Who damaged their legacy the most by fighting on too long and performing badly?

Exactly

Nobody is unbeatable but a prime Jones was one the rare few that had that kind of aura.

 

Yep

 

The difference between Shane & RJJ summed up:

In his prime, Shane Mosley lost the occasional fight.

In his prime, RJJ lost the occcasional round.

 

Yup.

If Jones had retired after Ruiz I would have said, unflinchlingly, that no fighter in history or after him could have beaten him when he was at his best. I'm not so sure about that now. Now his chin and heart is a question mark, fair or unfair.

 

well said.

 

I voted Shane just to spare you the embarrassment of a shutout.

I have no real reason for that vote.

As much as Shane had for years been made out to be Jin's bitch (and I guess still is, if you review the divorce transcript), he's never had to dress like a pirate. Plus, at least Shane is getting paid. Roy lost to Hopkins, embarrassed himself in the process AND walked away with next to nothing since his entire purse was dependent on a promotional upside that never came close to happening.

 

Would you have based that assumption on the Ruiz fight, or the Eric Harding fight?

 

I changed my mind. Mosley. Just kidding.

 

I'll make a case for a 'Mosely' vote here.

Everybody knows that Jones was one of the greatest fighters of all time. His legacy is being tarnished right now, but for anybody that has followed the sport they know that Jones today is nothing compared to what he was. There was a very sudden and drastic change in Jones, from almost unhittable/invincible, to being one of the most easily knocked out name fighters out there.

Mosely on the other hand, went from p4p#1, to great, to really good, to good.. in a slow sort of progression. What people see in him today, is not incredibly far off from what he was, but everything he does has lost just enough that he can never be back at the top. His fighting today is a direct reflection on his fighting from the past, whereas with Jones there is almost a complete disconnect.

Keep in mind at their primes, which happened around the same time in the mid-late 90's, many had Jones and Mosely interchangeably at #1 and #2 p4p, with Mosely regularly being referred to as a "great" fighter, as was Jones.

Today, people look at Jones, and see an all-time great, that is just way beyond shot. People look at Mosely and see a good but limited fighter, who was never great, proof of which we continue to see as he fights on.