Is Roy Jones an all time great or just 1 of the best of his era???

[Rotten Apple]

He\'s one of the greatest of his era, but All time? I don\'t know.

[SweetPea]

Jones is certainly an all-time great. As people have already mentioned, at 160-168 he was close to unbeatable. While his 3 consecutive losses do have a negative impact on his legacy, he's still an all-time great.
I rank him as the 2nd best fighter of the last 25 years, behind only Whitaker. There are plenty of people who would put Jones #1, and that's a legit argument.
Part of what hurts Jones is that he beat both Hopkins and Toney early in his career before people started thinking of any of those guys as HOF fighters.

[Lords Gym]

Jones is certainly an all-time great. As people have already mentioned, at 160-168 he was close to unbeatable. While his 3 consecutive losses do have a negative impact on his legacy, he's still an all-time great.
I rank him as the 2nd best fighter of the last 25 years, behind only Whitaker. There are plenty of people who would put Jones #1, and that's a legit argument.
Part of what hurts Jones is that he beat both Hopkins and Toney early in his career before people started thinking of any of those guys as HOF fighters.

Agreed !

[Realitycheck77]

Roy Jones Jnr is NOT an all time great, but he certainly is one of the greatest of his era.

The term 'all time great' is branded around like sweets in a candy store, i find it disrespectful to the fighters/boxers who are genuinlly all time greats. In my book, an all time great has certain factors, one of those factors is getting through times of adversity, weather it's in a fight or outside the ring, that's not to say that a fighter must go through adversity to be an all time great, there are boxers who will go down as legends and they never experienced adversity. But if a boxer did, it further strengthens the argument to say they are legends and all time greats.

Roy Jones in my opinion is one of the greatest of his era, no doubt, but he woudn't feature on an all time great list in my eyes. Yes he did fight some handy opponents, buy yes he also priced himself out of others, by asking for too much money. I'm sure it won't bother him so much, but I wonder if he will ever regret that when picking up books and magazines in the future, he won't feature as an all-time great, maybe he will say I should of fought those guys, and win or lose, along with the rest of my CV I would now be classed a Legend? as I say I doubt it, as he has Basketball, Music and far to many millions lying around for that to bother him.

The names that stand out on his CV are Toney and Hopkins, that's it, I don't class Ruiz anywhere, if he had fought say Lennox Lewis or Vitali Klitshko then yes that would be very special but he fought Ruiz - a sure bet if there is one.

Roy is very very clever out of the ring, what I mean by this is he knows how to make himself look good on paper, no disrespect intended here but he can say he was Heavyweight champion and on paper it looks good but when we look deeper "oh! he beat Ruiz". As Roy was very flashy and looked good on camera he attracted a large audience, therefore he thought he could demand more money for high risk fights, hence pricing himself out as he knew the sums he requested would not materialise.

Listen I don't want to go on as hating Roy I DON'T, I'm just frustrated as I wanted him to be a real champ - a true legend a true fighter.

All the Roy fans will ask what he could have done better? he could have fought Benn and Eubank and gone to the UK to fight Calzaghe - he should have said to Calzaghe "listen I know you're scared to fight outside your back garden so I'll come to you and I don't need the money so I'll fight you for a reasonable sum" and that would have exposed Calzaghe to. Listen people will say "oh.. not this whole Benn and Eubank issue again - but accept it or not those two were world class fighters, he could have also fought Hopkins again.

As I sais before - Roy is a real treat to watch and one of the greatest of his era - but NOT an all time great!

[Hulk]

Roy ain't an all time great. He's the greatest of all time. NO DOUBT.

[Realitycheck77]

Roy ain't an all time great. He's the greatest of all time. NO DOUBT.

Come on Hulk, you gots to be kidding me?

[diamonddavestafford]

Hands down, no question about it, absolutely an alltime great. He was voted Fighter of the Decade in the 90's by The Boxing Writers Association of America. He unified the light heavyweight title and defended it eleven times. Not only did he win titles in four weight classes, one of them being the heavyweight title (which he was the first middleweight in HOW long to win? Something like a century? Bob Fitzsimmons was the last one before Jones), but contrary to what people like to say, Jones did fight good opposition in his day. Bernard Hopkins, James Toney, Mike McCallum, Vinny Pazienza, Montell Griffin, Jorge Castro, Antonio Tarver, Virgil Hill; all got a big piece of one of the best boxers and best trash talkers ever. People forget that in boxing the reflexes are the first thing to go. Jones' style was based on his lightning fast reaction time and the ability to time his opponents down to fractions of seconds before counterpunching the living crap out of them and then moving defensively again; he never carried his hands very high and depended mainly on his ability to move out of the way of attacks at ludacrous speed. Once these reflexes slowed down a little (which is common past the age of 35 or so) Jones was not able to use them to slip and get away from punches as quickly as is needed in the hands down relaxed, showboating style he was a master of as a younger fighter. Nonetheless, he is an alltime great in my book and someday will be in the Boxing Hall of Fame.

