The pound for pound debate at the start of the last decade!

If ego battles at the negotiating table were more important to Roy than making meaningful fights that falls back on Roy, Im afraid. He still woulda made more against Hops or Darius than he would fighting the Glenn Kelly's or David Telesco's of this world. Nobodies asking him to lose pocket. Hopkins wants half? Give him it! Darius wants half? Who cares, give him it! You have to get on a plane to fight Calzaghe or Darius - book your ticket. You're still making more from the fight than a lesser opponent and you're enhancing your legacy and prestige tenfold than you do against Derrick Harmon. Im not saying Roy's opposition was terrible, I agree, most of it was STEADY and solid. Its just that he made NO REAL EFFORT to make fights that were properly meaningful. He might have ended up top 10 of all time, instead Roy's EGO and 'why should I?' attitude held him back and wasted years of his career which could have been meaningful.

And to bring it back to the thread topic - 2001 was right at the height of people's frustrations with this. We all understood the waste of it all. I think it was right that he was stripped of his p4p title for that reason - his ambivalence was bad for his own legacy, bad for the fans & ultimately bad for boxing & didn't deserve rewarded with on going praise.

 

Sorry man. This rarely happens in boxing and for good reason. Those guys should have been falling over themselves to make that fight. I'm not saying that they should have let Roy pull their pants down but Hop wanting parity for a fight where only Roy's titles were on the line is rubbish. Calz and DM not wanting to fight in AMERICA (which is the home of big boxing whether we like it or not) is rubbish.

Champions for the most part do not go and fight in the challengers hometown. Nor should they in my opinion. DM had probably the best claim to not coming to America as he could have been perceived as the 'real' champ. He did go to America though. Watched Roy beat someone and then got on a plane and never came back.

I disliked Roys attitude and substandard resume as much as the next guy but you put way too much emphasis on what he didn't do to the point that you've abandoned objectivity.


EDIT Its just that he made NO REAL EFFORT to make fights that were properly meaningful.

He made a genuine effort to get Hopkins into the boxing ring including agreeing to drop weight and only fight for his titles. Hops titles were not going to be on the line. Hop still wanted parity. I see no way anyone can blame Jones for that fight not panning out.

 

Jones was clearly the best fighter at the beginning of the decade, Mosley had the best shout to the crown, never really rated Tito that highly and knew he would be exposed sooner or later.

 

Well Said, GZA...


REED:mj:

 

, wasn't he a policeman, too?

 

When you fight a police officer and garbage man in succession, you arent PFP. Id say mosley, not the country bumpkin.

 

No, Ricky Frazier was...



REED:hammert:

 

Uuuuuh, he DIDN'T Fight them "in Succession"....& AGAIN, 95% of ALL Fighters Maintain DAY Jobs...Marvin Hagler & Glen Johnson Each Held CONSTRUCTION Gigs Until they WON World Titles....



REED:hammert:

 

It really did get ridiculous for a while, huh?

 

agREED.

 

Stop using facts in the general discussion forum.

 

I still thought Jones was the best in the world at that time... I also told anyone who would listen to me that Hopkins was going to easily beat Trinidad

 

::::::

That makes it better.

 

That was one of those picks where I went against my brain and went with my heart. I wanted Tito to win and so i predicted that he would..but truth be told...I wasn't in the least bit surprised to see Hopkins win in such a one-sided fashion. He was always a different class of fighter.