At the time Jones fought Toney, Toney was #2 P4P only behind Julio Cesar Chavez. If you don't know this, you need to brush up on your boxing before you even comment on this topic. Toney was undefeated in a heavier weight class than Jones AND was considered a killer with GREAT fundamentals. Jones went straight to James Toney for the title shot without even testing the waters in the weight division and dominated every single round by boxing the shit out of Toney. When has Floyd EVER done something like this against an opponent of this caliber? Never! You have to be a fanboy hater to try and discredit this win.
And, Virgil Hill was not washed up at all when he fought Jones. He was only 34, had never been stopped before AND after he lost to Jones in 1998, he went on to become a two time champion at cruiserweight and had his last fight in 2015!
It is also hypocritcal to in one breath say Jones was just successful because he was fast and then in the next breath suggest James Toney's skills were not comparable to Floyd's because Floyd was faster and quicker. You can't have your cake and eat it too.
Both Floyd and RJJ were great fighters but Floyd fans always seem like they need to downplay Jones' greatness in order to elevate Floyd. The often repeated mantra of "Roy was just fast, that's it" is just ignorant and disrespectful to the sport of boxing. You can't be "just fast" in this sport. You have to know what you are doing and actually know how and when to throw punches. In other words, you must have fundamentals no matter how fast you are.
A much better comparison would have been possible had Floyd dropped back down to 140 to fight Hatton or even 135 to fight a top contender after fighting at 147. Floyd was definitely smarter than Jones in this aspect as Jones' true downfall was dropping back down from heavyweight so quickly and unhealthily. Chris Byrd did the same thing and had similar tragic results. Hopkins and Floyd were smart because they didn't do that shit and had more longevity because of it.
