Where does Roy Jones rank?

[imp]

Yea I remember him talking about the Silva fight about a month ago. I hope he stays retired. Depends how you rate your fighters, on pure ability he is right up there, but when he should have been fighting the best, he wasn't.

Like who.?

Roy gets a lot of flack for not fighting overseas but wasn't he the top dog at the time?

[Master]

Yea I remember him talking about the Silva fight about a month ago. I hope he stays retired. Depends how you rate your fighters, on pure ability he is right up there, but when he should have been fighting the best, he wasn't.

Like who.?

Roy gets a lot of flack for not fighting overseas but wasn't he the top dog at the time?

Roy fought 2 ATG in Toney and Hopkins but there were gaps at light heavy. The clue that the opponents were not that good was when Roy was playing basketball before the fight. I am sure he could have got the ring belt by beating the liniel German champion Dariusz Michelcheski.

[Alpha]

Yea I remember him talking about the Silva fight about a month ago. I hope he stays retired. Depends how you rate your fighters, on pure ability he is right up there, but when he should have been fighting the best, he wasn't.

Like who.?

Roy gets a lot of flack for not fighting overseas but wasn't he the top dog at the time?

Roy fought 2 ATG in Toney and Hopkins but there were gaps at light heavy. The clue that the opponents were not that good was when Roy was playing basketball before the fight. I am sure he could have got the ring belt by beating the liniel German champion Dariusz Michelcheski.

Exactly, Michalczewski is the perfect example at 175. I would have liked to see him face Rochigiani, Michael Nunn, Gerald McClellan, Nigel Benn, Chris Eubank, Steve Collins, Joe Calzaghe. I think Jones beats them all but that's not the point, I would have liked to have seen the fights.

[ykdadamaja]

Has to be in the top #5 of all time. Perhaps top #3.

My top guys of all times.... in no order... Julio Cesar Chavez... Roy Jones... Ali... Ray Leonard... Ray Robinson... Jack Johnson... everyone else is sorta muddle in there somewhere afterwards....

[mikeeod]

I place Roy in the top 50-60 of all time if we are talking historical ranking and accomplishments. If we are talking talent I place him much higher. I agree that Roy didn’t fight many of the top names at and around his weight during his prime. Not all of that was Roy’s fault, but the fact remains that he just didn’t get the big fights. I place him behind Hop, Floyd, Evander, Sweet Pea, Manny, and potentially Barrera/Morales/JMM when compared against his contemporaries.

[powerpuncher]

Jones is probably the toughest fighter to rank. Talent wise, he is honestly top 10 easily. He didn’t have the best resume and did miss a few big fights that he should have had. Because of that, I rank him around 20-25.

[brocktonblockbust]

jones woulda destroyed calzaghe in his prime

[imp]

Yea I remember him talking about the Silva fight about a month ago. I hope he stays retired. Depends how you rate your fighters, on pure ability he is right up there, but when he should have been fighting the best, he wasn't.

Like who.?

Roy gets a lot of flack for not fighting overseas but wasn't he the top dog at the time?

Roy fought 2 ATG in Toney and Hopkins but there were gaps at light heavy. The clue that the opponents were not that good was when Roy was playing basketball before the fight. I am sure he could have got the ring belt by beating the liniel German champion Dariusz Michelcheski.

Exactly, Michalczewski is the perfect example at 175. I would have liked to see him face Rochigiani, Michael Nunn, Gerald McClellan, Nigel Benn, Chris Eubank, Steve Collins, Joe Calzaghe. I think Jones beats them all but that's not the point, I would have liked to have seen the fights.

Fair enough.

At what point was RJ in the same weight class as the above names...which one would have been the more viable choice weight related.

[Alpha]

Yea I remember him talking about the Silva fight about a month ago. I hope he stays retired. Depends how you rate your fighters, on pure ability he is right up there, but when he should have been fighting the best, he wasn't.

Like who.?

Roy gets a lot of flack for not fighting overseas but wasn't he the top dog at the time?

Roy fought 2 ATG in Toney and Hopkins but there were gaps at light heavy. The clue that the opponents were not that good was when Roy was playing basketball before the fight. I am sure he could have got the ring belt by beating the liniel German champion Dariusz Michelcheski.

