Breadman on Roy Jones Jr.'s career & he had time lol
Daily Bread Mailbag: Roy Jones, Lomachenko-Lopez, Nelson, More
Question: "[Roy Jones] fought more killers in his prime than he gets credit for? As John McEnroe once said, you cannot be serious
Besides Toney, name those KILLERS...in their prime
He was the most under-matched fighter in recent memory"
Bread’s Response: I get tired of you guys disrespecting the Great Roy Jones Jr. But I have time today. I saved this question for last…
Roy Jones was not under matched. Let’s not make bland blanket comments. Let’s be specific. As a young prospect before he fought for the title he fought Jorge Vaca, Jorge Castro, Glenn Thomas and Percy Harris. Thomas was 24-0, Harris was solid, and Castro and Vaca were some rough customers for a prospect to fight. Ask around? Jones washed everyone of them. Castro and Vaca were also Ring Rated in the Top 10. Which counts for a lot.
Speaking of Ring Rated Fighters faced which is a good way to judge a fighter as far as fighting the best available fighters Jones fought, Jorge Vaca, Jorge Castro, Bernard Hopkins, Thomas Tate, James Toney, Vinny Pazienza, Tony Thornton, Merqui Sosa, Bryant Brannon, Mike McCallum, Montel Griffin 2x, Virgil Hill, Lou Devalle, Otis Grant, Reggie Johnson, David Telesco, Richard Hall, Eric Harding, Derrick Harmon, Julio Gonzales, Clinton Woods, John Ruiz, Antonio Tarver 3x, Glen Johnson and Joe Calzaghe. That’s 28 fights vs a Ring Rated Top 10 fighter. That’s insane.
Now I will go deeper. In 1992 we were in a Golden Era at middleweight after the retirement of Marvin Hagler and the belts being split up. In the top 10 was James Toney Bernard Hopkins, Mike McCallum, Reggie Johnson, Lamar Parks, Gerald McClellan, Steve Collins and Julian Jackson. Roy Jones is the only one to fight 4 of the line up. The only one. All of the fights weren’t at middleweight but he found a way to fight 4.
As for the killers in the prime comment. Roy had to fight real fights to win his world titles. Bernard Hopkins was a killer. He was 28 years old. Roy was 24. Hopkins was a ko artist at back in those days and he was on a 22 fight win streak. The only reason why he didn’t have a 12 year reign instead of a 10 year reign was because of Roy Jones. So if Hopkins was pre prime then so was Roy. It was both of their 1st title fights and Hopkins was 4 years older. It’s funny Hopkins was on win streak before he fought Jones and didn’t lose another fight for 12 years after he fought Jones, but you make it seem like he couldn’t fight when he fought Jones. Hopkins was a monster his entire time at 160. Don’t downplay his greatness because Jones beat him before his title reign.
Jones defended that title vs a real guy in Thomas Tate and iced him. I know you believe in real contenders. Tate was one. As a stay busy fight Jones fought Sugar Boy Malinga in 1993 after he won the title. He brutally kod him. AFTER the Jones fight Malinga went on to win the WBC Super Middleweight Title beating Nigel Benn and Robin Reid. But let me guess Malinga was a nobody.
So Jones moves up and fights the # P4P in the world and he fights a perfect fight vs James Toney. People want to use the weight as an excuse. But Toney looked his career best after moving up from 160 but when he fights Jones at 168, weight became an issue.
So now Jones is a 2 division champ and he’s really untouchable at 168. His toughest fight during that reign was supposed to be Merqui Sosa. Sosa gets voted to have the best chin boxing and Jones fights him in his hometown at a catchweight. Jones stops him in 2 rounds.
He also takes on an undefeated tough guy in Bryant Brannon who tried to bully. Jones absolutely brutalizes him and trend starts. All of these tough guys try the same thing and no one can hang.
Jones moves up and fights Mike McCallum another HOF. McCallum is older but he’s still capable. It’s not Jones’s fault that McCallum is the interim champion of the WBC. Jones wins easy. No one beats McCallum easy who was a late bloomer by the way.
Next Jones fights a 26-0 Olympian Montell Griffin who had defeated James Toney twice. He gets DQ and comes back kos him in 1 round. Right after that he fights Virgil Hill another Olympian and great fighter. He scores the ko of the year. Hill was close to his prime. He went on to win the Crusier weight title AFTER Jones stopped him.
