After watching a prime Roy Jones on TV last night he was far from unbeatable.

[C-Lo]

yeh i was dthinking the same thing watching it.. dont get me wrong great fighter, but far from unbeatable..

I also feel that calzaghe would of given him a real test.. he would of bin all over Roy like a rash..

In his prime, Jones was unbeatable. Calzaghe at anytime would've made it a tough fight regardless.

It was'nt that I was not impressed its just I think your mind looks back on things in that past as better than they are now.


I have got all of Jones fights on DVD somwhere and in a lot of his fights he does very little.Just throwes the fast odd lead left hook then moves away not willing to take a chance to go for the KO.

Thats because sometimes his fights were so easy he didn't need to do anything more. Take the Richard Hall fight for example he could of finished him off in the 1st round, but instead he toyed with him like RJJ often did with opponents.

Jones definitely toyed with his opponents. I think he proved he could spark people out if he wanted to but he chose to showboat and milked the crowds.

[Taeth]

Best fighter of the Nineties?

Grow up!!

You have Ricardo Lopez, Pernell Whitaker and Azuma Nelson, who I can think of that were at least on the same level.

I cant vouch much further than that as I only really got in to boxing around the mid Nineties.

Also, Joe would have given each of these fighters a tough fight, if they were the same size.

You could make an arguement MAYBE for Pernell Whitaker, but none of the others apply, also Whitaker tailed off at the end of the 90's, and even in his prime he did not dominate like Roy

They both had similar ability to not get hit, only Roy was much better offensively, much faster, better at throwing combinations, better and countering. I won't disrespect Whitaker's name because he was a legit fighter as are the other guys you mentioned but how long did Ricardo Lopez remain the top 1 or 2 fighters on the p4p list? Or Azumah Nelson? When Pernell was at his peak is when Roy stole it away from him when he beat Toney so emphatically, he got it "stolen" away by Mosley and Trinidad, but that was just politics. Pernell is a great fighter, but he wasn't on Roy's level. Either was Azumah Nelson, especially not in the 90's where he went 1-1-2 with Jesse James Leija, had Genaro Hernandez beat him, and he went 1-1-1 with Fenech(which is respectable), but Nelson isn't considered on the same level as Roy JOnes p4p all time. He was really good, but not that good.

Like Isaid originally Whitaker was the only guy you could really compare to Roy Jones Jr in the 90's or even in the 2000's nobody has been like Roy was in the 90's.

[Mr140]

Roy Jones should of been in alot more fights that were better suited for his skill level if you ask me because look at all the fights he could of had. At the SMW he did not take and some at LHW which he should of taken. I do not feel like he was beatable Micheal Spinks was just akward enough and had the power to end Jones if he hit him he would hurt him bad. And also some may disagree but i thought Taver style was all wrong for Jones.

[Taeth]

I also agree Calzaghe would give them all trouble (except Whitaker) because he is on the Azumah Nelson, Ricard Lopez level. Definitely, he's a good fighter, but so was James Toney, so is obviously Bernard Hopkins, but Roy easily dispatched of both of them. I also think Roy's style is very hard for Calzaghe to beat, I think a guy like Whitaker who is more defensive oriented gives Roy tons of trouble, but Calzaghe isn't quite good enough IMO to defend against Roy. People said to me that Bernard wouldn't beat Pavlik, but I said the style is wrong for Pavlik, he can't deal with somebody he can't hit and somebody who moves a lot, and sure enough he couldn't get off at all. Everytime when Bernad was fresh that Calzaghe tried to come in Bernard was able to either dodge what Calzaghe threw or countered effectively, now Roy is much faster, and a better counter puncher then Bernard, if Bernard was quick enough to trouble Calzaghe with his speed, then Roy would have been way too much for him because as quick as Bernard comes forward with that right cross. Roy does it about twice as fast, and with twice as much distance on it, and it was twice as hard as B-Hop's punches in his prime. Not to mention he didn't just have that one punch he could come foward with, he could counter over the right jab with his left hook which he did, He could counter or come forward with that looping right hook to the body from the outside.