[GAME]

There are afew names that had a n era of p4p domination over the last decade or so . Mosley , Trinidad , Bernard , Oscar , Barrera , Tito , Floyd , Winky but I think Roy Jones reign as the sports finest was the longest .

For so long he was the mack daddy of boxing . His skills were second to none . Not only ws he the best of our era but I think we have to rank him alongside the all time greats

[The Shadow]

Roy Jones is definitely an all time great and will be remembered as such. The Tarver and Johnson losses came late in his
career and his skills had already began to erode. Additionally, I think he had his mind on much more than boxing, which may
have proved to be a distraction contributing to his decline.

[Realitycheck77]

Hands down, no question about it, absolutely an alltime great. He was voted Fighter of the Decade in the 90's by The Boxing Writers Association of America. He unified the light heavyweight title and defended it eleven times. Not only did he win titles in four weight classes, one of them being the heavyweight title (which he was the first middleweight in HOW long to win? Something like a century? Bob Fitzsimmons was the last one before Jones), but contrary to what people like to say, Jones did fight good opposition in his day. Bernard Hopkins, James Toney, Mike McCallum, Vinny Pazienza, Montell Griffin, Jorge Castro, Antonio Tarver, Virgil Hill; all got a big piece of one of the best boxers and best trash talkers ever. People forget that in boxing the reflexes are the first thing to go. Jones' style was based on his lightning fast reaction time and the ability to time his opponents down to fractions of seconds before counterpunching the living crap out of them and then moving defensively again; he never carried his hands very high and depended mainly on his ability to move out of the way of attacks at ludacrous speed. Once these reflexes slowed down a little (which is common past the age of 35 or so) Jones was not able to use them to slip and get away from punches as quickly as is needed in the hands down relaxed, showboating style he was a master of as a younger fighter. Nonetheless, he is an alltime great in my book and someday will be in the Boxing Hall of Fame.

You have a point, but if you consider Roy Jones to be an all time great then how much respect are you giving the other all time greats for example Ali, Ray Robinson, Duran, Louis etc

You seem to be giving alot of credit to Jones for beating Ruiz for the Heavyweight title, which yes he did and respect for that acheivement, but he would get alot more credit if he attempted something along the lines of what Billy Conn attempted against Joe Louis taking on someone like Lennox Lewis.

I have HUGE amount of respect for Jones, but I can't see him as an all time great, a modern great yes - but not all time! Don't get me wrong he's not far from being an all time great but he just misses out. With Roy there were too many factors involved like he didn't want to fight on anybody else's turf, if it was a high risk fight he would ask for too much $ and get out that way, any man who steps in the ring I have huge respect for, it takes unbelivable amounts of courage, but with the all-time greats they go that bit more to cement there legacy and greatness and unfortunately Roy didn't!

[DaxxKahn]

Roy at times was criticized because he went long periods of time fighting guys who were not up to par....Truth is there really was no one great for him to fight during his years as LH king....Unlike today he did not have the option to drop down to SM which at the time was no mans land...The cruiserweights had the same quility of opp....Champions Like Imanu Mayfield were of no benifit for Jones to jump up and fight....But he disposed of all comers good and bad who were in the LH division...His jump to HW was more due to the fact there was nothing for him to accomplish at LH then anything.....People like to say he was not as good as we thought because he deteriorated so quickly....it had a combination of age weight loss and just the fact he went so long without being tested....Louis had the same downfall and no one ever questioned how good Joe was?....Roy had enough quality opponents over the years to compensate for the so so opp he face as LH champ...He had the ability you cant blame him if the sport did not have the men for him to be truly tested...Roy is an all time great with out question....Lets not be mistaken though he was not better then Robinson....Ray has more HOF fighters on his resume then most guys today have fights

[Scrap]

I liked watching Roy, he reminded me why Boxing isnt what it was. Never the less what he did he did well. He stopped the other guy fighting be it through age or mechanics. that wouldnt have happened years ago, he would have been made to fight in the pocket against technicians a big difference. Hopkins has evovled his technique because he can. With Roy technique wise there was no substance to it. But because of his acheivements, and seeing its Christmas lets give him the benifit of the doubt

[Preme]

he should have said to Calzaghe "listen I know you're scared to fight outside your back garden so I'll come to you and I don't need the money so I'll fight you for a reasonable sum" and that would have exposed Calzaghe to.

Wud of looked as big a fool as you then wudn't he? coz jones was offerd over 5 mill to fight calzaghe IN THE US

I think jones is in the top 10 or 15 greatest fighters ever, the guy done stuff in the ring, against good figters that you wudn't thinkpossible or most fighter even dare try. If he had retired after beating ruiz more people would consider him an ATG! but 'coz he lost a few (way past his prime!) he goes down a notch or two. Jones could of stayed in a talentless devision like hopkins did, unify it and beat up lower weight class fighters like hopkins did and make 20 title defenses, but he was champion in 4 weights, unifiying LH beating almost the best at every weight.

ruiz was pretty highly regarded at the time jones fought him - borring annoying, hated what ever but he was fairly highly regarded as a fighter. Eubank, didn't he make it clear he didn't want to fight Jones? not certain about been, and although i wud of loved to see jones fight calzaghe, i don't think joe was a big enough name then. Hbo were gunna try build calzaghe up to fight jones at some point, but after a bad scrappy lookin fight with reid 'coz of a broken hand they ditch that idea, joens was already a god at Lh and a 3 weight champ when warren was trying to get the fight done, but calzaghe held the WBO belt and wasn't to big a name outside of europe so what reason really was there for joens to fight him? not as i all the us were talking about how great clzaghe was and how good a fight it would be.

