Where does Roy Jones Jr rank?

That's the sensible way to rank fighters imo too.

 

One of the worst posts I've seen in here. An absolute tsunami or rot, speculation and no frigging idea.

 

I've long considered Jones to be one of the 10 most physically talented fighters that ever stepped into a ring. He could do things in there that I hadn't seen before and I haven't seen since. For a long time, I was an apologist for James Toney's performance in that fight against Roy. With hindsight, I'm mad at Toney for not being in shape for the biggest fight of his career but I take nothing away from Jones. He'd have beaten any version of Toney and it's enough that he beat that (still unbeaten) version too. It was a great win.

Now, as to whether he always challenged himself during his prime years as much as he should, that's open to debate. If people can say Marvin Hagler didn't challenge himself enough, then the charge is likely to get levelled at anyone! That said, there were moments when it felt he wasn't necessarily taking the toughest road and if that image endures, that is partly his fault. The image of him playing a basketball match on the same day as one of his fights and then not having one or two fights when they mattered (whether it was 100% his fault that they didn't happen or only 50%) are part of why that still persists.

Nonetheless, had he called it quits after beating Ruiz in 2003, I think he'd be a lock for the top 20 and might even crack the top 10. He was that good.

His legacy has certainly been affected by what happened after 2003. Seeing him flat on his back against Tarver is something that had seemed so unlikely a year before but once you've seen that, you can't unsee it.

So he is clearly deserving imo of a top 50 place and could go as high as 25-30, but I personally wouldn't place him any higher than that.

 

Head to head fantastic ! His legacy is damaged by going on to long .

 

Fighters should be ranked for their accomplishments, period. All wins over quality opposition count. All the losses at the end of his career can't erase what he accomplished from 1989-2003.

 

Jones's defenders, are almost claiming that he was a Harry Wills figure, in an era without the color line!

Why didn't every major contender avoid Joe Louis because he was so formidable?

Why didn't Joe Louis refuse a title fight against Jimmy Braddock, because the terms were so unfair?

He could certainly have drawn more than Braddock anyway!

Some fighters seize the opportunities of history, and others don't!

 

This is nonsense

Jones beat Toney and Hopkins.

That's huge quality opposition right there.

 

What were they both worth at the time?

 

We have it on record that the likes of: Liles, Dariusz, Bernard (2002) and Calzaghe wouldn't fight him.

Other fights were complicated due to politics.

It's been discussed to death.

 

Toney was coming off of wins over Littles and Williams and was regarded as a top P4P fighter.

 

A fine win for sure.

What was Hopkins worth at the time?

What was his ranking?

 

I don’t really feel like debating this again...but I will say:

You have it on record that they would not fight him

We have it on record that his demands were a little more complicated than you want to believe or admit.

 

Unfortunately your resume turns on who you did fight!

If you hold the cards, then you should be making the fights!

 

He wasn't highly ranked at the time was he. But you can see in the fight how good he was. Obviously the win got better over time, considering that Roy beat him easily with an injured hand, yet he never lost again until over a decade later.

 

Hopkins fought much better v Jones than Toney did, he nulified his atack better by closing the distance better, Toney looked really sleepy v Jones.