I agree. I don't think a Hopkins rematch would have been exciting at all. I don't think that fighting Collins for an opportunity to have won a WBO belt would have done anything for his legacy though. His biggest omissions are: Hopkins, Dariusz and Liles.
No, he doesn't. I'll try and find an old article. They used to be a few of them around. They had quotes from Mark Taffet, where he says that he met Bernard privately etc. I can find one with Roy stating it, but I figured you'd want a source other than Roy. It's getting harder to find many of them now though. You either have to sign up, or you get a message saying that the content isn't available in your country. I had a quick look last night. I'm from the U.K. but many of the old articles that I used to access aren't available anymore. Articles from the Sun Sentinal and the Washington Post etc.
A fight with Nigel Benn or Chris Eubank would have been huge in the 90`s and introduced Roy to the mainstream UK public.
He didn`t become the global superstar that Tyson was though: A large percentage of people in the UK have never even heard of Jones, he should have foughht Eubank or Benn: This content is protected
Jones was just on the way up when Watson suffered his brain injury in the rematch v Eubank in 1991, Jones fought for a world title for the first time v b-hop in 1993 and then fought Toney in `94.
I simply meant both fighters were huge stars in the UK while Jones wasn`t, by fighting one of them Jones would have really made a name for himself inm the UK, I read an article stating that an estimated half a billion viewers watched Eubank`s rematch v Benn, if Roy fought one of them that year, the figures may have been that big, that`s huge exposure that Roy never got.
I respect what you've written. It's a crying shame that we never saw those fights. I was a fan who wasn't thrilled that he beat Reggie Johnson, even though it was a great performance. Because I knew that he was then obligated to fight mandatories for all 3 of the main org's. The only thing I can't agree on, is where you've said that he had HBO behind him so somehow those fights could have been made. But to me, that's just a throw away comment. Dariusz M was a huge omission from Roy's resume. And Roy has been accused of ducking him for years. But the fact is, Roy's advisors and HBO, never got the opportunity to sit down for face to face negotiations with Dariusz and his promoter, as they were never willing to meet. So how on earth can you even think about making a fight, when the 2 parties can't even meet up face to face to discuss any of the specifics? HBO reached out on numerous occasions but to no avail. They were rebuffed each time. Regarding Hopkins, as I said to Bokaj, I'll try and find some old links. But Bernard demanded $10m before challenging out the JMW champs. He didn't move up to LHW until 2006. Regarding Calzaghe, again, he's on record saying that he wasn't chasing Roy and that he didn't want tough fights. And he backed up those comments by fighting guys like Mario Veit twice. He didn't move up to LHW or fight in the U.S. until 2008. So whilst I respect what you've said, there is literally nothing that HBO or anyone else could have done, in order to have gotten those guys in the ring with Roy back then. (2001-2003) Hopkins took a full year out of the ring before fighting Morrade Hakkar and William Joppy. Dariusz went on to fight Alejandro Lakatos, Richard Hall and Joey De Grandis. Calzaghe went on to fight Miguel Jiminez, Tocker Pudwell and Byron Mitchell. They did not want any part of Roy. It was Roy who was the one who was taking risks back then, fighting John Ruiz and Antonio Tarver.
At that time Benn and Eubank were big stars in the UK. Benn held the WBC super-middle title and Eubank held the WBO super-middle title and they were set to fight each other for the second time. (Eubank had already made 7 defences of that title, and 3 at 160.) Roy Jones Jr. was IBF middleweight title holder and was 1-0 in title fights, his win over Hopkins, which was on the Bowe-Ferguson undercard. It's not really a question of them "getting a fight with RJJ" at that point. If you see what I mean.
It needed the 2 of them to fight each other to make those huge numbers. Two huge stars of British boxing. The destroyer and the pantomime villain who dressed and spoke oddly. Two great characters. Roy fighting either of those guys wouldn't have been anywhere near as big. It wouldn't have been any bigger than the Benn-McClellan fight.
Wouldn't of been as big as Benn-McClellan. G-Man did a lot of publicity stuff with his pitbulls and dark talk. Eubank was far bigger than boxing, every fight had 13M viewers and there were 5-6 a year. He was very rarely off our screens, about the most sought after on the celeb chatshow circuit.
I aoppreciate your thoughts and your detailed info .. I can't help but think it always comes down to money .. mountains are moved and the inconceivable becomes fact .. I also feel maybe Roy could have agreed to travel to meet some of these men .. go overseas and fight .. Ali did, Azumah Nelson had two of his greatest career defining wins crushing marque opponents in their backyards, even Witherspoon did .. don't dictate financial terms with arrogance like he did to Hopkins live on HBO .. neither one of us knows all the behind the scene details .. as a successful businessman I know money and will could make many things happen .. to me Jones, an exceptional talent ins prime, shortchanged himself and the sport by mostly going the path of least resistance in his own prime, one he did not follow as an old fighter so pretty much screwed himself twice ..
I disagree .. if a highly accomplished American world champion came to the UK to challenge Benn or Eubanks it would have been a big media event and fight ..
