A legendary multi-weight world champion once claimed that he was the greatest fighter of all time ahead of Sugar Ray Robinson.
Robinson is often regarded as being the greatest fighter to have ever laced up a pair of gloves, although this has been debated by the boxing community for many years.
The Georgia-native fought on no less than 201 occasions during his storied 25-year professional career, which spanned between 1940 and 1965.
Robinson reigned as the world welterweight champion for five years between 1946 and 1951 before he eventually made the move up to middleweight where he reigned as the world champion on five occasions within a nine-year period.
Another legendary American fighter that cemented himself in boxing folklore is Roy Jones Jr, who took the sport by storm during the peak of his career which came during the 1990s.
In a resurfaced interview ahead of his clash with Scott Sigmon back in 2018, Jones made his case for being the best fighter in boxing history, ranking himself ahead of the late-great Robinson.
“You can’t pretend there’s ever been anyone come close to doing what I did. Nobody you could name could touch me – and I’m talking about nobody who’s around now, nobody who was around in my prime, and nobody who was around any time you can mention outta your mouth.
“In my prime, I was the ruler. Simple as that. I understand there’s a lot of great fighters who’ve followed me already since I was the champ – and I hope there’s another who comes along does even better because want to see that – but I haven’t seen anyone do what I did yet. I haven’t seen anyone turn pro at 154lbs and win the heavyweight championship of the world.
“Even the great Sugar Ray Robinson, the pound-for-pound guy that he was, couldn’t win the light heavyweight title after turning pro as a welterweight. He had a difficult time trying that. So that tells you how hard it is to jump up that kind of weight and win.
“So, pound-for-pound the greatest of all time? It isn’t hard to figure out, Roy Jones Junior is your king of the hill.”
Known for his conventional yet explosive fighting style, Jones reigned supreme in four weight classes during his career, racking up victories over the likes of Antonio Tarver and Bernard Hopkins.
Although he campaigned between middleweight and light-heavyweight for the majority of his tenure, Jones became a world heavyweight title holder in 2003 when he dethroned WBA champion John Ruiz, an outstanding achievement for one of the best to ever do it.
