Roy Jones Jr. - Most Gifted Boxer Of All Time VID

Definitely one of the most gifted in his prime.
Why do people find it so hard to appreciate high levels of skill during a fighters career seems a waste to me.

 

You posted utter bull****.

Prime Hopkins isn't that far removed from the Hopkins that is fighting at the moment, if you're talking about "physical prime" Hopkins, he wasn't as complete a fighter as the fighter that is fighting now. This version of Hopkins would beat the version of Hopkins that lost to RJJ in 94.

As for Joe's slaps - have you ever seen Roy Jones Jr have a face as busted up as that? The guy hits hard, similar to Vitali Klitschko, their wide angled punches don't look powerful and in Calzaghe's case, they're not as powerful as they could be owing to his hand problems - but they're still powerful enough to ensure no one walks through them.

Take his career the same that you can take Roy Jones Jr - a shame that great fighters weren't there doing the same thing at the same time to truly compete against them.

RJJ beat his ATG's
Calzaghe beat his ATG's

My personal opinion is that you can't really tell who the **** would win a H2H fight between them at their primes, because no one can safely pick Calzaghe's prime as a fighter.

We know he was a mammoth puncher in his youth, evidenced by a very high KO percentage and the fact that he put guys like Eubank down.

We know his handspeed has always been there, we suspect his boxing talent was always there, but as for "Prime Calzaghe" - there wasn't really a moment like there was with Jones Jr (1994-1996) where you knew you were watching him at his best.

 

Because he never tested himself until late in his career. That was Calzaghe's decision...and he will now have to live with it. Calzaghe prime was when he beat the best fighters he faced as that was when he showed us what he can do.
i.e. Kessler, Lacy, Hopkins and Jones.

Calzaghe is not in the same league as Jones, Hopkins, or Toney. And its too bad...but as fans we shouldn't elevate fighters who don't push themselves.

 

I agree, he was never really tested until he fought Hopkins.

Shame though, that he tried to get Hopkins in 2001, had Hopkins sign to fight him only to pull out the day afterwards, isn't it?

Shame also that Beyer and Ottke were refusing offers from Joe to fight for 1 Euro in Germany for their titles.

It comes down to dollars - Calzaghe wasn't a money maker until Lacy. Lacy put Joe on the world stage, after which he faced Kessler, Hopkins and Jones Jr. He would have fought Tarver instead of Hopkins, had Hopkins not won - he also wanted Pavlik, but Pavlik signed for Hopkins.

In my view, Hopkins never really challenged himself from 1994 til the losses against Taylor in 2004. After he lost, he took on a harder degree of challenge and moved up in weight.

My personal view is that H2H, Jones Jr is unbeatable from 154 (olympic weight)-175 across history, so I have him ahead of Calzaghe on this basis.

The fact is, that Jones Jr isn't as shot as people want to make out, combined with Calzaghe being a 37 yr old fighter when he did to Jones Jr what no one else, even Tarver/Johnson could do to him - dominated him throughout the fight, clowned him and basically beat him senseless.

That gives some credit towards those that think Calzaghe vs Jones Jr is unpickable in their primes.

What I will say is that out of the 4, Hopkins, Toney, Calzaghe and Darius M - Calzaghe is the only guy I think would have offered any real challenge to Jones Jr at 168 or early days 175.

 

Which was his own fault...too bad, so sad.

I don't totally remember this...but I do remember the middleweight tournament taking place that year as Trinidad was on his march to Jones Jr. I was pulling big time for Trinidad...he made a stab at doing something special. He lost to Hopkins, but nobody should belittle his efforts. We would all have benefited as fans if Hopkins, Jones, and Calzaghe had a bit more Trinidad in themselves.

I am sure it wasn't 100% Joe's fault for not making big fights happen. But he could have done more.

Yes, it always comes down to dollars. But he still is mostly at fault for not making the career decision which would allow him to sign the big dollar fights! Whether it was his decision or his managers, his career was handled with kid gloves. He still made lots of money. Probably made the right career decisions. The right career decision most often does not equal greatness.

But Hopkins was the MAN most of those years. He was the MAN to beat! VERY different that being #2 or #3 or #4 and being complacent with that.

Agree - and would Calzaghe been better off challenging Jones Jr and losing? Probably not. He probably made the correct career decisions. Again - we can't reward him for that safe decsion though.

C'mon! he is a totally different fighter. And Tarver/Johnson both knocked him the #$%#$-out! Are you saying that clowning your opponent is better than KTFO someone???
And Tarver-Jones III was simply all survival for Jones. It was moral victory just to survive. And he almost didn't in the 12th.

 

You're attempting to argue against facts here, buddy.

Hopkins signed a contract and renegged on it against Calzaghe.

According to Eubank, Jones Jr had talked to him about the potential Calzaghe clash and Eubank told him the risk vs reward was no where near enough.

Being that Calzaghe made a habit of clearly beating fighters that got robbed by Ottke in Germany, usually the fight afterwards, I'd say it's safe to say he was interested in facing the best available.

You just can't do it when dollars aren't there. Calzaghe's biggest payday prior Lacy came only because Veit wanted a rematch and got some stupid amount of money together to offer to Calzaghe.

Once Calzaghe was a name, he fought the fights that book ended his up to that point, solid career.

Tarver/Johnson landed one punch shots - Calzaghe brutalised Jones Jr all night.

 

the mofo made it look easy. athletically gifted fighter, atg.

 

I love how the calzaghe Nuthuggers make up new "facts" every day.

 

There is nothing more ridiculous than ESB Calzaghe fans. And, the ones on this thread are some of the most idiotic around. Seen every round and every second of Joe's career. Comparing him to prime RJJ is a complete and utter joke. There are more than a few Brits on the the other forum that would also laugh at these posters. Rating Joe so highly means not knowing f**k about athletics and undoubtedly comes from the crappiest (non) athletes.

If an ESB Calz fan wants to show up on a Sven Ottke thread to argue for Joe then great. Go for it. But this stuff is absurd.

 

Yes, meanwhile back at the ranch...Hopkins fights Tito Trinidad, while Calzaghe takes on Will McIntyre.

Interesting statement...

Did you even watch Tarver III? . Or Jones Jr. - Johnson. ???? What are you talking about "one punch shots"??

 

Roy Jones was the greatest combination puncher, ever. The types of punches in bunches he put together, for example against Pazienza, I have never seen anyone do. It was a display of superman in the ring when he was at his best.

 

:yep

 

physically most gifted boxer ever....I agree with that statement.....his speed and reflexes were unmatched when he was in his prime.

 

Tremendous although He was also lucky that there weren't enough greats that could have taken advantage of the poor defensive stance that he has. He was wide open in some of those flurries, a guy like Hagler trust me would have managed to land a bomb here or there.

Against Joe Cal, even in his prime it would have been a toss up. Calzaghe is the least apprecciated thats the toughest to beat of all time h2h.