Quote Originally Posted by miles View Post
Jones Jr is another one of them where you can say "ooh lovely reflexes and quite apt punch placement" and then you look at the record and say this isn't Sugar Ray Robinson. And then towards the end you start thinking "well it's now getting like the later Sugar Ray Robinson!". But different leagues really.

I think Calzaghe outworks him anytime in the 21st century BTW. Jones Jr was good, but he has a pansy heart.
Don't get it twisted, Jones had heart. I still feel there were guys he missed out on, any of Eubank, Benn, Michalczewski, McClellan, Nunn as well as actually giving Hopkins a rematch and fighting Calzaghe earlier. Had he done all of those, with only the B-Hop rematch around 01-02 would I have had some major doubts that he would have won. His record is nowhere near as bad as some make out, but he did avoid certain challenges that were there. He also didn't do enough to make himself the best LHW of all time, regardless of the excuses about weight, he was flat KO'd by Antonio Tarver & Glen Johnson who were two of the better 175lbers he faced. The only one he beat who was better was Virgil Hill and he was coming off a one-sided loss.

Jones was possibly the best athlete in the history of the sport, but the best find ways to adapt. He was always great when things were going his way, and the rematch KO of Griffin is one of the best statements in a ring that I've ever seen, but he never really showed he could cope with things when his back was against the wall. The closest you've got is the fact he didn't quit against Calzaghe, but he played to survive rather than win.