In your time following the sport first-hand, are there any fighters who retired & made you think, "I don't know when, if ever, I'll see someone along those lines as a fighter, but at that level again," but someone did indeed come along to fill those shoes? How do you think those two fighters would match-up, pound-for-pound, against one another? A lot of people have mentioned to me, in this regard, Jones to Mayweather. Myself, I am a big believer in the idea that there is always someone who comes along. That the greatest will never be so indefinitely. Any instances for yourselves? I cannot wait to glimpse the next Ricardo Lopez.
I think it'll be a while until we see fighters of Floyd & manny's standard. I'd regard both as middle tier greats tbh, but there isn't anyone of that standard on the horizon so we'll probably be waiting at least 5 years +. We may be waiting a while before we see another man with such a good technical skill set as Bernard Hopkins, too.
I'd agree with this... Many say Jones never had solid fundamentals which is true, but his gift wasn't in fundamentals. Jones is closer to Ali in the sense his natural gifts were so far advanced over guys of his day he had no peer in his peak. Floyd is exceptionally smart, exceptionally gifted and mastered a fighting style passed down but his style doesn't equal anything we haven't seen in boxing. Jones, like Ali were exceptional and developed their own style....ones we hadn't seen before.
I'd add his special quality is amplified by the efforts of those who have come since and attempted to emulate his style, which usually ends up in their being comically ktfo at some point or looking skittish and inept...
Yep, agreed 100%. As Salaco points out too, many people have tried to imitate Roys style, none have come close to replicating his results.
Floyd is more fundamentally sound, but as Muzse and Salaco also just pointed out, Roy made his own rules, and during his prime years no one could touch him below heavyweight. Obviously when the speed and reflexes went everything crumbled dramatically, where as Floyd would still be effective when everything deteriorates. However, prime for prime, pound for pound, Roy wins every time.
The irony in this...guys in their prime who emulated Roy's style fared about the same as Roy as he aged.
But then he only fought 2 fighters in his prime worth talking about. 1 was green and unsure of himself, the other was a stylistic DREAM for Roy. At the end of the day i don't think anyone can write their own rules indefinitely, the lack of chin he demonstrated later in his career suggests to me there was a reason he was 'Reluctant Roy'. This isn't to denigrate Roy at all, he was a special fighter, a great fighter, I just don't think he was the most talented ever by a stretch. Just the fastest.
Mayweather is somewhat of a second coming of Jones. He's not quite the ridiculous talent that Jones was...but where Floyd doesn't match Jones in handspeed and power..he makes up for it in smarts and chin.
U're NITPICKING, Hut...While Roy Jones DOESN'T have a LEGENDARY Resume, U're UNDERestimating it... REED:hammert:
Floyd is a product of his environment. Roy on the other hand was just a freak of nature. When Roy was in the mood, few were as exciting as him. It wasn't until he got into the latter part of his career that he started fighting cautious. Floyd same thing, but he didn't electrify the way Roy did.
