Modern day ATG.

[marbleheadmaui]

Pac= boxer of the decade 2000's
Pbf= can beat Pac. inhuman skills.
RJJ= boxer of the decade 90's

I often wonder why Jones would deserve that title? It seems to me Ricardo Lopez is at least as deserving.

Jones in his prime looked unstoppable, plus his win over prime and undefeated Toney and young Hopkins is much better than anyone on Lopez's resume then factor in that Jones fought in 5 weight classes. I don't even think it's up for debate between RJJ and Lopez. The only other person that can maybe challenge RJJ's for boxer of the 90s maybe Whitaker.

Well hold on there General! Lopez KO'd Saman Sorjaturong in two rounds. How good was he? He later knocked Chiquita Gonzales out. An old Lopez also defeated a peak Bufalo Alvarez who might be the second best 105 ever. Sure Jones fought in five divisions but he didn't take on the top guy at heavy or a series of top guys at 168 (Benn, Eubank, Liles, Calzaghe) or at 175 (Darius M).

I agree Jones LOOKED unstoppable. But so does Oklahoma when they play Rice or Baylor. In order to find out whether someone actually IS unstoppable? Ya gotta fight the top guys over and over again. Like Sweet Pea and Lopez did. Again, Jones was great, but he left questions Lopez and Sweet Pea never did.

I think you're contradicting yourself here with regards to an earlier claim you've made.

You believe there has been a noticeable decline in the standard of boxing over the years, right? You believe this is due to dwindling numbers taking up the sport.

Basically - the more fighters the greater strength in depth.

Lopez pomp was fought at straw/minimum. There are currently just 296 registered professionals operating in this weight class.

Jones pomp was fought at middle/supermiddle/lightheavy. Across those three divisions there are currently 2812 pro fighters.

This indicates that Jones fought in a far more competitive pool purely down to his size. It is possible that fighters considered "average" in a pool of 3000 could be seen as "great" amongst 300, right? And the bigger the pool the more likelihood of fighters NOT meeting.

Therefore the lack of competition Lopez had compared to a bigger fighter like Jones should surely be considered when comparing them

I ABSOLUTELY concede the point that at the end of the Bell Curve of Human Size (heavyweight and flyweight in original temrs) the competition level over time is AT BEST inconsistent compared to the other divisions for EXACTLY the reasons you noted. It is why I don't make the claim Finito is a top 25 All-Timer despite being only the second fighter in history with 25 defenses of a lineal crown (Joe Louis being the other). But Lopez fought EVERYBODY. Jones didn't. I'd NEVER argue Lopez's run as the equal of say Abe Attel's 20 defenses at featherweight for example, for the reasons you stated. Had Jones fought everyone, instead of having 6-7 holes as I identified, then there could be no comparison.

But that's not what happened. Great post by the way.