Should Roy Jones get full credit for beating John Ruiz???

:deal

also RJJ would of unified easily but Lewis ducked him like a *****.

 

A MW winning a title at HW is a great accomplishment, even if Ruiz wasn't that good. Do you think Calzaghe would have been able to go up to HW and beat, say, Samuel Peter before he retired? If he had done that, he would have got a ton of credit.

 

It was a good win, one of the best of Jones' career and finally turned him into the super star boxer he had always had the potential to be.

But Ruiz was not THE heavyweight champion he was simply a title holder, as an achievement it is hardly unique and can't compare to what Fitzsimmons and Charles achieved going from middleweight to heavyweight champion.

Also with Ruiz's loss to Toney it clearly exposed the fact that Ruiz is susceptible to fast fighers who could beat him to the punch which negates his jab and grab style. Toney's win really puts Jones' victory into proper context. It was a good win but it wasn't even Jones' best win on his record.

 

He handpicked the weakest beltholder, he knew he could beat. So it's not really a historic accomplishment.

 

Roy, as a ex-middleweight, deserves lots of credit for beating heavyweight beltholder Ruiz by a flawless shutout performance. However, Ruiz is quite a poor beltholder, & Roy should've accepted the challenge of Byrd, who is significantly better H2H.

 

Exactly. You get full credit for calling out and beating the best in the division - which Ruiz wasn't even close to being. Without Don King, Ruiz would have been lucky to hold a regional belt, let alone one of these "world" trinkets.

 

For a guy who jumped up from 175 and who had fought at 160,yeah,its pretty impressive.

 

Please name all these much bigger fighters that Holyfield beat.

Thanks

 

A man who had beaten hopkins and toney between 160 and 168 has no right outclassing a legitimate heavyweight at the age of what? 34 was it?

He didn't emulate ruby because lewis was still the champion, but still it's a damn sight better than anything 99% of pros will ever achieve.

I know jones never beat the lineal champ but that doesn't matter, he beat the two best middleweights of the 90's and unified the belts at 175 usurping the claim of dm. Beating ruiz was the icing on the cake.

Also, if one is to believe holyfield won the rematch with lewis than one would have to believe this victory is the stuff of legend.

 

All that lineal crap means nothing anyways ..Tell me who was the last lineal champ the Klitchkos beat to become champ themselves ? People need to stfu with that crap !

 

Perspective:

Fitzsimmons won THE world heavyweight championship off a great fighter, and he did it weighing 167, and he did it by KO.

Jones won A world heavyweight championship off a guy who was really never that good to begin with, and he did it in a godawful boring fight.

Here's the heavyweight champs Jones picked his target from:

WBO Wlad 240
WBC Lewis 250
WBA Ruiz 225
IBF Byrd 215

Draw your own conclusions. (Hint: he went after the one who was head and shoulders WEAKER than the others--high reward, low risk. That's the RJJ formula for greatness.)

To me, Jones's 'accomplishment' is just a circus act. Waters down the history of truly great fighters like Fitzsimmons when you mention their accomplishments together.

I'm not saying Jones sucked or anything, but he always took the easy route and that is not greatness. To me, this fight counts as a W and that's it.

 

It was an accomplishment when there was only one heavyweight champion, who was regarded as best in the world.

 

You can't jump over 30 pounds and be called a cherry pick.

 

Holyfied 208lbs VS Buster Douglas 246lbs

Holyfied 208lbs VS George Foreman 257lbs

Holyfield 205lbs VS Riddick Bowe 235lbs

Holyfield 217lbs VS Riddick Bowe 246lbs

Holyfield 213lbs VS Riddick Bowe 240lbs

Holyfield 217lbs VS Lennox Lewis 242lbs

Holyfield 215lbs VS Lennox Lewis 245lbs

Holyfield 214lbs VS Valuev 310lbs


Do you even watch boxing ?

Now even though he didnt beat them all he did beat quite a few and fought the goddamn best

NOT pick and choose !!
Jones's 30 odd pound disadvantage is nothing special, Evander did it all the time except he fought the guys hard

Only 2 weight undisputed champ that I cn think of too :hi:

 

It's impressive no doubt but I think too many see it as something outstandingly special when in reality it's not unique or uncommon for former middleweights to go all the way up to heavyweight and be competitive and even win.

Fighters like Ezzard Charles, Archie Moore, Mickey Walker, Harry Greb, Stanley Ketchel, Sam Langford, Joe Walcott, Bob Fitzsimmons and Georges Carpentier were all fighters who had fought at middleweight and had fought heavyweight contenders and even champions with varying degrees of success.

So while it should be seen as a good win it's not the kind of victory that should define a great career alone.