Who was better Floyd Mayweather Jr or Roy Jones Jr

Mayweather got dropped by Zab Judah and arguably lost to Castillo.

 

I would rather have Jones' talent, but I would prefer Mayweather's accomplishments.

 

In terms of H2H, it's Roy. He was incredible in his prime, close to invincible.
In terms of achievements, it's Mayweather

 

And who thought Floyd was better than Roy when they were both active at the same time? Not many.

MW, SMW, LHW, HW. Yeah, Roy didn't win that many belts.

 

Except he wasnt knocked down and he beat Castillo.

 

As far as skill set. Or abilities that can carry a fighter once
his natural physicality begins to slow, Mayweather Jr.
had a much better skill set than Jones Jr.
May Jr. knew how to fight.

Jones Jr. was like Ali in that his God given abilities
allowed him to get away with many technical sins.
Once that natural ability began to regress ,
punches that were missing , began to land cleanly ,
and unlike Ali we discovered his chin wasn't
that great.
So May Jr . was by far better skilled technically than
Jones Jr. But so were Toney and Hopkins, how much
did that help them against Jones Jr.?

 

Jones was freakier.

 

Floyd…but to be fair to Roy he didn’t have much talent to fight and he beat the best in Hopkins and Toney at the time (even if Hopkins wasn’t his best yet). Roy was a freak of nature and had he had the opposition to fight he may be up a few more notches on the all time list. Unfortunately can only beat who’s available. Floyd was more skilled but Roy was an athletic freak.

 

H2H it is Jones. No contest. For several years, their careers overlapped. During that time, NOBODY ranked Mayweather ahead of Jones.

Legacy is a coin flip. They both have excellent resumes.

 

Toss of a coin between them.Slight preference for Roy but would not argue with anyone who picks Floyd

 

As most have said, Jones was the superior fighter at his peak, but Mayweather had the longevity. Not that Jones's was bad - he dominated for a decade after all - but Floyd's was just something else.

 

Mayweather

 

Jones is arguably top 3 - 5 MW to LHW, Floyd isn't that IMHO from 130 - 147 lbs.

Whilst their careers overlapped at arguably their best physical selves, Floyd wasn't mentioned in Roy's class and if Roy retired after Ruiz, people would probably not allow Floyd to get away with the false claim of the best fighter ever.

Unfortunately, for Roy, better self-promotion from Floyd and seeing Roy getting slumped by the Tarvers and Johnsons of the world means that people forget how much he was a marvel to watch in real time as it was happening.

That being said, p4p, H2H, Roy with intent, I could see him KO'ing the Floyd equivalent. Career wise, Floyd, though both careers have asterisks and what ifs.

 

Prime Jones is better than Mayweather imo. Although there isn't much in it.

Mayweather probably had the better career though.

 

Agreed.

Both could and should have been greater.