He had retired in 2003 after beating Antonio Tarver in the first fight. I believe he would've been 49-1 with the only loss being his dq loss to Montell Griffin. What are your thoughts???
He had already wasted his talent by then. He should have been top 10 with his boxing gifts; but his prime consisted of beating opponents who did not mess up his Basketball schedule. He probably (maybe almost certainly) would have beat Benn, Eubank, Collins and Michalczewski and made very good money doing so. But despite the offers he did not fight them and that hurt his legacy. It has turned a fighter who should have been one of the ten best ever to lace up gloves, to one of the 30 or 40 best to have laced up gloves; with or without a career post 2003...
No he would still not be the best or greatest EVER. If it isn't impossible, it is an EXTREMELY difficult title to attain, which requires beating lots of really stern opposition and fighting pretty frequently. Most fighters fight on until they are past their primes, so Roy is not unique in fighting too long and being a shell of his former self. But it surely would be a much better way to end his career than what we have seen. It is sad to see RJJ fight now and I hope he doesn't suffer irreversible damage.
I think he'd be viewed in a better light today had he retired after the first Tarver fight. I don't personally count his defeats post age 35 against him, but unfortunately some do. And while he'd certainly have a cleaner record, he still needed a few more signature names on that resume especially Darius Michalczewski. DM more or less established lineage when he defeated Virgil Hill then managed to make it to 48-0 while is reign ran parallel to Jones'. Its hard to say that Jones was undisputed when a guy like that was still running around.
It's easy to look good fighting lesser opposition. A lot of greats would look like supermen against most of his competition. And the sad thing is, he probably would have measured up had he taken a few more risks. We'll never know, though. His career to me is more a reminder of unfulfilled talent than anything.
This is a prime illustration of why you don’t give fighters these sort of accolades, unless the quality of their opposition stacks up. Many people would have him top ten in this situation, and they would clearly be wrong.
