Who was the greater boxer? Both have similarities and differences. Jones dominated the middle divisions for a decade with typically a defensive low risk approach wheras Chavez dominated the lower divisons with a completly offensive style, damaging a opponent each rounds with his relentless pressure and body punching. Resume wise i would give Roy the edge but, to my knowladge, Chavez never ducked anyone where there are clearly fighters Roy didn't face.
For me it's Jones, both pound-for-pound and in terms of ability. Not a huge gap between them, but Jones has the edge IMO.
Really who did he beat again that was so much better than Roy's opposition. I pick James Toney as a better win than anything chavez ever did.
Rocky Lockridge, Juan Laporte, Edwin Rosario, Jose Luis Rameriz, Meldrick Taylor, Hector Camacho.... It's not just the names, but also the number of them. When was Roy in an in-the-trenches war with punches thrown in bunches wearing his opponents down, even ruining them. Look at the faces of Rosario, Taylor, and Camacho after their fights with Chavez. BRUTAL. When was Chavez knocked out cold TWICE? He was stopped once by the ref late in his career in trouble against the ropes against a terrific fighter. Look at who zapped Roy. Roy was an all-time great. To my mind, this is undisputable. But Chavez was greater. When Roy lost even a bit on his reflexes, he became rather ordinary. Chavez is on that rare level very few fighters ever achieve.
Really? I don't think that's a particularly long list of great names or great wins. You could easily write a similar list for Jones: Bernard Hopkins, James Toney, Antonio Tarver, Virgil Hill, Mike McCallum, Montell Griffin, John Ruiz. Resume is neither man's strongest point IMO. He was too good to get dragged into the trenches, that's the truth. From 1993-2003 (with an absolute peak IMO of 94-97 or 98), Jones was Superman, his opponents could hardly touch him never mind go to war with him. The one time he did find himself in a difficult fight (Griffin I), he managed to overcome a tricky, talented and determined opponent and turn the tide, before he was DQ'd. Jones fought a succession of solid champions and good contenders 93-03 with the odd filler thrown in (nowhere near as bad as Chavez's fillers though), and was in a different league to them all. It should not be detrimental to him that he was so good. Look at the faces of Griffin, Hill, Harding, Malinga, Woods, after they were all stopped by Jones. Look at the faces of Toney, McCallum and Ruiz after they were dazzled and almost shut out. They knew they had been in the ring with Superman. AWESOME. Yes, Roy was KO'd twice when he was shot. I suppose it's up to you how much importance you place on these defeats. I could say: When was Roy ever beaten by guys the standard of GROVER WILEY and WILLY WISE? Roy only lost to world-level boxers, never journeymen. However, I don't care that JCC lost to them when he was shot, same as I don't care about Roy's losses when he was shot, or anyone's losses when they are shot. This does not affect how good they were at their peak or diminish their career achievements in any way IMO. Yes. Perhaps. I don't think so myself, but it's very close between the two, so I can see both sides. When Chavez started to drift past his prime, he also looked pretty ordinary. The JCC who fought Randall did not look like a great fighter to me. It's easy to say anyone past their prime looks ordinary. Jones was an incredible fighter for a decade. From 93-03 he was supreme. That's arguably a longer prime than Chavez, as his fans often state he was clearly past-prime by the Whitaker fight (some also say by the Taylor fight, which would've meant a rather short prime). Top 30-35 IMO. Same tier as guys like Jones and Hearns.
This one is easy for me. Chavez Hill & McCallum were over the hill. Toney had way too much weight to lose & wasnt anywhere near himself in that fight. Tarver,Griffin & Ruiz are average fighter's in my book.
JC Chavez Easily he was indestructible for 10 years ... 10 years ****ers he won his first Belt back in 1984 and lost his first fight 10 years later ... The most impressive, dominant, and amazing prime fighter of all time to me
Meh those are just excuses, i can easily say camacho was older too and meldrick was giving chavez a boxing lesson the whole fight prior to a bull**** stoppage.
1. Chavez was older than Camacho, or at least, has the same age 2. Stop with the "boxing lesson" that taylor "give" to JCC ... the guy was almost getting murdered in the ring and still the people say he was giving " a boxing lesson" .... pls
Haha, if that ref didnt stop the fight when there was two seconds left, chavez would have lost, taylor easily won like 8-9 rounds in that fight. You want to make up excuses for roy beating toney, camacho was not the same fighter in 1992 that he was in the mid 80's. On top of that Roy has so much more skill than Chavez anyways. Chavez has never beaten an ATG fighter. At least Roy fought and beat toney, and yeah james toney is better than rosario, ramirez and taylor, thats not even a comparison.
very good question, i say roy jones jr by the dominance of his wins, virtually every single win that he made (of course the 1st griffen fight was very even fight untill the foul), he won decisively and these where on par with the laporte, rosario, lockridge, lopez, haugen, comacho upper league. roy couldent fight in the trenches like the great chavez and chavez could not box a guys ears off and not get touched like a prime roy jones.