I'm not strictly talking about legacy, nor the way his career spun off the rails, I'm talking about his skill set and what he was capable of doing in his prime.
Is a prime Roy Jones the most dangerous boxer in history, if not, who deserves the title?
Hard to argue that he's not at the very least the best P4P boxer. Holding belts from cruiserweight, middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight, and heavyweight.
I think he’s the most skilled of all time. His speed and reflexes for his size were incredible.
Sagiv Lapkin -Ya'll musta forgot.
Some said he can't be touched...
da Vinci 81 - I think he's the most skilled of all time. His speed and reflexes for his size were incredible.
you forgot his POWER too.
i think he’s arguably the GOAT. in his prime i would take him against anybody.
He’s not my #1, but he’s definitely in the conversation. Had he retired after beating Ruiz, I think he would had been known as a top 3 guy in just about all circles.
The Destroyer88 -Hard to argue that he's not at the very least the best P4P boxer. Holding belts from cruiserweight, middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight, and heavyweight.
He's never held a legit cruiserweight title.
My favorite boxer of all-time is RJJ and even I wouldn’t say he’s the GOAT of boxing.
His athleticism mixed with skill set him apart. I don’t think he was the best defensively, like once he slowed down he got hit a lot, but when he was fast and young he was hard as fuck to land on.
One of my all time favorites. If Lou De Ville can touch that chin with a basic 1-2 I think some one like a prime Ward could beat him. Make it a dog fight and get in his face.
My all time favorite bar none but I think at this point in his career you can see how much he relied on athleticism based on how he's diminished with age, as opposed to say, a guy like BHop, so I wouldn't put him near GOAT status.
In his prime he was a absolute freak of athleticism and talent. He was one of the best ever.
He should have retired after the first Tarver fight at 49-1 with his only loss being a disqualification in that bs Montell Griffen fight.
He would have essentially been 50-0 like Mayweather with titles from Middleweight to Heavyweight
kennyfrommd -My all time favorite bar none but I think at this point in his career you can see how much he relied on athleticism based on how he's diminished with age, as opposed to say, a guy like BHop, so I wouldn't put him near GOAT status.
I'm not talking legacy, I'm talking about who was the most dangerous during their prime on a given night.
B Hop got handled easily by RJJ when they were both young, regardless of what B Hop would go on to do.
Uhtred Ragnarson -kennyfrommd -My all time favorite bar none but I think at this point in his career you can see how much he relied on athleticism based on how he's diminished with age, as opposed to say, a guy like BHop, so I wouldn't put him near GOAT status.
I'm not talking legacy, I'm talking about who was the most dangerous during their prime on a given night.
B Hop got handled easily by RJJ when they were both young, regardless of what B Hop would go on to do.
And Hop handled him easily in the rematch and is six+ years older than RJJ.
Barry_BondsMVP -One of my all time favorites. If Lou De Ville can touch that chin with a basic 1-2 I think some one like a prime Ward could beat him. Make it a dog fight and get in his face.
I'll admit to never watching that fight before until now. I just saw the knockdown. Holy shit. Roy almost got flatlined.
Roy's chin was always bad. But he was just so fast, he could get away with his defensive issues. Plus, his prime was basically filled with bum of the month competition.
No but he was still pretty fucking amazing.
Bump for Pharochuck
Never because he ducked Benn, Eubank, Collins, Michalczewski, Jackson, Jirov and Ottke.
He's one of the GOAT athletes ever in boxing.
His skills were clear but almost everything he did was predicated on his phenomenal physical gifts - speed, power, ability, etc.
When your primary mode of defense is keeping your hands low and using a ton of head movement it's only a matter of time before you slow enough to get timed and brutally KO'd.
His body took a hell of a hit after he loaded up on steroids to fight Ruiz and then decided to come back down. It was almost like he lost a piece of himself.