Jones then goes to unify immediately vs Lou Del Valle. Unifications are big. Then in the following year he unifies again vs the underrated Reggie Johnson. No one talks about his reign at 175.
David Telesco was a real fight. He was another guy calling Jones out bothering him. Jones beat him also in his hometown.
Jones then goes on to fight Eric Harding. Harding got the fight for the being the 1st man to defeat Antonio Tarver. Harding could fight his butt off. After Jones beats Tarver he fights Julio Cesar Gonzalez. Jones washes him but there is a caveat. The knock on Jones’s ledger at 175 is he didn’t win the 4th belt (WBO) vs Darius Michalchewski. Gonzalez is the 1st man to defeat Michalchewski and he did it after Jones beat him. Gonzalez also went on to defeat Glen Johnson, Montell Griffin and David Telesco. But I guess he was only a bum when Jones fought him although he did all of this AFTER fighting Jones.
Jones then scores another underrated win over Clinton Woods. Jones is the only man to stop Woods. Woods went on to be a solid champion after Jones stopped.
Jones has many wins that grew legs.
He moves up to fight John Ruiz and wins the heavyweight title. Ruiz wasn’t the lineal champion or the #1 guy, but he was solid. I’m not fan of how Ruiz fought but he wasn’t an easy out. Jones just made it look easy.
Now Jones moves back down and beats Antonio Tarver. He won the 1st fight. Tarver was a killer and in his prime because of his late start.
Things went down hill for Jones after the 1st Tarver fight. He 35 at the time of the rematch. Post Tarver, Jones was still good enough to beat Jeff Lacy, Anthony Hanshaw, Prince Badi Ajamu and Omar Sheika.
I won’t discuss Jones’s mishaps. I feel as though he should’ve fought one of the 3 UK Super Middleweights. There was some time. Benn, Eubank and Collins. Especially Collins after he defeated both twice. Collins wanted the fight. Jones didn’t have to fight all 3 but 1 is a legit complaint.
I also believe Jones should’ve fought Michael Nunn who was available. But Nunn lost and the crazy WBC lawsuit came about with Graciano Rocchigiani. I still don’t know how that happened.
Then there is Darius Michalczewski. Jones won the WBC, WBA and IBF titles. Michalczewski was the WBO champion for many years. This was the Super Fight at 175. So Jones wins 3 belts and Michalczewski never attempts to unify during his entire reign and people blame Jones for NOT making the fight. Michaelczewski fought every one of his career fights in Europe, the majority in Germany. Not once traveling to the US. People knock the contenders that Jones fought but Michalczewski fought Richard Hall twice, remember him. Montel Griffin, Virgil Hill and Julio Gonzalez. All Roy Jones victims.
Some say Michalczewski was a killer. I think he was. You don’t get to 48-0 with 23 title defenses and not be. But Roy Jones was the bigger star. Roy Jones proved more. Let’s stop the BS. We know who is at fault for not making a fight. We all can act a certain way but we really know. This was an 80/20 thing as far as accountability. No A+ star during their prime from the USA has ever been expected to go fight on foreign soil in a close to 50/50 fight. Obviously Jones could have but should he have is the question. I think more of the blame lies on Michalczewski.
So those are critiques of Jones’s illustrious career. He gave rematches to in his close fights to Tarver and Griffin. He unified at 175. And he looked for killers in Toney, Hopkins, Hill, Tarver, Johnson, Sosa and Tate.
I guess you can say he should’ve stayed at heavyweight. But that in my opinion is just Jones making a poor choice that cost him.
Oh I forgot when he got old, he didn't have fundamentals so he lost. But 99% of the fighters get old at 35. How come those fundamentals didn't help Bernard Hopkins, James Toney, Reggie Johnson and Virgil Hill when they fought him. They all had great fundamentals.
All in all Roy Jones is a top 20 fighter ever. He’s the best Super Middleweight Ever. He’s a top 15 light heavyweight. He’s a top 20 middleweight. And he was the best fighter of the 90s. Stop it with the Roy Jones bashing. His resume is better than some of the so called “I will fight any body guys.”
