To the people who bash Jones' resume..

Excellent post...

People who claim that Roy's competition and resume is terrible and filled with police officers don't have the slightest clue to what they are talking about.

His resume is great and it includes 17 or 18 world champions and perhaps 4 future hall of famers (Hopkins, Toney, McCallum, and Hill). He's won titles at 160, 168, 175, and HW - which in itself is a remarkable accomplishment.

You hit it right on the button. Many people seem to ask "what could have been?" While he is a top 25-30 fighter of all time, he could have enhanced his legacy even more if he defeated Benn, Eubank, and Michalczewski.

People should view Roy's career by his excellence against world-class fighters for almost a decade.

 

One of the best ever - without a doubt. I wish he'd fought Eubank in 94', Benn in '95 (before Mcclellan fight), Collins in '96, McClellan in '97 (if he'd never fought Benn), Michalczewski around '98 and Calzaghe around 2000.

If he'd beaten all of them perhaps he could have been top 3 of all time. He is rightly criticized for managing to 'avoid' all of those guys, but I agree that he's still top 30 of all time.

 

I wish he fought Michalczewski too. : /

Sucks this matchup wasn't made...

 

They are bunch of ignorant HATERS! Jones got one the best!

 

Jones resume is a hell of a lot better than Willie Pep's, Hopkin's, Robinson's, Armstrong's and Greb's.

 

It isn't about what he did accomplish in the ring, it's about what he passed up. His resume is a very solid one, considering many of the fighters on the list are still considered good Light Heavyweights now. He beat them that easily. The problem here is he seemed to pass up a lot of opportunities as mentioned by previous posters. RJJ took advantage of an opportunity he couldn't pass up, which is getting paid 5 million dollars to take on less than stellar opponents. If you want to blame him then blame HBO as well for not putting any pressure on him to fight any of those other guys. RJJ took advantage of a situation that I'm sure most other people would. High reward minimum risk (as minimum as boxing can be) With all that though, the resume starts to look better the farther time goes on.

 

Jones is always judged on what he could have done as opposed to what he has done.

Honestly though, there are very few who don't rank him in the right spots, anywhere from 25-40 on most lists. There are a few who rank him outside the top 100 fighters, but they are such a minute minority.

 

Top 10 would be more right.

 

Actually HBO confirmed that they were putting pressure on Jones to fight Benn, Collins, and Liles. They put offers out there and were rejected. The interview has been posted here numerous times.

Each fighter and their fans claim that Jones was ducking them, but if HBO, who would make MORE money if Jones fought these guys says they were turned down by the fighters, I see no logical reason for them to lie.

Jones should have tried harder to make the fights happen IMO, but my problem is that there seems to be a double standard applied when judging Jones. Its rare that anyone points out all the fighters Hopkins passed up, or many other ATG's.

 

great thread i say top 25 or 30

 

Yes, I've heard what HBO has said, but there is a difference of "putting pressure" on him and actually doing something about it. I just find it hard to believe not a one of those fights could have been made. HBO knew full well what RJJ meant to them at the time, he was the face of the network while the heavyweights were nonexistant. Once again I am not discrediting RJJ, but for HBO to play innocent is asinine.

 

Robinson's or Greb's? By what criteria?

Title defenses? Number of title fights? Or by the quality of opposition?

 

Well Jones said that HBO was putting pressure on him and that didn't believe he was making an honest effort to make a fight with those guys. Hopkins was apparently the only fighter considering the offer (what happened there I am unaware of). So they made offers, and I know the one to Benn was more than he had ever made for a fight. They were turned down according to Jones, and then confirmed by HBO. What we don't know is how much of an effort was made, and how hard they negotiated.

I still feel Jones should have made more of an effort to fight DM in a neutral space. I also feel that he could have defended that MW title more, but most don't realize Jones was going back and forth between MW and SMW for a while, and has 12 fights at SMW, not just the title defenses.

The point is though, Jones is often judged by who he didn't fight, instead of who he did. Based on who he fought and how he beat them, he is still an ATG.