Tell me that THIS is not the MOST TALENTED fighter that has ever lived

[Beanflicker]

The most physically gifted guy ever in the sport. I think a few guys (Mayweather definatly) have him beat "talent" wise though.

[zhubin]

He's a great fighter, my favorite ever, but my other favorite beats him p4p anyday of the week.

Roy is slighly faster than Mayweather p4p, but Floyd is awkward to fight, and after watching Montell Griffin stylistically give Roy fits, Floyd would pick him apart because Roy never established a real jab(except against RUiz and Pazienza, but that jab wouldn't have been useful against Floyd).

He got too sloppy because of his technique, and he stopped using footwork, and allowed guys to hit him on the ropes(despite blocking 95% of thes shots at least partially).

Griffin gave Roy fits?! Roy just needed to warm up in the first fight and we all know what happened in the rematch. Physically, Roy is as gifted a fighter that has ever lived. So gifted in fact...that he didn't have to have the greatest technique. Sure, this was detrimental as he lost his natural talent...but at his prime...he simply had too much speed, reflexes and power for ANYONE to handle...Floyd included (even though a fight between the two makes no sense weight class wise). Sometimes...when someone has so much incredible natural ability...no amount of technical prowess can stop it. It's one thing to have great speed (Roy had unbelievable speed), another to have great reflexes (Roy had unbelievable reflexes), and another thing to have great power (Roy had tremendous power). Some fighters are lucky have 2 out of the three. To have all three is very rare. Too bad he came back down in weight to fight Tarver. And now...his best is way past him. But in his prime...i wouldn't bet against him in any fight.

[zhubin]

Another thing about Roy...for all of his flashiness in the ring...he wasn't a stupid fighter. He was brutally efficient. And his punches where pin point accurate. You just had to make a millisecond error and boom...he tagged you HARD.

[miron_lang]

THIS is not the MOST TALENTED fighter that has ever lived


Out of Prime Roy got embarrassed by fighters with less talent.

Muhammad ALI was able to win During his Prime and out of prime againts equally talented fighters. Knowing how to win is a talent too.

[Kev]

THIS is not the MOST TALENTED fighter that has ever lived


Out of Prime Roy got embarrassed by fighters with less talent.

Muhammad ALI was able to win During his Prime and out of prime againts equally talented fighters. Knowing how to win is a talent too.

Didn't Ali lose to Leon Spinks and Trevor Berbick? I see no losses on Jones record to fighters as subpar as that

Prime for prime and p4p I think Roy would have beaten Floyd.

If Zab Judah's speed gave Floyd problems for 4 rounds a prime Jones Jr would have been much much harder to handle.

It would surely be a fight for the ages, but my money would be on Roy Jones to outwork Floyd Mayweather and confuse him to win a decision,

[HattonTheHammer]

Just cant have him up there with the true 21st century greats (lewis, pacquiao, mayweather) because of the fact he got found out a few too many times in the prime of his career.

On his day he truly is up there as one of the most talented boxers to have ever fought. The schooling he gave toney that night will always live long in my memory.

But getting knocked out by tarve and johnson just diminished the accomplishments of the man. He was in his mid 30s and was hardly looking like a shot fighter when those KO`s came.

Seeing him take the battering calzaghe gave him was a very sad sight for everyone who has had the joy of bringing roy jones jr into their lives!!

[amat]

It's like you never cease to amaze me, it's a cliche but I mean it quite literally right now.

He WAS NOT in his prime for losses against Tarver and Johnson. And Johnson is a guy who feasts on guys who are out of their prime because of that constant workrate. Please Hammer, go educate yourself on a PRIME Roy then go watch the fight versus Johnson and Tarver III and try to convince everyone here that was the same Jones. Christ man get a clue!

Talented, ehh what's the definition of talent here? He was an awesome fighter and P4P one of the best all time imo. He's not the greatest achievements but he's one of the best fighters of all time imo simply because most could not complete with his athleticism. No arguing it, one of the most talented fighters of all time. By all accounts, Robinson was pretty fucken special in his prime but we just have no video account of it. What we do have is very limited but does allow us to see glimpses of what these guys were really like.