[Realitycheck77]

he should have said to Calzaghe "listen I know you're scared to fight outside your back garden so I'll come to you and I don't need the money so I'll fight you for a reasonable sum" and that would have exposed Calzaghe to.

Wud of looked as big a fool as you then wudn't he? coz jones was offerd over 5 mill to fight calzaghe IN THE US

I think jones is in the top 10 or 15 greatest fighters ever, the guy done stuff in the ring, against good figters that you wudn't thinkpossible or most fighter even dare try. If he had retired after beating ruiz more people would consider him an ATG! but 'coz he lost a few (way past his prime!) he goes down a notch or two. Jones could of stayed in a talentless devision like hopkins did, unify it and beat up lower weight class fighters like hopkins did and make 20 title defenses, but he was champion in 4 weights, unifiying LH beating almost the best at every weight.

ruiz was pretty highly regarded at the time jones fought him - borring annoying, hated what ever but he was fairly highly regarded as a fighter. Eubank, didn't he make it clear he didn't want to fight Jones? not certain about been, and although i wud of loved to see jones fight calzaghe, i don't think joe was a big enough name then. Hbo were gunna try build calzaghe up to fight jones at some point, but after a bad scrappy lookin fight with reid 'coz of a broken hand they ditch that idea, joens was already a god at Lh and a 3 weight champ when warren was trying to get the fight done, but calzaghe held the WBO belt and wasn't to big a name outside of europe so what reason really was there for joens to fight him? not as i all the us were talking about how great clzaghe was and how good a fight it would be.

OK first of all I don't think you understand my post,

If Jones was offered 5m, then why didn't he take it? as far as FOOLS go I think your the biggest, before you get into a debate with me, learn how to SPELL.

And I think your the only one who regarded RUIZ as a top fighter making you an even BIGGER FOOL, at the time Ruiz was WBA champ Lennox Lewis was WBC champ, so in my book I know who the true heavyweight champ was.

When I post I'm not baised, I speak the facts as I say Roy Jones is a fantastic fighter I'm not disputing that he is a great fighter but not an all time great IMO.

[Preme]

he should have said to Calzaghe "listen I know you're scared to fight outside your back garden so I'll come to you and I don't need the money so I'll fight you for a reasonable sum" and that would have exposed Calzaghe to.

Wud of looked as big a fool as you then wudn't he? coz jones was offerd over 5 mill to fight calzaghe IN THE US

I think jones is in the top 10 or 15 greatest fighters ever, the guy done stuff in the ring, against good figters that you wudn't thinkpossible or most fighter even dare try. If he had retired after beating ruiz more people would consider him an ATG! but 'coz he lost a few (way past his prime!) he goes down a notch or two. Jones could of stayed in a talentless devision like hopkins did, unify it and beat up lower weight class fighters like hopkins did and make 20 title defenses, but he was champion in 4 weights, unifiying LH beating almost the best at every weight.

ruiz was pretty highly regarded at the time jones fought him - borring annoying, hated what ever but he was fairly highly regarded as a fighter. Eubank, didn't he make it clear he didn't want to fight Jones? not certain about been, and although i wud of loved to see jones fight calzaghe, i don't think joe was a big enough name then. Hbo were gunna try build calzaghe up to fight jones at some point, but after a bad scrappy lookin fight with reid 'coz of a broken hand they ditch that idea, joens was already a god at Lh and a 3 weight champ when warren was trying to get the fight done, but calzaghe held the WBO belt and wasn't to big a name outside of europe so what reason really was there for joens to fight him? not as i all the us were talking about how great clzaghe was and how good a fight it would be.

OK first of all I don't think you understand my post,

If Jones was offered 5m, then why didn't he take it? as far as FOOLS go I think your the biggest, before you get into a debate with me, learn how to SPELL.

And I think your the only one who regarded RUIZ as a top fighter making you an even BIGGER FOOL, at the time Ruiz was WBA champ Lennox Lewis was WBC champ, so in my book I know who the true heavyweight champ was.

When I post I'm not baised, I speak the facts as I say Roy Jones is a fantastic fighter I'm not disputing that he is a great fighter but not an all time great IMO.

i understood your post fine, u made out clazaghe was to scared to fight outside his own back garden - when he had offerd 2 top us boxers big paydays to fight him hi their back garden. Yeah i know i spell like a r'tard but tbh i really don't give two fucks lol, some people can , some people can't.

I never said ruiz was top dog at HW, but he was fairy highly regarded, he wasn't a joke fighter by no means, he had recently beaten and drawn with hoylfield after lewis had beaten and drawn with him, i know ruiz had one loss