Roy Jones Jr and weight classes

I stopped reading as soon as you said "Prime Roy was untouchable". You have no clue about that because he didn't fight anybody worth a half a **** in his Prime. If Money May fought no-hopers like the cab drivers and off-duty police officers Roy fought, he would also look like the god of pugilism. Glass Jaw Roy is a China Chinned Disgrace and his entire career was a dog-and-pony show that showed more skillful matchmaking than fighting ability. End of. See ya nuthugger.hi:

 

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Hopkins, Toney both ATG.

End of you my foolish naive fanboy.

 

Note that I said "fight", not stand around posturing and potshotting. Those were the only two top opponents Roy found the Testicular Fortitude to step in the ring with and they were both completely awful "fights". That is not a coincidence.

Maybe if you were my age and could remember HBO, at that time basically Roid's personal production company, referring to him as "Reluctant Roy" and the fans DEMANDING fights with power punching contemporaries like Benn, Eubank, McClellan, Michalczewski, and more, you would have a different opinion. Unfortunately, you were likely an itch in your father's nutsack and only know about this Glass Jawed Fraud from watching him clown no-hopers on YouTube highlight reels.

 

Roy didn't want to seriously hurt his opponents. Outboxing them was the better option.

“Gerald’s tragedy had a dramatic effect on Roy,” says Emanuel Steward, who once coached McClellan and is now in Lennox Lewis’ corner. “He became obsessed with not getting hurt and I think it took some of his killer instinct. Now he won’t step in for the finish until the guy’s perfectly harmless.”

Even then, he is merciful. Against Pazienza, for example, who had broken his neck in a car crash a year before their fight, Jones visibly held back. “I put him down, he got up and I put him down again. So I looked at the referee to say ‘when are you going to stop the fight, you want me to break his neck again?’” While Tyson spoke of stomping on Lewis’ testicles before their match, Jones is the opposite. “I don’t want to hurt people,” he says. “That’s not why I started boxing.”

 

When Roy fought Hopkins, Bernard was just a contender. A complete nobody, that only became a good win because of what Bernard went on to achieve, at the time however he was a nobody.

Roy's resume between Toney and Tarver consists of guys coming off losses (Hill), shot fighters (Mccallum), handpicked belt holders (Johnson, Ruiz) and then a bunch of no hopers. There are a some good wins over Ruiz, Johnson and Griffin, but those guys are B level fighters at best. The rest are no hopers and mandatories atsch

Roy avoided Tarver for as long as possible for a reason. When they met it became obvious why. Unfortunately, instead of crediting Tarver for taking the fight to Roy, we have to hear the weight loss excuses.

 

X2

Glass Jaw Roy's career was nothing but smoke and mirrors to cover the Fact that he was carefully manuevering his way through the divisions picking off trinket and/or vacant "titles" from pathetically weak opposition. One of his nuthuggers' happiest moments was when he slapped around blown-up 135er Vinny Paz. How pathetic.

atsch

 

From 160 to 175 RJJ had the potential to have been great, as I've said earlier I don't consider him great because he took the path of least resistance in my opinion- others believe he was not at fault for various match ups not happening but I cannot believe he wasn't at fault for some of them simply as there are so many. I also don't consider him a 'glass jawed fraud'. The guy was still clearly a world class boxer in his prime and whilst I feel the weight loss issue is exaggerated I do believe fighter punch resistance deteriorates as they get older. Maybe this is the case or maybe not, we'll never know as for whatever reason he didn't fight many of his talented contemporaries which for me is why his career is more of a question mark than a claim to be the GOAT or assertion that he was a well manoeuvred 'joke' as you describe him.

 

just because he fought him early, dont mean its less of an acheivement, its still the same guy he beat.

its not like bernard was replaced by an android superbot bernard later in his career.

 

You missed the point. Hopkins was a nobody when Roy fought him, it's not like Roy was stepping in with an undisputed champion on a brutal KO streak. Roy beat a green Hopkins who was a nobody, who then went on to make a name for himself. It's not like Roy stepped up to the MW division, and challenged the toughest guy there, he fought a contender for a vacant title.

 

HW Roy >>>>>> Chris Byrd by a country mile.

