If Roy Jones Had Retired After The Ruiz Fight…

[Superheavyweight]

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As the 193 lbs WBA Heavyweight Champion… where would you rank him as a P4P-ATG?

WBA Heavyweight Champion

WBC/WBA/IBF/IBO/WBF Light Heavyweight Champion

IBF Super Middleweight Champion

IBF Middleweight Champion

48-1… Arguably Undefeated In The Ring.

[Clearly Cool]

[Only registered and activated users can see links]


As the 193 lbs WBA Heavyweight Champion… where would you rank him as a P4P-ATG?

WBA Heavyweight Champion

WBC/WBA/IBF/IBO/WBF Light Heavyweight Champion

IBF Super Middleweight Champion

IBF Middleweight Champion

48-1… Arguably Undefeated In The Ring.

Im sure he would be very high, as people would have so little argument as to why he couldn't defeat the ATG's. He would also have that aura of invincibility that would mean nuthuggers would argue him number 1 p4p atg.

[MrSmall]

And none of this "glass chin" crap would be around.

[kg0208]

Doesn't matter in my book. I put little weight on past their prime losses like Jones has. I don't weight Ali's, SRL's, Hearns, Foreman's, etc. Why should I weigh Jones.

He is exactly where I had him before....in the mid 20's to low 30's. He could never have been reasonably argued #1 ATG.

[ChampionsForever]

Watch beyond the glory, he was 200lbs for that fight. And if he would have retired after that fight it would have done him the world of good, he would be ranked in top ten all time lists p4p without any queer looks thats for sure.

[the_what]

Doesn't matter in my book. I put little weight on past their prime losses like Jones has. I don't weight Ali's, SRL's, Hearns, Foreman's, etc. Why should I weigh Jones.

He is exactly where I had him before....in the mid 20's to low 30's. He could never have been reasonably argued #1 ATG.

:deal

[mike464]

He should have retired after the first Tarver fight.

[Darthmage]

He should have retired after the first Tarver fight.

would have been the best. It was a good fight in which he showed what he was made of in the championship rounds against a hungry oponent.

[Asterion]

Top10 P4P.

[FlatNose]

Retiring after the Ruiz fight would have been better for his health, but it does nothing for his legacy, except for the dyed in the wool Jones fans.If he'd of fought Lennox Lewis, you'd have something there, but crowing about beating Ruiz would be like Billy Conn being so satisfied with beating Bob Pastor that he wouldn't have ever engaged in the all time classic fight against Joe Louis.Mickey Walker , at a beer loaded 170 pounds ,slapped around a bunch of second class heavyweights too, but didn't expect the accolades that Roy seems to think he deserves for beating a big nothing in Ruiz.

[kg0208]

I disagree. Jones wasn't past his prime anymore then Hagler was when Leonard beat him. In fact I would say Hagler was more past it then Jones was . Sure Jones wasn't at his all time peak but he had plenty left in the tank. I don't go by the first Tarver fight either. He was clearly weight drained for that 1 fight but a little time and Mackie Shillstone took care of that. He was in great shape for the 2nd fight. He looked great in the first round. The knockout ruined him in my opinion. He crumbled after that.

Well we can agree to disagree. I already said that I believe Jones started to fade bit by bit in 2001 and showed those signs against Harmon (legs being slower, laying on the ropes and not fighting off, etc). I think coming down in weight accelerated it. So much so that I picked Tarver in the 2nd fight. Jones won the first round, but he wasn't nearly as explosive as he was. Compare that Jones to the one who fought Hill. There is a difference.

[MrSmall]

Paul Davis, I agree to an extent, that that KO was very bad for him.
But think about it.
The man hadn't been HURT in 15 years of boxing. In his training, his sparring didn't consist, I wouldn't think, of much hard sparring, neck work, etc, I've never seen him work his neck or medicine ball hits or getting down and dirty in sparring.
So a good puncher, with decent speed, who SUPRISED him with a hard punch right on the button, that KO'd him, was a pretty big shock, I would think. I don't blame him for going downhill from that moment, it would take anyone some time to get that sorted and back on track.
Ali was just as fast and an equal phenomenon, but in his sparring he really let go and let people whack away at him to build his punch resistance. And I rather think it worked.
Just a thought.

[Fab2333]

I cant believe people discredit Jones for fighting John Ruiz, I natural middleweight coming up i weight to challenge a heavyweight champion wins decisively and people still dont give him his props. For him to come up in weight alone, and challenge a heavyweight is damn near enough, people seem to forget RJ started boxing at 154pounds. Give that man his credit. RJ is ranked top 20 atg in my book. If while he is still boxing and he beats b-hop again, gets his revenge on tarver and glen johnson, and beats a young champ like chad dawson. He moves up in my book

[kg0208]

I cant believe people discredit Jones for fighting John Ruiz, I natural middleweight coming up i weight to challenge a heavyweight champion wins decisively and people still dont give him his props. For him to come up in weight alone, and challenge a heavyweight is damn near enough, people seem to forget RJ started boxing at 154pounds. Give that man his credit. RJ is ranked top 20 atg in my book. If while he is still boxing and he beats b-hop again, gets his revenge on tarver and glen johnson, and beats a young champ like chad dawson. He moves up in my book

Jones should avoid Dawson. He cannot beat him.

[Fab2333]

Jones should avoid Dawson. He cannot beat him.
I dont like using the word cant, even though I know why you say that. But Chad can b hurt, and RJ still got enough boxing skill to b able to land a solid punch on Dawon. I mean I see Dawson beating him, not even gonna b delusional, but I wont say RJ CANT win

[klion22]

It would've been amazing had he retired right after the Ruiz fight. His status would've been so much higher than what it is right now. I mean he would've been a guy who technically never lost a fight (DQ against Griffin) and who literally never had a hard fight in any of his pro fights. How many can say that?

But it's all hindsight. Jones thought Tarver was just another guy he would outpoint but he was dead wrong obviously.