It's hard to not explain the Fab 4 (or in my opinion 5 counting Benitez) with Leonard at the center and as a protagonist. The guy cleared out four of the best talents the divisions he fought in had respectively ever had, hard to make a case that Leonard wasn't that guy.
Leonard for me too, I actually have him over Robinson as the best at 147lbs. Leonard and Jones jnr were both lightening quick at their weight levels but the former just shades it. Jones's losses at the end of his career are like Robinson's or Canzoneri, Benny Leonard etc etc, they're meaningless and don't detract from their heyday.
Well some people say he avoided Benn, Collins, Michalczewski, i'm not in that camp that actually believes that though.
Didn't he vacate instead of facing Nunn? Collins wanted him badly but he wasn't interested. DM would only face him on his terms and Jones, being the bigger star and holding more titles, wouldn't oblige. Why he didn't face McClellan at MW or SMW, I don't know. The window wasn't very wide, though. Don't know if Benn was ever in the works. Don't know how keen title holders were on facing Jones after he made Toney look silly, but if anyone seemed not to give a ****, it was Benn.
Against the grain ...Roy Jones for me ... one candle burned bright for a long time , one for a short time .. both were cherry pickers ... One had 75 fights , one had only 40 .. .Ray does have the bigger wins , ........ Depends what your criteria is I guess .. Activity is obviously high on my list I have have Hagler above both of them someone who didnt have the luxury of cherry picking
Agree for the same reasons. Roy had an amazing career with lots of big wins, belts etc, but Leonard accomplished more in a smaller number of fights
Leonard is arguably more skilled. He could box, stick and move, or roll up his sleeves and have a rough fight. Proved his ability against a wider variety of prime opponents of various styles while Jones didn't have very many noteworthy elite opponents. Jones spent 90% of his career only fighting one way, as a freakishly athletic counter puncher with blazing hands and dramatic slipping ability. The moment he slowed down and got older, you saw a major change in his style and you also saw a major drop in his performances at the elite level. Leonard, like Ali, was able to adapt after aging and losing some of his speed, and for the most part Jones didn't. Leonard had the better career in both the amateurs and pros, but his career was fairly short in quality over quantity sort of way. Leonard did have a few dubious verdicts (he definitely lost the 2nd Hearns fight, and the Hagler fight has been debated for decades). Leonard had some highs and lows, but always managed to bounce back and surprise the boxing world. Meanwhile, Jones career is like night and day. The first half of his career was an amazing meteoric rise with the only blemishes being his controversial Olympic performance and the B.S loss to Griffin. He looked like Superman during his peak years and would probably have been considered a top 20 p4p fighter of all time had he retired after the incredibly historic win over Ruiz. But then after being sparked out by Tarver he never again regained that amazing aura and had few noteworthy moments. All in all, I'd have to say Leonard was the better fighter in terms of both boxing ability and career, but at his best Jones was something special and may have rated higher based on the eye test and performances.
Ray Leonard was everything you’d want a prizefighter to be if you built one in a fantasy factory. Speed, power, heart, grit, ring IQ … you name it. Roy Jr was a force of nature. More akin to a hurricane or a solar flare than a human being. I saw him fight live once (vs. Malinga) and … I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s like he came from the future or something — and that future is still probably a couple centuries away. He should have been tested for the X-gene because he’s basically a mutant.
Imagine travelling forward, to our future, Roy’s present, only to find Jones Jrs are a dime a dozen. Ho hum, no big deal. Not even qualifying as elite fighters, Roy being just like any average Joe, zipping around on their hoverboards. Given same, imagine the ACTUAL boxing ATGs of the future? We would then deduce that to be the exact reason (ordinariness) why Roy jumped into his hot tub time machine to travel back in time - to give himself the chance and context to be a real standout in more primitive times (our present). Ugg…Ugg! Anybody ever see Roy’s ungloved hands? If you did, did you notice the webbing between the fingers? - an absolute give away. There are many more among us - Trumps hands are tiny but they too are webbed…but I’ve yet to identify his special power(s) brought from the future - aside from an incredible penchant for bull sh*tting. Haha. I might travel back to caveman times and show them fire - I will be treated as a GOD!! Or at least until my matches run out. Live long and prosper fellow boxing fans and quantum travellers.
Be careful not to mis-set the time machine and teleport yourself into a ring with Caveman Lee. This content is protected
Haha. Good point. If I light a match and say BOO!, somehow I don’t think it’s going to send that Caveman running in the other direction.
