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20 years ago, Roy Jones Jr. beat John Ruiz for the WBA Heavyweight title, making history as the first fighter in a century to win titles from MW to HW, and the first fighter ever to start at JMW, and win a HW title.
How do you rate this win? Personally, while Roy deserves credit for making history, there's a reason he picked Ruiz instead of Lewis.
Roy Jones Jnr the greatest boxer I have ever seen. If he retired after that fight he would be up there with Sugar Ray Robinson.
Beating Ruiz was a great win for him and adds to his legacy. Roy was realistically too small to face Lennox Lewis. Roy knocked down Ruiz and easily outpointed him.
It was one of the last PPV fights I paid for as it was going to be a major event.
Feels like yesterday it happened. Time flies.
It was a calculated win
Everyone knew Lewis was the champ
Jones Jnr. should have stayed at heavy & tried to pick off Tyson instead of dropping back to 175
This is one that with hindsight, the significance has shifted imo. Even Toney did the same minus title as well as thrashing Holyfield the same year. But their paths to hvy were much different. Roy's always felt like a one off trinket grab but not thought out well and was very costly. Seems like guys jump divisions today with the ease of jumping out of bed. At the time Roy was the pinnacle of the sport. But seemed to grow bored at Lt Hvy with standard so so defenses after 3/4 unification. He was talking up a fight with Tyson and the 'event' long before Ruiz and they had even turned down a Douglas heavyweight 'debut'. Thankfully ;D. Ultimately and literally physically, I don't think it was worth it for him.
I couldn't find a thread so I'll ask it here
Who do you think was Jones Jnr's best win?
lights outQuote:
Originally Posted by Big J
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Originally Posted by TIClights outQuote:
Originally Posted by Big J
I don't know about best... I guess I'd agree with TIC on that one.
But by FAR my most enjoyable RJJ victory was over Paz.
Jones had the talent no doubt. he fought a big fat lazy Toney and a green Hopkins. Other than that, he fought the biggest group of bums and nobodies in boxing history. Jones fought Ricky Frazier who was a full time New York cop. he fought another guy who worked on a trash truck full time. How are these guys getting title fights? Jones was HBO's cash cow. He their biggest draw. I think they knew he had a glass jaw. So, it was an endless line of bum after bum.
Roy's resume isn't that bad. He holds wins over Hopkins, Toney, Griffin, Hill and McCallum.
Cleary for legacy has to be Hopkins I /Toney. On jaw dropping impressive I'd go with Malinga, Griffin II and long time champ/former champ Hill. Hill being the closest Jones ever went to full unification as Hill had the stones to travel and beat Maske in Germany. Then lost over 12 to Champ Michalczewski in Germany. This entire period is worth a deep dive at some point. There was so much fuckery going on with 175 and the onset of "champion in recess" for Jones. He vacates the wbc in 98, signs to fight Buster Douglas for a bogus IBA heavyweight belt, then changes his mind and pulls out. Graciano Rocchigiani beats #1 Nunn for vacant belt. Jones signs to fight him for the title...then Roy pulls out. So, the wbc then arbitrarily strips Champion Rocchigiani essentially restoring Jones. On its face pretty shady and silver spoon fed. Rocchigiani sued the shat out of the wbc, won in court and they were on the verge of filing bankruptcy. Ohhh so close :-X. Excuse the rant ;D. Tate and that ko was quality for Roy also. But as has been mentioned, he also had some absurd gimmes with overnight rotating "mandatories".
The best part of looking through the boxrec of jones opponents, is seeing the start next to Roy's name..... Which of course means he has a fight scheduled! Roy isn't finished yet::s
Just sad man. He clearly wants or needs to lend his name to the circus events but the man is gambling. Should have wrapped after Enzo flattened him, foot twitching. That was a hard watch. Card is promoted by and full of 45 year old ex mma stars and novices. On April fools day too :-X.Quote:
Originally Posted by palmerq
I think you're being generous to Roy there, he should have stopped after Glen Johnson finished him off.
Bravery will get you so far and then it will get you killed... as the saying goes. Some of the mandatories were worthy of a side eye. It becomes so hard to judge a fighter like jones Jr. over history. His early work speaks for itself and speaks of greatness, we never got to see truly displayed in its prime over the long term. That heavyweight jump was him answering questions for himself and a treat for some fans waiting to see him pull out all the stops and be challenged so we could witness what we knew was there but needed to be fired up and polished and taken off the shelf. Or even better, that super motivated, destroyer we saw in the griffin rematch that solved an awkward enigmatic fighter in 1 round left him floundering like a drunk trapped in a fun house. He should have retired after Ruiz.
