Roy Jones jnr, thoughts please.

Roy Jones-hated by the common fight fan who want to go on kidding themselves and who after dozens of confirmations of his brilliance, just want to talk about what he did after the age of 35.

Let's be clear about this: Roy Jones is a true Sugar Ray and this video proves it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWIqZKhNY90

Roy is a boxing God to which Powerpuncher will attest to and a man who I described in an letter to KO magazine as "an outrageously difficult opponent" among other things. Why reminisce over fighters like Charles, Robinson, Louis, and Moore when we've had a living legend like Roy in our midst? That's right, i said legend.

 

Maybe, but both were still good enough to destroy Sugar Ray and both proved it.

 

I dont know how anyone could hate on Jones. Were talking about a natural super middleweight borderline middleweight who cleaned out both the supermiddle and LH division and won the heavyweight title against a proven fighter. So much hate was on him over the Dariusz fight, but DM in my opinion was way more of a hype job, and it was proven later in his career. I think a lot of the way Jones acted was because of his insistence of doing things his way and fighting guys on certain terms. There was a lot of foul play going on in Europe at that time. From guys getting bad decisions, getting sick, getting chemicals in their eyes, etc. There was just too many things happening not to believe some of it might be true. To me, if you want to beat the man you have to come to his turf, and Jones had all of the most recognizeable belts.
Maybe he had some soft touch title defenses, but he had a lot of title defenses, and really I challenge someone to tell me who he didnt fight? A rematch with Hopkins would have been nice, but again Hopkins had a similar personality to Jones, but Jones in my opinion holding the win over Bernard was still the bigger fish. Other than that he fought everyone. I would have liked to see him stay at heavyweight and fight a couple more fights against Byrd and Holyfield, and then retire. Going back down to LH really tarnished his career because it sped up the ageing process.
To me he is the most physically gifted fighter ever. His style was unorthodox but his tremendous speed compensated for it. Like all great fighters, they lose a step and they become a little more ordinary, and this is most likely why Jones decided to go back down to a more natural weight.

 

five time world champion, undefeated in 11 years and Terry destroyed him so no excuses. Capiche?

Besides, who was favored by all the experts to win?

Hector same advanced age as Leonard in this battle of the relics and Ray still couldnt handle him. Had this battle been held in the 80s the result would have likely been the same.

 

Here we go...

 

Wow, so using your logic Berbick would have always beaten Ali? No way my friend. Boxer movers age a lot faster, just ask Mr Mullings.

 

It was hard to watch for me, but it should have been far harder to watch for any Calzaghe fan with a shred of integrity. The shame of taking a fight with a man he said in his autobiography he would never fight because he was "shot" (his autobiography was written in 2004 by the way), of dancing around laughing while slapping the **** out of a man that Tarver and Johnson were knocking cold FOUR YEARS earlier.

If Manny Pacquiao or Juan Manuel Marquez or Bernard Hopkins did likewise, I would be gutted. But they never would. Hence why I am a true fan of those guys. :good

 

Why does Leonard always get compared with Ali? he's no ALi. In the first place, you can't compare Leonard's defeat to Norris with Ali's loss to Trevor Berbick because Leonard was unbeaten in 11 years and carrying 5 championships during that time. The ring rust had long since come off from the Hagler fight so logically, he should be even better than he was for Hagler (remember, no ring rust)


And even better, he was down at 154, which should make him even that much faster.

Not only that but look at his last performance vs. Duran. he was flawless, his legs in outstanding condition with Ray on his toes for 12 rounds non stop.

No way should Leonard EVER be compared with ALi of the Holmes fight. :nono

The reviews also back my claim that there was absoultely nothing wrong with Leonard going into the Norris fight.

Steve Farhood: "Ray fought the perfect fight"

Tim Ryan at the consclusion of UNO MAS: "What an absolutely brilliant performance!!"

Does that sound like the kind of evaluation of a man who should be compared to Ali of the Berbick fight? Ali was a punching bag with no legs

I just think that Ray never had the kind of experience to handle a man like Norris despite his edge in experience. He never had to deal with a man of Terrys' hand speed. I felt that he wouldnt be able to take the kind of quick, snappy type of punches that Terry could deliver-the kind that had Mugabi reeling around the ring looking for a place to fall.

and once again, I was right. It was just a matter of minutes before Ray found out that facing a foe such as Norris is a precarious experience indeed. fraught with peril every step of the way and just barely survived.

BTW, Ray Leonard IS a great fighter; he just isnt quite good enough to make my top 50

 

I understand using that excuse for the first Tarver fight but the second one? Come on man, he was put on ***** street by some pouthpaw even when he was in his prime.

 

You're right Scorpion. You could see even before the second fight began that confidence level-that Tarver knew he owned Roy, asking him if he had his excuses ready. You know what that means. Then he proceeded to blow Roy out of the ring. Roy was never the same after that.

 

The comparison is because they are both boxers with a lot of speed and depend on their speed more than anything.
It is my opinion that fighters like this become old over night. Leonard was not as active as Terry Norris, a fighter clearly coming into his prime. Ray's speed was definitely not the same as it was in 81.
It happened to Norris in the Mullings fight. It happened to Jones Jr too. When these speedsters lose a step, it makes all the difference. They still fight the same but their reaction time isnt the same, so they get hit more. Norris was simply the quicker fighter. You cant say that Rays reaction time and quickness would be same as in his prime. This fight was 14 years after he turned pro. That being said, prime for prime its an interesting fight. Two guys with great speed and similar styles. Norris was beaten by lesser caliber fighters at his best, but a good fight nonetheless.

 

Jones was 35 when ko'd by Tarver. Unless he embarked on his career at a late age, no 35 year old is in his prime.

Humans' physical peak is normally at 27 years of age. Carl Lewis ran his best official 100 time at age 30, so there is some room for error. You can make the argument that though his physical peak had passed, Bernard Hopkin's technical mastery of his sport became evident in his 30's.

Roy Jones began boxing as a child. Jones did not make any astounding technical advance at a later age. Jones was not shot, I still don't think he is shot, but was not in his prime at age 35.