nobody ever called Hopkins reluctant that is for sure. He was willing to fight anyone. Jones wasn’t. It’s that simple really.
Jones Jr and tbh I'm surprised at this thread so far. The way I see it: Jones beat the following Hopkins (future LHW champion) James Toney (future top 5 contender) Merqui Sosa (was a top 5 contender) Mike McCallum (former top 5 contender) Montell Griffin (was a top 5 contender) Virgil Hill (was a top 5 contender) Louis Del Valle (was a top 5 contender) Reggie Johnson (was a top 4 contender) David Telesco (was a top 10 contender) Richard Hall (was a top 10 contender) Eric Harding (was a top 5 contender) Derrick Harmon (was a top 10 contender) Julio Gonzalez (future LHW champion) Clinton Woods (future top 5 contender) Antonio Tarver (was a top 5 contender and arguably a future LHW champion) Compare that with Hopkins Glen Johnson (future top 5 contender) Antonio Tarver (was a top 5 contender and arguably LHW champion) Jean Pascal (was LHW champion) Tavoris Cloud (was a top 5 contender) Bebuit Shumenov (was a top 5 contender) For me it's clear as night and day. Jones Jr was clearly the better LHW and has a better resume. He has better wins and more wins. The only stain on Jones Jr as a LHW is that there's dispute as to who the real champ was, him or DM. But you have to remember Jones had already knocked out Sosa and Griffin when DM and Hill fought so that claim is nowhere near as solid as some like to say it is. Even if it is taken that Jones was never really champ, he dominated Gonzalez who went on to become champ anyways. Hopkins has few LHW victories of note. Pavlick and Wright are great but only became he's a former MW himself so they're fair fights. The Johnson win looks better with hindsight, at the time it was meaningless. Tarver was a great win and when he beat Pascal there was no real way to dispute who the LHW champion was. But Jones is a clear level ahead imo. His win over Tarver matcher Hopkins best win. His win over Hill is as good as his second. The rest of the resume is clearly in Jones favour so doesn't need debating. Neither have bad losses at LHW. We can say Tarver smacked the prime out of Jones but he already beat him. Hopkins ran close with all but Dawson, Kovalev and Smith but you can't really hold those against him either. I accept there's a debate as to who was greater overall, but as a LHW there is no debate in my mind.
Willing, and actually DOING, are two entirely different things. I'm willing to stop smoking and drinking...prolly not gonna happen.
Hopkins is a lot of things....I think he was boring he was a crybaby his fights were often hard to watch but he wasn’t Reluctant like Roy was. Hopkins made many more big fights than Roy did especially at LHW. Hopkins didn’t shy away from hard punchers like Roy did for some bizarre reason.
Ha! I’ve just given you 2 of his quotes. Willing to fight anyone? Sure. Apart from a rematch with Roy in 2002. Apart from any SMW or LHW when he was in his prime. He squeezed himself down to fight in a mediocre MW division. And after he’d obtained all of the MW belts, he challenged out the JMW’s to move up to fight him instead of moving up himself. This content is protected Your hatred for Roy clouds your judgement.
Absolute BS. Hopkins told Mark Taffet of HBO, that unless he got $10m, he wouldn’t fight Roy at a C-W in 2002. This was when the majority of his purses were just over $1m. Again, he then said in 2008, that he could have fought at LHW in 2002, had he have really wanted to. But he didn’t. Because he was seeking out the JMW champs instead. If that wasn’t being reluctant then I don’t know what is. Roy shied away from hard punchers? He fought a 230 pound top 10 HW. Or doesn’t that count, because Ruiz wasn’t Lennox and he had an ugly, boring style? Hopkins made many more big fights at LHW than Roy did? Against who?
That's stupid to suggest...shy away from punchers. What are each guys "Big Fights"? I have a feeling you'll allow more of hopkins fights to be labelled as 'big' regardless.
