Roy Jones.

Yet another apologist thread, where Roy Jones fanboys try to convince people who are NOT as stupid as they are that he was some sort of god.

Fact.

He tested positive for steroids.

What his idiot fanboys think about that is meaningless. He did. End of.

Fact.

He was supremely gifted in an athletic / reflex sense.

Once those attributes left him, he became cannon fodder, because he lacked the basic fundamentals of boxing. Again his fanboys opinions are worthless. His lack of fundamentals are there for all to SEE when he gets KTFO by Lebedev, Green, Johnson, and Tarver, and also when he gets outclassed by Hopkins, and Calzaghe. Excuses about weight loss and age are not worth s.h.i.t. because the guy went on to win fights against lower tier fighters. His lack of the basics were exposed against decent opposition.

 

Roy had very good fundamentals. It's a misconception that he didn't. It's also a misconception that he never recovered from the drop down to 175. That affected him for one fight.

Tarver's left hand destroyed him mentally. If that punch didn't land and Roy won again, he'd probably stay on top for another two or three years. The division was weak at the time.

 

I agree that the knockout to Tarver affected him mentally. But his legs never looked the same to me. He'd still got his great hand speed, but not the legs.

I don't think he'd have stayed on top for another three years. Not at the top level.

 

Well, there really was nobody else around to beat him unless he kept fighting Tarver. Dawson wasn't around yet and Adamek wasn't that good. I'm not sure If Hopkins would do the trick.

Re: Jones' legs. He looked fine for the first 1.5 rounds against Tarver in the rematch and was fighting aggressively--too confidently basically. He didn't have legs in the first fight and never had them after the knockout so it's hard to say if his legs would've held up for 12, but it's possible.

 

Judging him by what happened post Ruiz and neglecting his body of work over the previous 10 plus years is not the most objective way to discredit him. I'm not even a fan of Jones. I, like most knowledgeable people on this forum, judge fighters using objective criteria such as quality of opposition, speed, power, defense, etc. Yes, his game was built around speed and when he lost this speed he regressed. But this didn't happen until he had built up an extraordinary body of work. Just by beating Toney and Hopkins in their primes is enough to show Jones was a great champion and a great fighter. Toney and Hopkins both probably possessed better basic fundamentals than Jones. So what. They still got owned by him and lost lopsided decisions. Jones had other attributes to compensate for any lack of fundamentals. So no, the statement you made that "his lack of basics were exposed against decent opposition." is not valid. He beat decent and above decent opposition for over 10 years and won a plethora of titles. He was a great fighter. Period.

 

It's all guess work. But I suppose it would have depended on how Roy looked. Maybe Hopkins and Calzaghe may have challenged him earlier etc?

Who knows.

Maybe if Roy had beaten Tarver for the second time, he may have pursued that fight with Tyson?

Maybe they could have worked something out, before Mike signed to fight Williams?

Every time I read these types of threads, I can't help but wonder what would have happened if Roy had fought Tarver earlier. If Tarver had've beaten Eric Harding in that eliminator, Roy would have fought Tarver in 2000. If he'd have been dealt with, Roy would never have rushed back from HW.

Things may have turned out a lot different.

 

I agree about his legs, and I agree I don't think he stays on top for another 3 years. I'm not sure he was really training enough for fights, minus Ruiz.

 

:good

 

Roy Jones Jr. has a tiny little head.

 

His game was largely centered around his natural speed and athleticism.. But I disagree that he was unskilled or had no durability. He just wasn't Bernard Hopkins in those two departments, which is by no means an insult. Jones was extremely skilled and while his chin wasn't made of granite, he could still take a pretty good punch. Let's also not forget that Roy didn't start showing mass signs of deterioration until he was about 35 years of age, dropping a ton of weight in a short time, and coming off a career spent in four different weight classes consisting of more than 50 pro fights and numerous championship bouts. Hell the fact that he's 46 years old and still winning fights is a testimony of what he was in his prime, even if he's fighting mediocrities.

 

i agree with this. my opinion on jones has improved in the last year, i put him top 20(quite easily) the last time i made an atg list.

 

Yep. And I can remember about five years ago having this discussion on here with another posting and stating that as time goes on, Roy's legacy will be better appreciated as will Floyd Mayweather's once he's gone.

 

No. ur either PowerPuncher using another account, getting paid for posting here, or JUST the clearest case of agenda driven posting here in the last few months.

 

No one is neglecting his body of work, before Ruiz, but whether you like it or not that work is tainted by the steroid use. As for post Ruiz, he just lost that tremendous speed and athleticism, and became extremely ordinary. If you think going to the ropes and letting the other guy pound on you whilst trying to cover up, and throw the odd shot back is good fundamentals, then crack on. Most sensible people DON'T.

 

Many great fighters don't have great fundamentals. Even textbook type style is not a perfect science. If Ali for example, tried to fight using better fundamentals, he would not have been nearly as successful. Same can be said for countless others.