I have no interest in discussing a Jones-Mayweather/anyone else P4P matchup, come on guys don't be ridiculous. It's a foolish argument/topic.

[HattonTheHammer]

It's like you never cease to amaze me, it's a cliche but I mean it quite literally right now.

He WAS NOT in his prime for losses against Tarver and Johnson. And Johnson is a guy who feasts on guys who are out of their prime because of that constant workrate. Please Hammer, go educate yourself on a PRIME Roy then go watch the fight versus Johnson and Tarver III and try to convince everyone here that was the same Jones. Christ man get a clue!

Talented, ehh what's the definition of talent here? He was an awesome fighter and P4P one of the best all time imo. He's not the greatest achievements but he's one of the best fighters of all time imo simply because most could not complete with his athleticism. No arguing it, one of the most talented fighters of all time. By all accounts, Robinson was pretty fucken special in his prime but we just have no video account of it. What we do have is very limited but does allow us to see glimpses of what these guys were really like.

I have no interest in discussing a Jones-Mayweather/anyone else P4P matchup, come on guys don't be ridiculous. It's a foolish argument/topic.

what was hopkins and calzaghe doing around about the time RJJ was either getting KO`d or just refusing to fight (tarver III)

No he wasnt at his very best when he fought those guys, far from it infact. But why the hell does everyone play the same card everytime a great fighter gets beat that he was "past his prime"

Hopkins didnt lose to taylor because he was "past his prime" calzaghe didnt almost get beat by robin reid because he was "past his prime" and RJJ was not and still amazingly is not a shot fighter just because he got beat up a couple of times.

[miron_lang]

THIS is not the MOST TALENTED fighter that has ever lived


Out of Prime Roy got embarrassed by fighters with less talent.

Muhammad ALI was able to win During his Prime and out of prime againts equally talented fighters. Knowing how to win is a talent too.

Didn't Ali lose to Leon Spinks and Trevor Berbick? I see no losses on Jones record to fighters as subpar as that

Prime for prime and p4p I think Roy would have beaten Floyd.

If Zab Judah's speed gave Floyd problems for 4 rounds a prime Jones Jr would have been much much harder to handle.

It would surely be a fight for the ages, but my money would be on Roy Jones to outwork Floyd Mayweather and confuse him to win a decision,

Ali was able to reverse the spinks fight. Ali was able to beat the best fighters during his prime and during the time he was out of prime.

Ali was more telented than Roy IMO.

I agree Roy beats PBF. Isnt Floyd the upgraded version of James Toney? Toney was shut out but i think FLoyd wins 4 rounds max. Roy is one of the most talented but not the most talented IMO.

[amat]

It's like you never cease to amaze me, it's a cliche but I mean it quite literally right now.

He WAS NOT in his prime for losses against Tarver and Johnson. And Johnson is a guy who feasts on guys who are out of their prime because of that constant workrate. Please Hammer, go educate yourself on a PRIME Roy then go watch the fight versus Johnson and Tarver III and try to convince everyone here that was the same Jones. Christ man get a clue!

Talented, ehh what's the definition of talent here? He was an awesome fighter and P4P one of the best all time imo. He's not the greatest achievements but he's one of the best fighters of all time imo simply because most could not complete with his athleticism. No arguing it, one of the most talented fighters of all time. By all accounts, Robinson was pretty fucken special in his prime but we just have no video account of it. What we do have is very limited but does allow us to see glimpses of what these guys were really like.

I have no interest in discussing a Jones-Mayweather/anyone else P4P matchup, come on guys don't be ridiculous. It's a foolish argument/topic.

what was hopkins and calzaghe doing around about the time RJJ was either getting KO`d or just refusing to fight (tarver III)

No he wasnt at his very best when he fought those guys, far from it infact. But why the hell does everyone play the same card everytime a great fighter gets beat that he was "past his prime"

Hopkins didnt lose to taylor because he was "past his prime" calzaghe didnt almost get beat by robin reid because he was "past his prime" and RJJ was not and still amazingly is not a shot fighter just because he got beat up a couple of times.

