If Roy stayed at HW.

[Max Power]

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.

[Master]

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.

[Max Power]

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.

[Hulk]

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.

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.

[Max Power]

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

[Master]

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.

[Max Power]

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.

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!!

[p4pking]

In hindsight it couldn't have been a worse move, naturally 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.