Roy Jones. ATG Light Heavyweight?

Is Roy Jones an ATG Light Heavyweight?

As a kid, I lived through the Michael Spinks, 80s era Light Heavyweight division. It's hard for me to imagine Roy Jones beating Michael Spinks, let alone Dwight Braxton. As hard as I try, I just can't see Roy defeating Spinks or Braxton (Especially Braxton.). Other champs and contenders during that time include, Eddie Gregory, Marvin Johnson, Matthew Saad Muhammad, Yaqui Lopez, ect. Can anyone see Roy beating any of them? Maybe he could've competed against some, however I seriously doubt he could've held a Light Heavyweight belt at this time in history. (Best chance is against Matthew Saad Muhammad.) My take. I'd like other opinions.

Just because RJJ didn't have any great wins there and what has happened to him in recent history people forget how talented he was. If RJJ isn't an all-time great then my favorite ever boxer in Kostya Tzsyu isn't either. It's not RJJ's fault he was so much better than the rest of the division.

if Jones's chin ever got touched by alot of the guys listed by Frank, he would have been in serious trouble. He had no chin. So much better than the division? He was facing alot of shitty fighters. HBO knew that. They didn't care. His competition faced at light heavy during his prime was a joke!!!!!

watching roy at his best i felt that the guys hand speed and at times relexes were exceptional.thats it.these things do shine when you face inferior fighters who in reality in other eras would not go beyound pre lim type fighters and sparing partners.i gave my thoughts on the top ten in the LH deivision here and the final two i said could be amoung 3 to 5 guys..harold johnson was one of those guys and my thoughts the best of the ones i did not name..slappy maxie is another as the second best.braxton john henry lewis and roy filled out the 5.with the last 3 i give braxton a slight edge.that puts roy in the top 13..the others mentioned or not mentioned like galindez would give roy hell..roy would beat several but a few would ko him..
it use to gall me when max kellermen especialy was giving roy the treatment of perhapes the best LH of all time..he felt and said maybe charles would be the only one who could beat him.he further showed his ignorance by stating a fight with joe louis would be interesting and also implied that roy could beat marciano..now thats the result of super hype and total ignorance.both of thoses fights end as soon as roy gets hit which is somewhere around round 2.
i dont have a problem if someone says roys number 10 but others i feel deserve that position more...all time great.at LH nope.all time great top 100.nope.thats how i feel.there too many fighters in the past that were far more complete as a fighter fought in greater eras agaginst much better competion and dominated fighters of not only the third class of guys like roy did but other great to near great to good fighters which roy did not..
roy ranks yes in the top ten perhaps top 6 in the most overated fighters ever.

he's both an ATG & an ATG disaapointment,but his resume at LH doesn't deserve recognition in that weight as an ATG.it's his overall body of work,amateur & pro that gets him his place.

amatuer dont count cause if it did lazlo papp would be on the list of all time greats.question is his questionable overall work.tarver who realy beat him 3 times is part of that and tarvers name rightly so is never mentioned.

you're right dmar,i should of said amateur counts towards HOF,but has zero to do with being an ATG.

Do you mean in the top ten or THE greatest LHW of all time ?

They are debating whether RJJ is a top 10 all-time LHW?

In that case Roy is most certainly top ten worthy, he defended his WBC title 12 times and beat the likes of Mike McCallum, Virgil Hill, Montell Griffin, Eric Hardin, Julio Gonzalez, Clinton Woods and Antonio Tarver.

Sure Roy wasted alot of his peak years taking easy fights but his reign as the P4P king was nothing to turn your nose up at.

using your list ali,how many og those would even be considered?griffin was an abberation,but i thought that was a MW bout.as a LH RJJ isn't top 10.as a boxer,def yes!

Is Jones an ATG fighter? Yes. Is he an ATG lightheavy? NO!!!!!!!!.

Lightheavy is a STACKED division historically. Jones was afraid of Darius Michalzewski (who is every BIT as deserving as Jones for consideration at 175) and guys like Benn, Eubank, Liles, and Nunn. Guys like Spinks, Charles, Moore, Foster, Rosenbloom, Johnson, Tunney (who ARE ATGs at 175) would send Jones into witness protection!!

Jones has never won a fight against ANYONE in the class of Michael Spinks or even the same class as the guys Spinks dominated. The closest he probably came was a 40 year old Mike McCallum who gave Jones an advanced lesson in guile and craft for 7 rounds. His body of work at lower weights (Hopkins, Toney) and his beating a legit heavywieght contender (Ruiz) get him to ATG as a fighter, but in the 175 division he ranks outside the top-ten and probably around 15 or so.

Yes. Jones should be an ATG. Those bums he was dominating were still ranked fighters for the most part, and what makes Roy special is how he performed. He made it look easy and his skill set is to this day unique to him.

boxinglawyer wrote:The closest he probably came was a 40 year old Mike McCallum who gave Jones an advanced lesson in guile and craft for 7 rounds.

McCallum lost just about every round. I'll give you that it was more competitive on the scorecards but Jones never had to step out of his comfort zone.

I put Roy as an ATG light heavy for the same reason I put Gale Sayers as a ATG running back.