Exactly, Michalczewski is the perfect example at 175. I would have liked to see him face Rochigiani, Michael Nunn, Gerald McClellan, Nigel Benn, Chris Eubank, Steve Collins, Joe Calzaghe. I think Jones beats them all but that's not the point, I would have liked to have seen the fights.

Fair enough.

At what point was RJ in the same weight class as the above names...which one would have been the more viable choice weight related.

Wasn't Nunn Jones' mandatory in late '97? I doubt Warren wanted that fight.

I think there was only slight window for a fights with Collins and McClellan at 160 in' 94.

Collins and Benn at 168 in '95 and' 96.

Obviously Dariusz at 175 from '97 to '03. Nunn at 175 in '88 and '89.

I also remember Jones pulling out of the Buster Douglas fight in '88.

[Boxer4life]

Jones is a bit like Tyson to me in the sense that, p4p, speaking purely from a skill perspective, they are both top 5 in my opinion. I think they beat someone like Mayweather. Resume wise, however, things get tricky. Personally, just because im a fighter, I judge fighters by how well they can fight and not statistics, I'll leave that to analyst.

So that being said, he is top 5.

That isnt to say his resume isnt impressive. He did beat Hopkins, he did beat Toney, fairly easy. He beat a lot of top contenders and champions.

ALSO, please let's not forget the man went from 154 to heavyweight in his career and WON the heavyweight belt. I don't care how subpar of a heavyweight you think Ruiz was, he was the champ.

So even as an analyst, i'd rate him top 10, i think he tops guys like Chavez and JMM for sure. Guys like Robinson, Floyd, Ali, topple him but his career was impeccable until he got old, and i don't think any fighter should be judged on old age performance, thats a rule in boxing.

As far as who he didn't fight, he would've sparked those guys just the same and then we would've listed them under the "they were nobodies" just as we do with his other solid, but not great opponents.

[Alpha]

I think you have to take opposition into account otherwise a guy like Ricardo Lopez comes out in top every time.

[mikeeod]

I think you have to take opposition into account otherwise a guy like Ricardo Lopez comes out in top every time.

Great point. How can you rank Roy over someone like Ray Leonard who beat Duran, Hearns, Benitez, Hagler (I thought Ray lost this one)? Roy beat 1 fighter who was ranked p4p at the time they fought. Compare that to Hop who fought Tito, Tarver, Winky, and Pavilik while they were ranked p4p. Or Oscar who fought Quartey, Whitaker, Tito, Hopkins, Mayweather, and Manny while they were ranked. Floyd fought Corralles, Hatton, Manny, JMM, Canelo...etc., while they were all ranked.

Roy was a phenom, and unbelievably talented. I'm not sure it is solely his fault that he missed many bug fights during his prime, but he is the one big name who pretty much missed every other prime big name at or around his weight during his prime years.

[mikeeod]

Jones is a bit like Tyson to me in the sense that, p4p, speaking purely from a skill perspective, they are both top 5 in my opinion. I think they beat someone like Mayweather. Resume wise, however, things get tricky. Personally, just because im a fighter, I judge fighters by how well they can fight and not statistics, I'll leave that to analyst.

So that being said, he is top 5.

That isnt to say his resume isnt impressive. He did beat Hopkins, he did beat Toney, fairly easy. He beat a lot of top contenders and champions.

ALSO, please let's not forget the man went from 154 to heavyweight in his career and WON the heavyweight belt. I don't care how subpar of a heavyweight you think Ruiz was, he was the champ.

So even as an analyst, i'd rate him top 10, i think he tops guys like Chavez and JMM for sure. Guys like Robinson, Floyd, Ali, topple him but his career was impeccable until he got old, and i don't think any fighter should be judged on old age performance, thats a rule in boxing.

As far as who he didn't fight, he would've sparked those guys just the same and then we would've listed them under the "they were nobodies" just as we do with his other solid, but not great opponents.