Roy would've made Vitali look downright foolish. Roy via wide UD or late rounds RTD over Vitali .

After a boring tactical standoff that lasts into the mid-to-late rds. Wlad gets KO'd CLEAN by Roy via leaping left hook out of nowhere.

That other gentleman doesn't even deserve to share a paragragh with the great Roy Jones.

 

Hi mate,

I agree with you about the Hopkins fight not been a huge fight at the time. But he was 28/29, and Roy was only 24, and he had an injured hand. Look at what Hopkins went on to achieve? Nobody beat him as convincingly as Roy. So we can now look back and say that was a great win for Roy. I can't see the problem?

We discussed Roy's opposition yesterday between Toney and Ruiz.

So what if Hill was coming off of a loss? Roy gets stick for not fighting Collins, who'd been beat by a few guys including Reggie, who Roy easily beat. If Roy had've fought Benn in 95, Benn would have had a few losses on his resume. I don't see what difference it makes. Hill was still a good fighter in 98, and it was a great 4th round knockout.

Reggie wasn't handpicked, and neither was Ruiz. I've mentioned numerous times that Roy had a verbal agreement to fight Evander just prior to the 3rd Ruiz fight late 2001. After the fight Roy turned down the chance to fight Evander, and turned his attention to Ruiz instead. If Evander had've won that fight with Ruiz, Roy would have gone up to heavy in 2002 and he wouldn't have fought Kelly and Woods.

You say the others were B class fighters? But apart from fighting DM (who wouldn't go to the U.S.) who else could he have fought at 175 in the late 90's? Tarver wasn't on the scene then. He beat everybody who was relevant apart from DM. You also say that Roy avoided Tarver for as long as possible. But I think they'd have fought earlier, if he hadn't have lost to Harding. Harding was a nightmare to fight being a 6ft plus southpaw with a long reach, and Roy didn't dodge that fight.

Of course Tarver would have caused Roy problems at any point during his career, but it was obvious in the first fight, that Roy wasn't boxing at 100% of his capabilities. He had nothing left for the last quarter of the fight, and Tarver who was 100% motivated and fit, couldn't get the win. So based on that, you'd have to assume that a motivated Roy at 100% would have beaten him a little more convincingly.

Good debate.

Regards, Loudon.

 

Hi Loudon


The point is, that it wasn't like Jones was stepping up to fight the number 1 undisputed champion of the division. It was a fight for a vacant title against a nobody. It only became a notable win because of what Hopkins went on to achieve. It wasn't like Jones plucked up the courage to challenge the champion and number 1 man in the division.

Indeed, Hill was past his prime and coming off a loss. He was in an identical situation to Roy Jones when he fought Glen Johnson, yet you won't give Glen Johnson credit for that win.

Ignore triangle theory, if you want to be the best, beat everyone out there. Beat Collins, beat Benn, beat Johnson then you can say I cleaned up. Benn and Collins were still far better opposition then the guys Jones actually fought.

It's as simple as this, they are handpicked, because if you want to be the best and call yourself the true champion of a division, you beat the number 1 guys. That means fighting Darius and Lennox Lewis. By fighting lesser belt holders like Johnson and Ruiz, you're handpicking.

He beat everyone but the guy everyone wanted him to fight. Sometimes, you have to take risks in order to make greatness. Only Roy Jones seems to be able to get away with avoiding the number 1 guys in the divisions he campaigned at.
Tarver was his mandatory, they would have fought earlier if Roy didn't mess him around and make him fight eliminators. Forcing Tarver into a fight he didn't want with Harding.

Not this again, Roy didn't go from superman to shot overnight. The reason he struggled with Tarver was because he himself says he couldn't motivate himself, if he didn't train properly that's his own fault. In the rematch, Jones had adjusted and became comfortable with making LHW, and he got stopped in the second round

 

Anyone who thinks Hopkins was a nobody when Roy first fought him is soundly lacking boxing knowledge ..Hopkins was the # 1 ranked middle by the IBF and Jones was the # 2 ..Hopkins also had 1 more fight as a pro over Jones ..But then again most people that thought he was a nobody were most likely just looing up stats :hey

 

atsch

He was a contender, that's all.