Hopkins rematched Roy and beat him. Hopkins mediocre Middleweight division that he fought everyone in was no different than Roy’s mediocre Light Heavyweight division where he carefully and craftily avoided the better opposition. Hopkins at Light Heavyweight was willing to fight the best fighters available to him (and did) Roy wasn’t. There isn’t anything to debate. Roy never beat a unified, Lineal, or undisputed champion in any weight class he fought in. Reluctant Roy wasn’t willing to take risks. Hopkins was.
Hopkins resume at of wins at lhw is incredibly thin. If you don't factor his age into the equation it's not a very memorable run at all
Jones career was lacking in the big fights for a fighter of his supposed stature. Roy’s resume clearly lacks savage punchers that were available for him to fight. Hopkins did. Jones couldn’t even handle punches from Lou Del Valle so I don’t blame him really. This has all been done to bits on here. There are huge holes in Jones resume. It’s embarrassing really. So much so his own tv network got sick of it.
Ha! You’re an absolute joker. Hopkins rematched Roy? Hello!! AFTER swerving the fight in 2002. AFTER saying that he didn’t want to fight Roy because he was shot. AFTER Danny Green had beaten him in a round. AFTER Calzaghe had beaten him. SIX YEARS AFTER Tarver and Johnson had beaten him. The win was meaningless. Roy’s LHW division was a step up from Bernard’s MW division. Roy fought most of the top 10, but couldn’t fight Dariusz, as he wouldn’t go to Germany, and Dariusz wouldn’t fight in the U.S. Hopkins was only willing to fight the best fighters after he’d secured his legacy at MW. Roy could have made 20 odd defences of his SMW title with his eyes closed. But he had ambition and moved up. Hopkins didn’t. He waited 6 years to become the undisputed MW champ and then he stayed there for another 4 years afterwards. Roy wasn’t willing to take risks? What planet are you on you absolute simpleton? Roy went up to fight at HW and then burnt muscle in 2 months to drop back down to LHW. How was fighting Ruiz and Tarver, NOT taking a risk? This was the same year where Bernard fought Morrade Hakkar, before wanting the JMW champs to move up to face him. You are absolutely deluded.
No, his own TV network weren’t sick of him. They were just frustrated at the time like everyone else. You love to show the video of where he was criticised for fighting Ricky Frazier, yet you conveniently ignore what happened afterwards. Afterwards, Roy unified with Reggie Johnson. HBO were very happy at that point. He then fought Hall, Harding and Telesco, which they were also happy with. Mark Taffet and Kerry Davis of HBO, then went on record stating that along with Roy’s advisors, they did all that they could to try and secure fights with Dariusz M and Hopkins. When those fights couldn’t be made, they were again frustrated, However, they were more than happy with his subsequent fights against Ruiz and Tarver. The other fights were either mandatories, or guys from a pre-approved list. And at the time, Roy had mandatory obligations from all three of the main organisations. And when Roy signed his deals, they knew beforehand that at least a few of his fights would be against mandatory opposition. You want to paint a picture when they were sick of him in 1999, yet he fought on their network for another 6 years. They only dropped him because of his losses to Tarver and Johnson. But even then, they aired his fights against Tito and Calzaghe. Roy couldn’t handle punches from Lou Del Valle in 1998? Ha! Yet 4-5 years later, he fought Ruiz and Tarver. He fought Tarver 3 times. When he was washed up and his 40’s, he also went and fought a world class CW. You’re an absolute embarrassment.
I know what the question was. I wrote it. I was just saying what I thought he meant. I agree the Hill win was good, but Hill was coming off a loss and there was a late weigh in for that fight, so not sure if I rate it above all of Hopkins wins at the weight or not. Highly debatable I think. There is nothing to say Tarver may not have won a return against Hopkins but the difference between those suggested fights is that Jones win over Tarver was debatable. Hopkins win was overwhelming and as you know there is less interest in rematches for fights that were clear
I must admit that I am surprised I didn't know which way it would go but thought it would be less even in whichever way
