RJJ represents all that is wrong with boxing!

:nono He beat a beltholder. Fitzsimmons beat THE Heavyweight Champion at the time. Jones beat the worst of 4 guys at the time. Lennox Lewis was THE Heavyweight Champion. Roy did not fight Lennox Lewis he handpicked John Ruiz instead.

It is not even close to the same thing.

 

Out of Collins, Benn, and Eubank who do you feel would have had the best shot at beating Glass Jaw Roy?

 

Unfortunately I don't, but if you post a thread on the British forum I'm sure someone will send you a link. It's been discussed several times on ESB, if you are interested enough you'd probably find it on google.

 

Mother****er it was a great thing itself figthing that guy and beating him ya hater

 

you are the joke. Roy handpicked John Ruiz and the fight was nothing but a glorified sparring session. It was a farce.

 

Do you realize how short the window was that a fight with Benn or Eubank or Collins was even viable?

Benn lost his title to Sugarboy Malinga in March 1996 (FYI Jones had dominated and stopped Malinga years earlier). Eubank lost his title to Steve Collins in March 1995. Jones only moved up to supermiddleweight in November 1994 when he fought a far bigger name and more highly rated fighter, James Toney.

So really he could probably never have fought Eubank. There was 5 months between Jones-Toney and Eubank-Collins. For all we know, Eubank-Collins could have been arranged prior to November, thus meaning the fight could never have happened. Even if the fight wasn't planned until a while after the Jones-Toney fight, is it really right to criticize Jones for not taking a unification fight in his very 1st defence at a new weight? Is it really right to criticize Jones when we don't know how much money Eubank, as an established star in Britain, would have been looking for to leave his comfort zone in the UK or to consider losing in the UK against Jones (p4p#1 or 2 immediately after the Toney fight)? Jones was not huge box office back then remember. He was a rising star, but not a superstar with a huge following of fans in 1994.

To mention Benn is similarly short-sighted of you. It was well-known at the time that a superfight between Jones Jr and Gerald McClennan was under discussion. McClennan challenged Benn to win his title and make a Jones-McClennan fight a huge unification bout at 168. Was McClennan thought to be a more dangerous fighter than Benn at the time? Undoubtedly he was. Therefore, Jones was waiting to secure a more dangerous fight than Benn. The Benn v McClennan fight was in February 1995 - 4 months after Jones v Toney. Jones was already involved in a bigger, better fight than Benn, and by the time he had beaten Toney, McClennan-Benn was scheduled.

Benn didn't read the script, but that was hardly Roy's fault. Do you think Benn wanted a fight with Roy Jones right after the McClennan fight? Of course he didn't. And then he lost to Malinga. So that fight wasn't viable either.

Collins first won the supermiddle title in March 1995 by beating Eubank, then he fought Eubank again, then he settled for two routine hometown defences in Ireland, then he fought Benn twice, and by this time Jones had moved up to light-heavyweight. Does this sound like a guy who was dying to come over to the USA and fight peak Roy Jones? Steve Collins fought abroad earlier in his career - and lost to Mike McCallum, Reggie Johnson (both beaten by Jones) and Sumbu Kalambay. He only actually won a world title when he started fighting in Ireland/UK. Do you think he wanted to go over and fight the world's best fighter right after winning a world title when he could make money fighting past-prime Eubank and Benn? I severely doubt it. Jones moved up to light-heavyweight in Nov 1996. Therefore, he had an 18-month window to fight Collins, and Collins filled this by fighting Eubank and Benn twice each for big money at home. Again, is it fair that Jones is criticized for not fighting him when you actually examine the situation? I say it's a genuine no.


He could and should have fought Michalczewski though. That's the only one of your four that's valid IMO.

 

I was interested enough to find that video since it was during a time the fight made sense the most and a time when both were in their primes. If he called Jones out after his losses to Tarver then that means nothing, even if he did when Jones moved up then that's worthless as Jones clearly won't move down for Collins.

 

I do agree with you to a certain extent.

I can only think of two fights where Jones really dared to be great: Toney, and Tarver 2.

Against Hopkins, Roy really didn't know who he was dealing with. He though Hopkins was just another run-of-the-mill IBF mandatory.

He did dare to be great against Toney in '94, despite Toney's weight problems. Nothing can be said here. Then, for the next decade, I agree. Roy Jones did not dare to be great from 1994-2004.

John Ruiz was a god-awful HW trinket holder, even a fat, 37 year old James Toney handled that ass and put him on the gorund (though he was aided by Vitamin S).

It was a decade of wasted talent, no fights were made with Liles, Benn, Nunn, or Michalczewski. Not to mention a Hopkins rematch.

An argument can be made that he once again perhaps dared to be great in fighting Tarver for the second time. That fight did not go too well for RJJ, and it was a move he has always said he deeply regrets taking.

 

I thought the first post could've been a joke, then someone agreed. Middleweight to heavyweight champ and being one of the most exciting fighters to watch of all time yet he never took risks and screwed the fans? Doesn't work out. All fighters are businessmen and want maximum gain for minimum effort, to a certain extent.

 

Though I should add, I don't think a win over Michalczewski would have improved Roy's resume/legacy all that much. It would have improved it sure, but Michalczewski was not a Hopkins or a Toney. Had Jones never fought Hopkins or Toney it would have been a huge opportunity missed, a huge gap in the resume, but Michalczewski is not an ATG. It's the same as if Jones had never fought Tarver. A very good champion who was around at the same time as him, but not really a fight that had to happen like Jones v Toney.

 

dont hate..if ruiz is so easy to beat then why is Roy Jones jr the only man in any of the divisions from MW to LHW to move up to HW and BEAT HIM.

u tool!!atsch

 

i honestly belive roy jones and toney didnt want any part of nigel benn after the mcclellan fight

 

a fat out of shape Toney had no problem beating Ruiz either. He proved that Roy's win over Ruiz was worthless.