Then there is physical reflexes, speed and dexterity, a gift that people are born with to greater or lesser degrees. This cannot be taught, you have it before you enter a gym, and it too differs from person to person.
There were lots of better boxers than Roy Jones Jr., in fact fundamentally Roy had serious flaws in his game. But there (in my opinion) has never been a fighter with the speed, reflexes and quickness of Roy Jones Jr. At Roy's peak, he was almost unhittable, and you cannot beat what you cannot hit.
I have to partially disagree with your statement in that there have been many fighters with higher skill llevels, fighters who were more fundamentally sound boxers.
I will agree that ability wise, nobody I ever saw could compare to Roy's speed and reflexes, Jones was the quickest fighter I have ever seen.
Ramin,
How old are you? The reason I'm asking this question is because some of the questions that I have answered for you and some of the questions you ask tend to favor the here and now as opposed to fighters and fights from the past. Which is cool because every fight fan and fighter of their generation tend to favor their era.
Most boxing experts agree that Sugar Ray Robinson was the Greatest of All time followed by Henry Armstrong, Rocky Marciano, Willie Pep and so on. Roy Jones in my opinion isn't in the top twenty fighters of all time. There are so many other former World champions that records eclipse Roy's. Ray Robinson has more knockouts (almost double) than Roy has had fights.
Roy was best at middleweight and the bigger he got, the slower he got and his suspect chin was exposed and continues to show. Roys best fight to date was his stoppage of Virgil Hill with a mean body shot.
Roy was good but nowhere near great. Thanks Ramin.
You could say he is the most physically gifted boxer, but not the most skilled. Plenty rank above him in that category. Bernard Hopkins in my opinion is way more skilled than Roy Jones Jr. That's why he is able to go at it with fighters half his age today and Roy Jones Jr. can't. Floyd Mayweather Jr. is also far superior in terms of skill. In terms of physical ability, athleticism, reflexes, etc. sure. Roy Jones Jr. is the greatest.
Definitely not. Before him were guys like Henry Armstrong, Willie Pep, Sugar Ray Robinson, Roberto Duran, Sugar Ray Leonard, Tommy Hearns, Marvin Hagler, Pernell Withaker and even his contemporaries like Oscar de la Hoya and Tito Trinidad. These guys, like RJJ, were highly-skilled and physically gifted and probably tougher than Jones considering the quality of their respective competition. Jones literally fought bums in his prime, and got knocked out successively by mere above average opponents like Tarver and Glen Johnson. Now, he's ruined his legacy by getting knocked around by no-name and mediocre fighters.
That Roy Jones Jr., in terms of SKILL AND ABILITY, is the greatest pound for pound boxer of all time?
Who do you think ranks above him, and if not then who do you think ranks below him in 2nd place?
