In his peak years, from 1993 to 2003, Roy Jones Junior was as close to unbeatable as any fighter could possibly be. Better than Floyd Mayweather Junior, up there with the two Sugar Rays, maybe even the best fighter of the past forty years or so at the time, Jones was sheer poetry in motion. If only he’d walked away before his skills, and his blinding speed, deserted him.
The prime Jones was 47-1 as a pro, he captured world titles at middleweight, super-middleweight, light-heavyweight and heavyweight and big names such as James Toney, Bernard Hopkins, Virgil Hill, Mike McCallum and Ruiz were not only beaten, but dominated. This is what the once great Roy Jones Junior could have walked away with in the spring of 2003.
Shortly after making history with his brilliant display of boxing genius in beating John Ruiz to claim a portion of the world heavyweight title, Jones had done it all. The untouchable talents of Jones had allowed him to defeat every man he faced – the loss, a contentious DQ defeat to Montell Griffin, was swiftly and brutally avenged – and his title collection was formidable. Jones though, decided to drop back down to light-heavyweight after the Ruiz triumph, in an effort to maintain his prior dominance at the weight. We all know what happened as a result.
Jones, never the same after bulking up in weight and then trying to fight again as a 175-pounder, suffered some brutal KO defeats and saw his reputation suffer. But what if Jones, who was then aged 34 and had absolutely nothing left to prove, had called it a career immediately after the Ruiz fight of March, 2003? It’s no stretch to say that the 47-1 Jones, a fighter who had never truly been beaten, would be ranked today in the top-20 greatest fighters in boxing history, maybe even the top-10.
Jones is a classic example of a fighter not knowing when to retire. The Jones of today – and it seems likely he will box again, having won his last fight against Bobby Gunn – continues to remind us all how he should have retired 14 years ago and been placed amongst the best of all time. If only Jones had walked away just about perfect after that brilliant showing against Ruiz.