The trip back down completely ruined him. Which to me only seemed natural when we weren't talking about baby fat like Chavez Jr. ...I mean age could have been a factor but it kind of of makes you wonder how fighters like Canelo, danny jacobs and fighters that were already shredded are getting away with it today to no ill effects. Its been a long circus since then of Roy trying to heal his ego and his body saying, "you guys do what you want but leave me the hell out of it..." As fans i think we get tired of thinking of how these fights would have went with the Jones Jr. we kept waiting to be taken off the shelf only to shake your head when you realize how crazy you sound to a casual gen Z fan that cant wait to see their favorite, half talent all, mouth perennial fighter that gives himself a "B" on his performance.
When I saw the title to the thread. I cringed and thought Jesus, why not just hand us all walker and a glass of warm milk. Maybe its true for every generation of boxing fan but on top of the guys we held in such high regards there are probably guys that we went in on and didnt realize we were in the presences of greatness and never new it till we have to sit through the next generations fighter and think... Even the Roy that beat the cab driver would have danced circles around this guy and cut him to ribbons... Then again, maybe that's just me...
I think it was Enzos face, that said it all. It was a mixture of pity, sympathy and a surreal reality check where he watched a hero of his shit his pants..Quote:
Originally Posted by SpicoliJust sad man. He clearly wants or needs to lend his name to the circus events but the man is gambling. Should have wrapped after Enzo flattened him, foot twitching. That was a hard watch. Card is promoted by and full of 45 year old ex mma stars and novices. On April fools day too :-X.Quote:
Originally Posted by palmerq
BOXING fans have called on Roy Jones Jr to retire after he was beaten by Anthony Pettis.
The boxing icon, 54, lost the eight-round fight via majority decision.
But he looked worse for wear in the ring after the fight and some questioned why he is continuing to lace up the gloves.
Jones' clash against former UFC lightweight champion Pettis was his first professional bout since 2018.
He fought Mike Tyson in an exhibition clash in November 2020 but several fans think it is time he gave up the sport.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/21913...nthony-pettis/
It actually disturbs me that clearly fighters don’t have to do anything to retain their licences.
People like RJJ need to be saved from themselves. The authorities and if it’s unlicensed, the law need to step in and put a halt to this kind of thing. And that’s all around the World.
He clearly can’t let go, but it is so sad to see.
Still , never mind, he’s probably at the end of the phone waiting for a call from Eddie as a tune up opponent for Conor Benn.
Rumour is Eddie has scuppered the Eubank v Smith 2 fight and set up Benn v Eubank in the middle east.
What a despicable act.
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Originally Posted by Master
I watched the RJJ vs Mike Tyson exhibition... the only time I've ever watched an "exhibition match" in boxing.
I came away from it thinking that not only did Tyson look in better shape... but he also had the correct mentality for an exhibition match.
"Hey... it's an exhibition. We're just here to put on a show. Nothing serious."
On the other hand... RJJ looked paunchy and inadequate in the ring. Tyson could've simply blown him away had he wanted to.
To top it off, he looked dead serious AFTER the match in claiming that he was unsatisfied with the "draw".
Now to see him pretend to still be an actively professional boxer is a total sham.
The same ol' story of nobody (in his family or boxing authorities) having the balls to say "NO" to him... damn it, for his own good.
I've begun combining the standard description of a clearly washed and reckless Jones jr with pathetic. And I'm not trying to slam a man when he's down. The spectacle. Obviously...and I hope it's the only issue...but he needs the money and is relentlessly wrestling with long faded shadows. But this really felt like Roy 'renting' his name and health to some mma fighters debut promotion. It was littered with 40-50 year old spent shells in the form of ex mma fighters. And you cannot excuse the actions of the fighter themselves. Stubborn egos and tiresome overstayed welcomes clamoring for any spotlight. But where the fook is the humanity? The consciousness and professionalism of commission officials, current fellow fighters around the perimeter and basically anyone involved outside of fans who feed and facilitate the ghosts of former greats. The enablers. You know, sometimes "damage" isn't always as clear as slurring on a microphone and legs buckling before they make it to a ring. You can damage the current reality and the mind of men who spent an entire lifetime achieving and arriving at the pinnacle of the sport. You are feeding delusion. Syphoning off of reality turned fantasy. What they know for the most part is the sport that's absorbed them and at the very tattered disturbing end the sport insiders, media and those "in charge" basically turn into low flying vultures to pick thru the bones. Honestly, I was very happy he lost and maybe this fashion was best, not brutally ko'd. But losing had to happen at this stage.