the seminal moment when RJ no longer had the will...

roy jones was a once in a generation physical talent. no one near his prime had a chance.

once his gifts faded, he went fast, but it doesn't detract from his peak.

wait til Floyd loses that bit of speed and timing, and it's gonna be ugly.

 

When he finally retires and starts getting credit from the tye of person who has to wait about 30 years to recognise how good he was, he'll go down among the all-time greats to anyone with an idea. To me, he was the fighter of the 90s, along with Whitaker, and to be best pfp fighter in a decade is a ticket to all-time greatness in my book. An excellent fighter, clearly one of the best iv'e ever seen.

 

Not really, on any of those accounts.

There is already years of unnecessary threads about how great Roy Jones is. Top ten is way too high for me. Maybe something like top 30-40.

Greb beat Ruiz's for warm up and sparred with Dempsey, and demolished Tunney.

That is top ten material.

 

In the late 90's and early 00's boxing pundits and pressmen were suggesting he was the greatest fighter since Sugar Ray ROBINSON. He was considered unbeatable, his fights mere formalities. Him being mentioned in the handful of the best ever was becoming fairly routine. With his subsequent decline, these lofty estimations disappeared, a bit unfairly I believe as he had already achieved so much and was at an age when many ATG's had called it a career.

The 90's were a great era, but fighters no longer had 300 fight careers. Hell, when the rare guy made it to 100 fights it was with considerable padding. Outclassing the two classiest fighters of your generation (not named Whitaker) is pretty heady stuff. Add the defeats of the also-rans of a very quality era in boxing and you have a shoe-in for the HOF. Add the absolute dominance, the fact that until his mid 30's none of his fights was even close and you have a very special, once-in-a-generation fighter.

 

Martin Burke and Eddie O'Hare also looked good in sparrings with Dempsey when he was training for Carpentier. That doesn't mean anything.

 

What does mean something is Greb having already beat Dempsey title defenses Darcy, Miske, Brennan, Gibbons and Tunney.

What does mean something is the press calling for the fight.

 

My point was, looking good in sparring doesn't mean they'd do as good in real fight. Those are just two examples that came to mind of Dempsey's sparring partners.

 

Definitely one of the best of all time. Quite rightly lauded as being the fighter of the nineties or thereabouts.

 

I agree he was one of the best of all-time. I would agree he was one of the top fighters of the 90s.

But sad thing was he had that much potential, he did not quite live up to it. He eats with the greats, but not at the top table; which he should have...

 

JG 'will' had nothing to do with it. His Glass Jaw started getting hit and he started getting KOed over and over. His Chin was the reason for his downfall not his 'will'.

 

yeah, this guy rico knows a lot about boxing. a fighter who 50 fights into his pro career, had won belts from middle to heavy and was named the fighter of the decade was never any good and never had any heart because he was ko'ed at 35 years of age. :roll:

his legs were the reason for his downfall. jones still had quick hands but couldn't manage distance anymore. coming down from heavyweight and age both played a part in this.

 

I don't think Roy's chin in his prime was all that bad actually. You can't carry a glass jaw from 154 to HW without it getting shattered... I refuse to believe that. He did get hit sometimes by naturally larger men usually.

 

In his prime RJJ was as good as it gets, there is no question, there are no questions.

 

There was this other Jr, Walker Smith was his real name; went by the ring alias of Ray Robinson; He would beg to differ from that statement. There was this bloke, Henry Melody Jackson was his name; went by the ring alias Henry Armstrong; he too would beg to differ. There was this bloke, Harry Greb was his na...