I just look at Bernard right now, and he is a great fighter, but at this stage in his career he could do one thing against Calzaghe(move and suddenly come forward with his right hand, with nothing else). As good as Bernard is at that game, Roy was better in his prime(please note that Bernard was also better at it closer to his prime(like against Trinidad).

[Taeth]

Roy Jones should of been in alot more fights that were better suited for his skill level if you ask me because look at all the fights he could of had. At the SMW he did not take and some at LHW which he should of taken. I do not feel like he was beatable Micheal Spinks was just akward enough and had the power to end Jones if he hit him he would hurt him bad. And also some may disagree but i thought Taver style was all wrong for Jones.

I think Glen Johnson was all wrong for Roy, but I think all Roy needed to do against Glen Johnson is throw more punches off the ropes, every time he did Glen couldn't deal with it. Roy however was in conservation mode because he wasn't in good enough shape. It kind of reminded me off ALi against Frazier in their first fight, but Roy couldn't handle the few punches that landed. But Glen JOhnson has very quick hands, and he has been able to walk through anything since moving up from middleweight.

AGainst Tarver I think their first fight properly demonstrated that Roy in his prime would have raped Tarver. I had Jones up by 4 or 5 rounds (116-112 or 117-111) I felt Tarver didn't get very much done when he had Roy on the ropes, and that Roy was able to land whenever he threw after the first round. I don't think Roy got enough credit by HBO for all those body shots he was landing.

I could see Michael Spinks being a tough fight for Roy JOnes, but I just think he would get disheartened when he realized how fast Roy was, I dont' think he was strong enough mentaly. Once again against Roy Jones I feel you need either great timing or good speed, and Michael SPinks wasn't overly fast.

[Mr140]

Alright i see your points also for the best fighters of the 90s and the also the 00 there an argument for Oscar and Shane because Oscar was pound for pound in 97, 98 Roy was top in the year 96, 99 not to mention JCC and Pernell. Then Shane was pound for pound 00,01 and then Roy was 03 not to mention Mayweather and Bernard were up more years as well. If you look over the last 10 or 20 years alot of people have a say over as the best fighter pound for pound if you ask me but that is up for debate.

[kingfrnk]

Like who?

Merqui Sosa who had an iron chin and had never been knocked down, coming into the RJJ fight got slaughtered when he tried to swarm.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_WLsBXv1LF4

And also check out RJJ's fight with Bryant Brannon, who is similar to Glen Johnson.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=r6d0WOk-QuU

Both Vids wont play.


I am not doubting Roys greatness its just he was not unbeatable.

It has always bugged me why he did not fight Benn because it would have been a much bigger fight than any of the other he had at the time.
The only reason I can think of is because he feared Benns power.Which is also the reason he did not try to finnised hurt fighters.

hmm, both worked fine for me Brannon put up a decent fight for the first minute then Roy beat him like he owed him money

[Kev]

What Setanta program are you guys refererring to? I missed it

[NUCLEAR BULL]

i've always felt roy was overrated......i think he did well at a time when there really was no other A class fighters in his division, he never fought the guy that was seen as the ligit light heavy champ saying HE'S the man so doesn't have to go fight some other belt holder.............. and the fact he never gave hopkins and toney rematchs says alot.........why did he leave the mid and super mids so quickly and go the a redundent l heavy

still he was very fast, but cant take a good shot, had good skills and very popular with fans

[No Contest]

So? You can say the same thing about Calzaghe. Robin Reid 116-111 116-111 111-116 It must have been the different view for that judge...

[Spicoli]

I clearly remember a post fight jones interview..one of his fights (post G-man v Benn) where he did "enough" and he said "i will only extend myself in a fight if neccesary"
That for me was and still is a blatant admission of unwilligness to mix it and go to war in the ring if he could avoid it and looking back it's clearly the case in a lot of his fights..
The G-Man tradgedy put the fear of god in him and STILL to this day he has not seen Gerald for fear of what it'll do to him mentally.
He also mentioned this in a recent interview
Once i heard him say that a long time ago i kinda lost some respect for him but fully understand where he's coming from.
Jones and Gerald were tight back in the day

He said something similiar after his dull fight with Fermin Chirino.The crowd was booing at the end and he got a bit flip...something along the lines of I don't fight for the fans or something.That was all I needed to here .And that was prior to the Tragedy.I think Benn/Mcclellan fight effected him quite a bit as well.

