What happened to Roy Jones Jr popularity?

Read between the lines a little/use common sense.

 

So what do you want because of that? What are you looking for, handicap status, pat on the back , a cookie, what?

 

Outside of hardcore boxing fans, his popularity was near zero, even in his prime.

 

You forgot to tag that as "I think therefore..."

 

Roy Jones was not that big of a star in the 90s, not in a cross over way. A huge problem was the lack of marquee match ups. The Toney fight was his only major PPV success in his heyday. He was more or less a popular HBO attraction.

In the early 00s when boxing PPV doing big business overall, the Ruiz and Tarver fights were successful but not enough to make him that well known with casuals.


Regarding house hold names in the 90s, you had Tyson, Foreman, and Holyfield who were and remain very well known. Oscar was a much bigger star in that time, you also had Chavez, Camacho, and Trindad...even Sweat Pea thanks to his rivalries with the popular Latino fighters.

 

^^The real problem was he was in Tyson's era. Tyson overshadowed everyone else, regardless of weight class.

It's like being David Robinson in Jordan's era. And you're like wtf is David Robinson? Exactly.

 

Roy was popular because of what he did in the ring. He had no charisma, no attributes to transcend the sport. When he started to get knocked out every other day, he destroyed his image.

 

No. I thought England was larger. Lmfao..

 

popular or not. history will say RJJ arguably the best middle to ever lace them up. In his prime I place him right up there with my current P4P #1 loma/rigo that are not that popular either.

 

Yeah Jones was never a huge draw or ticket seller. In his Prime he was selling 90k PPV's on HBO. The Ruiz circus fight got a lot of attention though.

 

Can you point out NJ on the map doe?

 

To say Roy didn't have charisma is just bizarre. He was outrageously confident, his wild expressiveness made his post-fight interviews always electric, he pulled stunts like playing minor-pro basketball a few hours before a fight to show off, his ring entrances were second only to Hamed's, he was fun and engaging and a natural showman. And he did transcend the boxing hardcore for a few years at his peak. He was much more popular than pre-Oscar Mayweather. He was on every mainstream talk show before most of his fights. He never compared to Oscar, Tyson, or Holyfield, and he wasn't as popular as he could and should have been, but except for them and Mayweather there probably hasn't been an American boxer since the 80s as popular as Jones.

His image was about being a super-cocky indestructible god, so when he was knocked out not once but twice in 2004 no one could really take him seriously anymore. That and the world especially the US the last few decades of course has a short attention span. The world moves on, and the world today buried Jones because he's in the past.

 

There were those who disliked him due to his constant bragging and were glad to see him get humbled.

 

Jones never fully recovered his health after that fight. Some have attributed it to the few albeit hard shots he took.

 

Actually he wasn't in the mid 90's he was very much respected for his talent and ability by the boxing fraternity but he wasn't a star by a long shot. Poor management of his career and match making meant he never really crossed over and became a star until he beat Ruiz in 2003.

Prior to the Ruiz win his PPV's were a financial disaster for HBO apart from the Toney fight and people were even talking about boycotting his fights due to poor match ups and his seemingly glorified sparring session for fights. He was nick named reluctant Roy by some as he seemed to not like fighting. He was misunderstood a lot during those prime years unfortunately.