What if Roy Jones stayed at HW to defend his title after beating Ruiz? Who could he have defended it against?
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What if Roy Jones stayed at HW to defend his title after beating Ruiz? Who could he have defended it against?
A fight with Holyfield would have been on the cards :)
I was shocked that Roy even fought Ruiz. He had backed out of all the other ones. Evander was shot by then n Rpy would've boxed to a decision. I think a fight vs Chris Byrd would've been interesting. I think Roy's speed would've let him beat guys like Tua, Holy...etc. The biggest match n the one that mattered for his legacy would've been Lewis, but Lennox was too big n I don't blame Roy for not fighting him. I do cringe when people say Roy was a heavyweight champ. Same when they say he was middle or super middle champ. He was a titlist in those divisions n champ at 175, even though Darius has the lineal title.
I was shocked that Roy even fought Ruiz. He had backed out of all the other ones. Evander was shot by then n Rpy would've boxed to a decision. I think a fight vs Chris Byrd would've been interesting. I think Roy's speed would've let him beat guys like Tua, Holy...etc. The biggest match n the one that mattered for his legacy would've been Lewis, but Lennox was too big n I don't blame Roy for not fighting him. I do cringe when people say Roy was a heavyweight champ. Same when they say he was middle or super middle champ. He was a titlist in those divisions n champ at 175, even though Darius had the lineal title.
Agreed that Jones would have beat an aged Evander but it would have been worth more than a Bryd fight. Roy wouldn't have taken that chin anywhere near Tua ;D A Toney rematch would have been interesting :DQuote:
Originally Posted by mikeeod
How about Corrie Sanders?
After the 1st Tarver fight, Roy said he wanted one more fight - a HW showdown with Mike Tyson - and then he was going to retire. That was the shell of Tyson who was coming off a "bounce back" KO over Etienne after getting tooled by Lewis. I'd say he could have beat that Tyson.
Funny how he was talking about wanting to retire, and that was 10 years ago.... poor guy held on way too long.
Roy could have fought holyfield and tyson. He would have beat both of them while making millions of dollars in the process.
Had he retired after that, he would have went out as the greatest fighter of all times.
He said flat out that he wouldn't fight Holyfield after that, but money talks. Just think they would hit kinks and hang ups in negotiations...especially if he demanded 60-40 :-X . Had King cut Ruiz loose by then? I think that had he stayed I can see him facing a top ten 'contender' type before and mega match. Maybe a ranked Joe Mesi who was riding HBO by then and very tv friendly. Oh dude..can you imagine the carnage there :jabbing: Personally I think Byrd would have a great contrast fight with similar style. Not boring at all.
He would have done alright against the smaller, less powerful opponents like Byrd and obviously Ruiz but would have been banged out pretty quick against someone like Lennox Lewis no doubt.
Roy was amazing to beat Ruiz considering how far in weight he had jumped from but I doubt he could produce another performance like that against better fighters. I think Tyson may have caught him early and Toney may have been too strong for him at the higher weight. I also think Holyfield would beat Roy.
Yeah but Ruiz is probably the weakest HW champion since guys like Bentt and Spinks took the title.
I'm not real surprised that Roy beat him.
Decisioning Evander and hanging with Byrd or Chambers would have also been plausible but who else is he gonna really beat?
Sanders and Tyson would have knocked him 1st round I reckon. He is not big enough or strong chinned enough for that shit.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Master
Roy was still super fast at that time, but I believe he would have frozen up at some point against Tyson, just long enough to get smashed.
If you've ever seen how Roy acts around Tyson on camera, he is VERY respectfully and friendly to him. He fears the man, as most sensible human beings do.
Even the most washed up version of Tyson could have crushed any sub 200 opponent. That Tyson was still extremely dangerous.
Roy was one of the most brilliant boxers of all time but come on, he was not REALLY Superman lol
Ruiz was a difficult fight for Jones. Ruiz also held on to the title for quite a while so that victory by Roy is fantastic.
Yeah it was a terrific thing still, I will not deny that.Quote:
Originally Posted by Master
The fact that a 198lb fighter that really didn't have the frame to ever become a HW stepped up anyway and captured any version of the HW title is extraordinary. Ruiz could be an awkward opponent for less powerful boxers.
All I am saying is that Ruiz was never a serious opponent despite holding the title he did for long for the harder punching, larger + skilled opponents of the HW division and neither would be Roy. Simply due to obvious constraints.
Roy is still among the greatest lb for lb boxers of all time!! :)
In hindsight it couldn't have been a worse move, naturally:p Say what you want about Ruiz but he was an effective HW in his prime, every good win in his career was just a year or two before and after losing to Roy. I don't see why Jones couldn't have done a similar job on an old and broken Holyfield, who was certainly not a level above Ruiz then.
Tua, Rahman, Sanders, even Tyson etc would have been wild card fights at that point imo, kind of depends how bad Roys chin actually would have been vs what any of those guys had left. If he would've been able to take the odd glancing shot, I could see him having beaten any of them by then. Could just as easily see him having his head taken off early or wobbled by the air at some point as well though, tough to say. He would have beaten Toney again exactly the same way he did the first time, Toney wouldn't land anything big on him at any weight.