[Spicoli]

I ended up thinking the same to be honest.

Benn would have seriously got fucked up though

Lol - Benn is possible my favourite fighter ever, but he is overrated imo

Maybe I'm off my med's but I would have given Benn an even power shot if that ever came off.I can envision a much more sound Jones feigning and timing Benn to a tee...one of those lightning rights dropping Benn But equally I can see Benn mucking up and making it rough on Jones early and should he have found the sweet spot,Jones would have been hurt bad.Jones timed pressure guys great but Brannon,Sosa,Thorton,Paz type pressure was minor league compared to a proven head caver like Benn.I don't think he wanted any part of Benn after the McClellan tragedy,even with all of Benn's lapses.

[Taeth]

Alright i see your points also for the best fighters of the 90s and the also the 00 there an argument for Oscar and Shane because Oscar was pound for pound in 97, 98 Roy was top in the year 96, 99 not to mention JCC and Pernell. Then Shane was pound for pound 00,01 and then Roy was 03 not to mention Mayweather and Bernard were up more years as well. If you look over the last 10 or 20 years alot of people have a say over as the best fighter pound for pound if you ask me but that is up for debate.

IMO its quite obvious that Shane MOsley and Oscar De LA Hoya were never as good as Roy JOnes Jr... Mosley couldn't handle going up in weight largely because of his technique and he just wasn't able to dominate outside his weightclass anywhere near to the same degree as Roy. Oscar has never done extremely well against the top level of competition. Both JCC and Pernell where boardering the 80's and 90's JCC wasn't the same fighter he was in the 80's He got toyed with by Pernell Whitaker, Oscar beat him up twice.

Roy Jones was the boxer of the 90's there is no arguement about it, he is the only guy from the 90's anybody dared to judge to the likes of Leonard, Hagler, Hearns.

People are arguing about what Roy did at light heavywieght, he was a natural MW/SMW... and he still dominated guys way bigger than him in a way we have never seen. I agree Pernell could make guys miss and control the ring from one aspect like Roy, but he couldn't put on an offensive to go along with it. HE didn't have that lightining speed or those throwback combinations.

I still think Pernell and Mayweather are the best under 140 fighters I have ever seen. Maybe because there are no films of prime pep or Armstrong, but regardless Pernell is a great fighter, but people forget

Roy Jones Jr was great defensively(arguably as hard to hit cleanly as anyone the sport has ever seen). He's probably the best offensive fighter since prime Thomas Hearns(in some ways even better). He had speed we had never seen before, and overall we might still have not seen comparable speed in every aspect (reflexes, footspeed, handspeed).

Probably the most inventive combination the sport has ever had, he would throw punches together that would make you wonder if it was a video game, he would throw ridiculous combinations as if they were nothing. He would counter faster then anyone ever has.

You can say the people Roy fought at LHW weren't A class fighters, but he sure beat the shit out of B class fighters in a way nobody had been able to.

[Taeth]

i've always felt roy was overrated......i think he did well at a time when there really was no other A class fighters in his division, he never fought the guy that was seen as the ligit light heavy champ saying HE'S the man so doesn't have to go fight some other belt holder.............. and the fact he never gave hopkins and toney rematchs says alot.........why did he leave the mid and super mids so quickly and go the a redundent l heavy

still he was very fast, but cant take a good shot, had good skills and very popular with fans

He took enough shots in his prime that people knew he could take a punch. Also you should get your facts straight, Hopkins always bullshitted his way out of the rematch, I honestly don't think he wanted it. Roy let HBO try to get any fight with him based on a 60/40 or 70/30 split(with lesser fighters) and HBO thought it was reasonable, but before one of Roy's fights I think against Brannon they acknowledged that nobody would fight Roy.

[Taeth]

HERE IT IS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjvBq...eature=related
Chris Collin, Nigel Benn, Frankie Lyle, and Hopkins was hesistent
but they wouldn't fight him like I said.