Roy Jones fought trash opposition

Roy fought low level mandatories and tune ups just like every other boxer does.

 

They got the nerve to say I ain't fight nobody, I just make em look like nobody!

 

Hopkins was green when Jones fought him in 1993.

 

I mean, who else did you want him to fight? The only name I ever see is like Dariusz Michalczewski who shared wins with Jones, did even less, and like wouldn't leave Poland.

Griffin, Hill, McCallum, Paz, Tarver, Kelly, Woods. Blew out B Hop. Blew out Toney. Took a belt at HW. Dude didn't have a scratch on him until he was almost 40. Can't claim he wasn't willing to take a beating. Dude stuck around far to long and more than made up for those missing Ls you crave.

 

Hopkins was a 28 year-old who didn’t lose again for 12 years. The fact he hadn’t had the best of his career yet is really no reflection of the quality of opponent he was.

The reality is that Roy was one of those fighters for whom excuses have to be made for every one of his defeated opponents. It’s a compliment to him.

 

No, almost 40 should mean 39, 38 if you want to stretch it...
Jones began losing many fights within 4 months of turning 35.

I had not realized though that-without being world caliber competition-he has womn 13 of his last 14 fights, until he was 49!
For all his compromised abilities, did most folks realize this?

 

Jones fought some good fighters but I don't read as much into those particular fights that you perhaps might.

Hopkins at that time wasn't the top MW that he became. Around that time he didn't win his next title attempt after.

Toney didn't have a top SMW resume and had several close debatable decisions

Jones didn't face one of the top mws for his mw title or face a mw champion.

At smw there were smws who had been far more impressive and Jones didn't face them ie Eubank, Benn, Collins.

At LHW he won the belts that Michalczewski dropped. Dariusz had a claim to all of the titles.

There were fights that I think would have been massive for Jones in LHW
- Michalczewski
- Maske (possibly a bit before Jones time)
- Rocchigiani
- Possibly even Tiozzo at LHW when Jones first went up to LHW
- Nunn

SMW
- Benn
- Collins
- Eubank

I do agree that nobody would have faced all of those as that is alot of then potential match ups but think anyone of those could have potentially have been his biggest fight at the respective weight


Please don't misunderstand. I rate Jones highly and think he has had an amazing career, fought many top fighters and was great, just think that anyone of those fights at a certain time could have been deemed as his biggest fight

 

Roy Jones Jr is four years younger than Bernard Hopkins. Hopkins was 28 years old when they fought, smack dab in his prime. He didn't lose again for 12 years.

 

And it is not like Hopkins didn't spend 5 years in jail right? He boxed as an amateur, but had to start everything again when he got out of jail as a 23 year old after a 5 year break from the sport. No wonder he lost his first professional bout against an unknown boxer. Hopkins was far from his best in 1993. He became a p4p top 10 type of fighter in the late '90s. So no, Jones beating Hopkins in 1993 was NOT a great win. Hopkins was rated #8 in the middleweight division, not p4p in that year.

 

Except Hopkins struggled against Segundo Mercado a journeyman in 1994 getting floored twice. He obviously got improved after that and never struggled against the same caliber of fighter again.

Jail is also not the suitable environment for high level boxing.

 

You could argue that Jones was just as green if not more when they fought. In 1993 Hopkins had been a pro longer than Jones had been and they had a similar number of fights ( Hopkins was 22-1, Jones 21-0) and it was the first title fight for both of them. What often forgotten going into their fight for the vacant IBF middleweight title fight was that Hopkins was at the time ranked the IBF’s number 1 contender and Jones was ranked no. 2.