The biggest mistake of Roy's life

i think the losing of weight did have a serious effect on roy, but i think it was the punch (threw with closed eyes - luck punch more than anything), when it hit - he never saw it or expected it, was probably losing his ability to take a punch due to the massive increase and decrease of weight - and his age, and i think it was a case of being caught and not mentally or physically prepared to take that punch. when he properly came to and realised what has happened i dont think mentally he has recovered from that yet.

 

I think you are correct. It seems that if he had never gone up in weight that the missteps in his career could have been avoided. Either that or he should have just stayed at Heavyweight and tried to get a Chris Byrd fight to become a double belted HW champ and retired.

 

His biggest mistake was not to retire after he had won the title

 

Agreed. If RJJ retired after winning a Heavyweight title - he would have gone down as a top ten ATG.

 

He could realistically have beaten another heavyweight after Ruiz too. I think he would have beaten Evander Holyfield and possibly Mike Tyson too. Can you imagine what that would have done for his legacy? If he went one step further and got knocked out by Lewis, it would get overlooked because he was Lewis.

Moving back down to 175lbs ruined his reflexes and chin. Had he stayed at heavyweight, regardless of how he did after Ruiz, he was a top 15 fighter in my opinion.

 

biggest mistake was probz giving tarver a remtach after already beating him

 

The mistake was moving back down so quickly

 

A cruiserweight title would have been great for him prior to Ruiz - you would have staked your house on Roy beating Johnny Nelson!

 

I think it is a little ridiculous to say that Roy's decision to SUCCESSFULLY move up to challenge for the heavyweight title was the worst decision he ever made. It will go down in history and be remembered long after his recent losses- when he was clearly well below his best. He became the second ever former middleweight champion to become heavyweight champion. He really had nothing left to prove at light heavyweight. It was an amazing achievement, even if Ruiz wasn't the greatest heavyweight champion in history (he has some wins over some very good boxers however).

So, in short, no. It was most certainly not the worst decision in his career.

If anything, his moving down again rather than retiring could be considered so. Yet, he has made a great deal of money from his Tarver series and the Trinidad fight, and is still in great health. People always deteriorate with age, and the weight loss probably accentuated it. His losses will be forgotten against his achievements in time however.

 

moving back down was his worst decision.

 

His biggest mistake was NOT ducking after seen Tarver's left coming straight to his face on their second fight.

:yep


But on the real though, IMHO, RJJ should had retired when he was on top of the boxing world and had all those belts. Going up on weight to face Ruiz was bad desicion on his part. He was never the same after coming down to his natural weight.

 

No, his biggest mistake was he got too cocky against Tarver in the 2nd fight. Ali made those types of mistakes many times in his career too. But the big difference is that Ali's chin was there to bail him out. Jones doesn't.

I just do not buy this **** about Jones already shot when he fought Tarver. With this type of argument, no great fighters really lost during their primes because when they lose, they must be not at their primes.

 

It's the curse of Ruiz!

Beat him if you can - survive if he lets you!