Couple of points of clarification:
1. Roy won A heavyweight strap, not THE heavyweight Championship. Had Roy beaten Lewis (or Evander when he was undisputed champ), I think everyone agrees that Roy would deserve to be top 5. A fat James Toney beat Ruiz shortly after Roy, so that highlights how limited Ruiz was.
2. As for the Hop victory, that was a pre-prime Hop, not the complete fighter who destroyed Tito. The same way Hop gets less credit for beating an old Roy, Roy loses credit for beating a green Hop.
3. Just because you are POSITIVE Roy would beat people he never fought, that doesn't mean he would have definitely beaten them. Everyone was equally positive that Roy would beat Tarver, Tyson would beat Douglas/Evander...etc.

[Master]

Jones is a bit like Tyson to me in the sense that, p4p, speaking purely from a skill perspective, they are both top 5 in my opinion. I think they beat someone like Mayweather. Resume wise, however, things get tricky. Personally, just because im a fighter, I judge fighters by how well they can fight and not statistics, I'll leave that to analyst.

So that being said, he is top 5.

That isnt to say his resume isnt impressive. He did beat Hopkins, he did beat Toney, fairly easy. He beat a lot of top contenders and champions.

ALSO, please let's not forget the man went from 154 to heavyweight in his career and WON the heavyweight belt. I don't care how subpar of a heavyweight you think Ruiz was, he was the champ.

So even as an analyst, i'd rate him top 10, i think he tops guys like Chavez and JMM for sure. Guys like Robinson, Floyd, Ali, topple him but his career was impeccable until he got old, and i don't think any fighter should be judged on old age performance, thats a rule in boxing.

As far as who he didn't fight, he would've sparked those guys just the same and then we would've listed them under the "they were nobodies" just as we do with his other solid, but not great opponents.

Couple of points of clarification:
1. Roy won A heavyweight strap, not THE heavyweight Championship. Had Roy beaten Lewis (or Evander when he was undisputed champ), I think everyone agrees that Roy would deserve to be top 5. A fat James Toney beat Ruiz shortly after Roy, so that highlights how limited Ruiz was.
2. As for the Hop victory, that was a pre-prime Hop, not the complete fighter who destroyed Tito. The same way Hop gets less credit for beating an old Roy, Roy loses credit for beating a green Hop.
3. Just because you are POSITIVE Roy would beat people he never fought, that doesn't mean he would have definitely beaten them. Everyone was equally positive that Roy would beat Tarver, Tyson would beat Douglas/Evander...etc.

Just to clarify your clarification. No prime version of Bernard Hopkins beats a prime Roy Jones Junior even the one that beat Tito.

[imp]

Jones is a bit like Tyson to me in the sense that, p4p, speaking purely from a skill perspective, they are both top 5 in my opinion. I think they beat someone like Mayweather. Resume wise, however, things get tricky. Personally, just because im a fighter, I judge fighters by how well they can fight and not statistics, I'll leave that to analyst.

So that being said, he is top 5.

That isnt to say his resume isnt impressive. He did beat Hopkins, he did beat Toney, fairly easy. He beat a lot of top contenders and champions.

ALSO, please let's not forget the man went from 154 to heavyweight in his career and WON the heavyweight belt. I don't care how subpar of a heavyweight you think Ruiz was, he was the champ.

So even as an analyst, i'd rate him top 10, i think he tops guys like Chavez and JMM for sure. Guys like Robinson, Floyd, Ali, topple him but his career was impeccable until he got old, and i don't think any fighter should be judged on old age performance, thats a rule in boxing.

As far as who he didn't fight, he would've sparked those guys just the same and then we would've listed them under the "they were nobodies" just as we do with his other solid, but not great opponents.

Couple of points of clarification:
1. Roy won A heavyweight strap, not THE heavyweight Championship. Had Roy beaten Lewis (or Evander when he was undisputed champ), I think everyone agrees that Roy would deserve to be top 5. A fat James Toney beat Ruiz shortly after Roy, so that highlights how limited Ruiz was.
2. As for the Hop victory, that was a pre-prime Hop, not the complete fighter who destroyed Tito. The same way Hop gets less credit for beating an old Roy, Roy loses credit for beating a green Hop.
3. Just because you are POSITIVE Roy would beat people he never fought, that doesn't mean he would have definitely beaten them. Everyone was equally positive that Roy would beat Tarver, Tyson would beat Douglas/Evander...etc.

Let's not forget that he did beat Tarver.