Modern day ATG.

[generalbulldog]

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.

Who on Lopez's resume is just as good or better than prime Toney and Hopkins? I'll be waiting. I rather take quality over quantity any day. And it's not RJJ's fault that the guys you mentioned didn't make the fights happened, they wanted Jones to come to them and fight them in their own home countries. That stuff just isn't happening. That's like guys like Ortiz, Zaveck, Senchenko, Berto wanting Pacquiao to fight them on their terms. Which isn't happening.

There can be no question that Lopez's defeat of Alvarez is more impressive than RJJ's win over BHOP. Alvarewz weighed in as a FLYWEIGHT and was at his absolute peak and an old Lopez still got him. BHOP at that time was an unranked comer. The win over Toney is, of course, the best on either resume.

It doesn't matter a lick whose "fault" it was. The fact is one either fights the fights or they don't. This ain't the Olympics, one doesn't get credit for perceived walkovers.

That is false that Hopkins was not ranked when he met Roy Jones. Hopkins was ranked by Ring Magazine annual rankings in 1992 at no. 9 (a source that you tend to quote in a lot of your posts or debates) in their April 1993 issue. The Ring Magazine's Annual Ratings: 1992 - Boxrec Boxing Encyclopaedia. Roy Jones and Hopkins fought in May of 1993. So indeed Hopkins was ranked as a top 10 MW when he fought Jones, and a future atg. Having a young Hopkins on the resume and winning the fight handily is very impressive for a not yet to be prime Roy Jones in his first title fight. In terms of boxing accomplishments and abilities Hopkins is leagues above Alvarez. Hopkins is an all time great fighter and easily cracks the top 50 fighters in history. Not to mentioned Jones Jr. had a much wider pool of fighters to contend with as Fenster posted compared to Lopez. So if you have a source that says Hopkins was an unranked comer as you've stated when he met Jones Jr. I would like to see it.

Sorry, I don't see anyone on Lopez's resume that is the equivalent of a Hopkins or James Toney. Alvarez a better win than Hopkins? Not too many people will agree with you on that.

You're right on BHOP being ranked. Thank you for the correction!

Let me try (however vainly) to make the case for Alvareza and see if i can convince ANYBODY

At the time BHOP was the #9 ranked middle and a comer, but not remotely near his peak, was he?

Bufalo was the #1 ranked contender and in his prior fights had beaten unbeaten strapholder and top five Porpaion twice (in Thailand), Kermin Guardia, whose only loss at this point was a decision to Finito, with a KO3 and unbeaten Japanese champ Shiohama (in Japan). BHOP to that point had done nothing like that. Alvarez went on to win a strap at 108 have three defenses, two of them against #2 ranked challenger Beibis Mendoza.

Now does that make him BHOP's equal overall? Not even close. But WHEN the two met? I think Alvarez was the more accomplished guy.

When I think about Sweet Pea, Lopez and RJJ I think about one guy who belongs in the top 25 somewhere (Sweet Pea) and two guys who belong in or a round the top fifty.

Who's with me? Anyone? Bueller?

Hopkins was ranked at no. 9 and yes he was nowhere near his peak, but guess what? Neither was Jones Jr. who was the no. 4 ranked MW by RIng. It's not like this was a peak Jones jr. beating Hopkins. And yes Alvarez was the more accomplished guy when he met Lopez compared to Hopkins meeting Jones Jr. But the Jones Jr. that met Hopkins had no where near the accomplishments, accolades, ring experience, ring savvy, p4p rank, and knowledge of the fight game that Lopez had when he met Alvarez. It goes both ways when you want to compare the Hopkins that met Jones to the Alvarez that met Lopez. So I'm going to compare the Lopez who met Alvarez at the time to the Jones Jr. that met Hopkins at the time.

BTW, in another post you were very critical of Jones jr. in that he didn't fight everyone and had major holes in his resume. So let's use a fighter that also has major holes in his resume and has been criticized by the boxing world as a cherry picking fighter, Manny Pacquiao. It was said that Pacquiao avoided any challenges in his career and cherry picked past their prime fighters and didn't fight dangerous opponents. So would you say in terms of legacy and accomplishment that Ricardo Lopez is ranked higher than Pacman? Yes Pacman is a still active fighter, but is he a less accomplished fighter than Lopez? Because if you are using the same criteria to criticize Jones Jr. than the same would apply to Pacman, no?