Hopkins is different. Hopkins didn't rely as much on his physical advantages like Jones did. Reactions were everything for Jones and once those slipped it made his fall much more dramatic then others. This is best exemplified in the Johnson fight.

[amat]

THIS is not the MOST TALENTED fighter that has ever lived


Out of Prime Roy got embarrassed by fighters with less talent.

Muhammad ALI was able to win During his Prime and out of prime againts equally talented fighters. Knowing how to win is a talent too.

Didn't Ali lose to Leon Spinks and Trevor Berbick? I see no losses on Jones record to fighters as subpar as that

Prime for prime and p4p I think Roy would have beaten Floyd.

If Zab Judah's speed gave Floyd problems for 4 rounds a prime Jones Jr would have been much much harder to handle.

It would surely be a fight for the ages, but my money would be on Roy Jones to outwork Floyd Mayweather and confuse him to win a decision,

Floyd had no problems with Judah's speed. In fact I think the most bothered he has been lately was by Hatton and it was Hatton's footspeed that was deceptively fast imo. Mayweather lost 3 of the first 4 rounds but there was never a sense of panic, it was just Mayweather took some time to figure things out. He was in complete control no doubt he just chose not to pull the trigger quite as much.

Also, when Miron_Lang brings up Ali, they aren't talking about that out of prime Ali, they are talking about the Ali that beat Frazier and Foreman. Obviously Ali's prime was before his self-imposed exile. Once he returned it was pretty obvious from the While I wouldn't say Ali was the better fighter (not sure, he seems to be strangely underrated sometimes in threads like these), he definitely was able to adapt better to losing some of his physical advantages then Jones was.

[Rick O'Shea]

THIS is not the MOST TALENTED fighter that has ever lived!!

Agreed.. Nobody can deny he's 'up there' but guys like Joe Gans, Willie Pep, Jimmy Wilde, were doing Roy's stuff a long time ago..

[HattonTheHammer]

It's like you never cease to amaze me, it's a cliche but I mean it quite literally right now.

He WAS NOT in his prime for losses against Tarver and Johnson. And Johnson is a guy who feasts on guys who are out of their prime because of that constant workrate. Please Hammer, go educate yourself on a PRIME Roy then go watch the fight versus Johnson and Tarver III and try to convince everyone here that was the same Jones. Christ man get a clue!

Talented, ehh what's the definition of talent here? He was an awesome fighter and P4P one of the best all time imo. He's not the greatest achievements but he's one of the best fighters of all time imo simply because most could not complete with his athleticism. No arguing it, one of the most talented fighters of all time. By all accounts, Robinson was pretty fucken special in his prime but we just have no video account of it. What we do have is very limited but does allow us to see glimpses of what these guys were really like.

I have no interest in discussing a Jones-Mayweather/anyone else P4P matchup, come on guys don't be ridiculous. It's a foolish argument/topic.

what was hopkins and calzaghe doing around about the time RJJ was either getting KO`d or just refusing to fight (tarver III)

No he wasnt at his very best when he fought those guys, far from it infact. But why the hell does everyone play the same card everytime a great fighter gets beat that he was "past his prime"

Hopkins didnt lose to taylor because he was "past his prime" calzaghe didnt almost get beat by robin reid because he was "past his prime" and RJJ was not and still amazingly is not a shot fighter just because he got beat up a couple of times.

Hopkins is different. Hopkins didn't rely as much on his physical advantages like Jones did. Reactions were everything for Jones and once those slipped it made his fall much more dramatic then others. This is best exemplified in the Johnson fight.

He was actually doing well in the fight and was showing flashes of his old self up until he walked on to that monster of a punch.

I agree jones never quite recovered from what tarver did to him. At the same time though he clearly demonstrated against lacy he has what it takes to compete at the very highest level.

Does that mean he is now back in his prime - course it doesnt

[Numa]

Alot of the reason why Roy lost his stride in his early thirties was because he was relying on his physical gifts those are the first to go. His dominance did not have the longevity of other fighters, but when he was king he was a force of nature.

[CutMeMick]

As far as Athletics I agree.

As for Pure Boxing you have SRR, PBF, Alexis and "Finito" whom IMO are more talented then RJJ.