Roy Jones Jr. The ducks he made at supermiddleweight.

[BattlingNelson]

I did a little research on Roy Jones Jr. and the opposition he fought as a SMW.

Jones was in essense fighting in the 168 lb division from 1993 until 1996.

Keys:

RED = Eventually fought them or fought them already
BLUE = Fought them in that year.

The year end rankings of 1992 looked like this:

1: Michael Nunn
2: Iran Barkley
3: Chris Eubank
4: Victor Cordoba
5: Nigel Benn
6: Tim Littles
7: Darrin Van Horn
8: Tony Thornton
9: Frankie Liles
10: Frank Nicotra

He fought Thornton in 1995.

1993:

1: James Toney
2: Michael Nunn
3: Chris Eubank
4: Nigel Benn
5: Tim Littles
6: Darrin Van Horn
7: Frankie Liles
8: Tony Thornton
9: Antoine Byrd
10: Vincenzo Nardiello


1994: Jones enters the list at no. 1 after beating Toney.

1: Roy Jones Jr.
2: Nigel Benn
3: Chris Eubank
4: Frankie Liles
5: Vinny Pazienza
6: Tim Littles
7: Michael Nunn
8: Ray Close
9: Graciano Rocchigiani
10: Antoine Byrd


1995:

1: Roy Jones Jr.
2: Nigel Benn
3: Steve Collins
4: Frankie Liles
5: Tim Littles
6: Vinny Pazienza
7: Bryant Brannon
8: Henry Wharton
9: Michael Nunn
10: Ray Close


1996:

1: Roy Jones Jr.
2: Frankie Liles
3: Steve Collins
4: Vinny Pazienza
5: Robin Reid
6: Henry Wharton
7: Michael Nunn
8: Vincenzo Nardiello
9: Joseph Kiwanuka
10: Thulani Malinga

At the end of 1996 Jones had moved up.

So Jones work after 4 years at 168 lb consist of an excellent win over Toney and not much else:

Toney
Thornton
Pazienza (LOL)
Byrd
Brannon

Jones never fought a top 3 opponent after Toney. He had 6 fights at 168 after beating him. Of those fights he beat an unranked Thornton, a suspected juiced lightweight in Pazienza, a past it Byrd, a never was in Sosa, a young non-threat in Lucas and a veteran of 16 fights in Brannon.


So the deserving fighters Jones didn't fight (or ducked as it's called on NSB) is these guys:

Nunn
Benn
Eubank
Collins
Barkley
Cordoba
Littles
Van Horn
Liles
Nardiello
Close
Rocchigianni
Nicotra


Let's face it. A Nunn or a Benn or a Eubank or a Liles or even a Collins would have been real nice.

(I hope I didn't miss anyone )

[SplitSecond]

that's the ring rankings right?

[street bully]

Lets not kick dirt in his face now that he is down. Why couldn't Calzaghe beat Jones like Green did?

[Heru]

I agree, RJ has a lot of holes in his resume. That said, I didn't know Pazienza was that high in the rankings.

[Glamour Puss]

Lets not kick dirt in his face now that he is down. Why couldn't Calzaghe beat Jones like Green did?

The Calzaghe win was more humiliating imo.

He just toyed w/ him and didn't finish him out of respect. Joe's a sportsman like that.

[BattlingNelson]

that's the ring rankings right?

Indeed it is.

[SplitSecond]

i dont even understand why you have the supermiddleweight rankings before he even went up to supermiddleweight

[TheGreatA]

I agree, RJ has a lot of holes in his resume. That said, I didn't know Pazienza was that high in the rankings.

The SMW division was a sad state of affairs in the early 1990's. Paz got a title shot at Roy Jones for beating an ancient Roberto Duran by a controversial decision.

[Bhopreign]

Lol Bat kicking an old man while he's down.

[SplitSecond]

can i get the link to these rankings?
i wanna look up some other stuff around the place, i honestly have'nt got a clue how to get this stuff