratings.