Quote Originally Posted by El Kabong View Post
Quote Originally Posted by #1FightFan View Post
guts, courage, smarter boxing mentality & a desire to fight the best fighters out there, and to not make excuses like roy always did.
roy was on top once, but the tables have turned in favor of the real fighter...a legend now, B-Hop!!!
That's not a fair assessment of Roy. Roy fought everyone he could fight and in his prime he fought more dangerous opponents than Hopkins did. Hopkins' run at middleweight lasted up until he faced a real middleweight in Jermain Taylor. Until that point Hopkins refused to move up in weight and fight RJJ or Toney.

Roy fought some good fighters, Roy even went to heavyweight and showed off his skills there....should have retired after that but hindsight is 20/20
The comments you made above negate the true part of your post: That is wasn't a fair assessment of Roy. Roy DID NOT fight everyone he could fight, or even a few of those he could have and should have fought (Benn, Eubank, Collins, G-Man, Hop rematch, Liles, Nunn, Darius...etc.). His competition after Toney was not up to his ability, to the point that people began boycotting his fights due to lack of competitive match ups (ROYCOTT was the name given to the movement).

As for more dangerous opponents than Hop, Roy took on and beat 1 fighter ranked p4p at the time they fought and that was James Toney. Hop fought these guys ranked p4p at the time he fought them: Tito (#2), Tarver (#, Winky (#4), Joe C. (#4), Pavilik (#6), Pascal (#11). He also fought tough, respected challengers in Dawson, Cloud (undefeated when they fought), Shumenov, Joe Lipsey (undefeated when he ruined him), Glenn Johnson (undefeated when Hop beat him), Andrew Council, and Howard Eastman to name a few. Oscar was undersized, but Hop stopped him, as he should have. Additionally, Hop COMPLETELY cleaned out 160 beating every other champion at his weight and cleaning out the division before getting ripped off against Taylor (NOT the first true middleweight he fought, this was another comment that makes you look biased/uneducated).

The one thing you are correct on was that Roy was a supreme talent, and not a coward. He rose in weight and took on James Toney when Toney was the most feared champion out there. The truth is that Roy became a business man more than a fighter, which is good for him, and took on the least risk for the most reward. I give Roy credit for fighting Tarver and then giving him a rematch after the tough fight, but I think that once he lost it, he realized that he wasn't going to be remembered like he wanted and wanted to go back to being a fighter but found it was too late. If you look at Roy's competition throughout his career, he actually fought better guys when he was past his prime.

Last point, Hop chased Roy for the rematch for years and was willing to move to 168 but wasn't willing for the 60-40 split Roy demanded. Both were great fighters, but Hop will be higher on the ATG list than Roy for the amazing feats and career he has had. Roy was good enough to beat anyone in the history of the sport, but in his prime he never yearned for greatness or tested himself like Hop, Manny, Floyd, Oscar, Tito...etc. did.