It’s not uncommon for professional boxers to have alter-ego’s and one of the most vicious in history was the infamous ‘RJ’.
Joe Rogan’s expertise might primarily be in MMA, but the famed podcast host and UFC commentator has seen his fair share of boxing legends competing on the world stage.
Out of all the iconic boxing champions that he’s witnessed and conversed with, none stunned him more than the man whom many called ‘Superman’, ‘Captain Hook’, and ‘RJ’.
Joe Rogan raves about former world champion Roy Jones Jr
On a recent episode of the Joe Rogan Podcast, the famed UFC commentator would explain that Roy Jones Jr was one of several boxing legends who occasionally fought with a ‘second personality’.
“You know Roy Jones Jr had an alter-ego? Yeah, he called himself RJ. There’s Roy Jones and then there’s RJ – and RJ is when there’s real problems, when RJ’s out then you’ve got real problems.
“When he fought Montell Griffin, and Montell won by disqualification. Something happened… I don’t remember exactly but there was a disqualification, and Roy Jones is like ‘RJ is coming out’ and in the second fight, it was just an obliteration. He just destroyed him, quickly.”
Jones famously won world titles in four separate weight classes, an achievement that Rogan celebrated was down to his legendary hand speed, footwork, and head movement.
“When you would see Roy Jones at his very best, he was probably the fastest super-middleweight in the history of the sport – and even at light heavyweight – he was so fast that it didn’t even make sense.
“There are 1-2s to this day that when you watch, you swear that they’re sped up; no one moves that fast… And he f—– everybody up because you didn’t know what to do with it.”
Even some of the most legendary world champions to have ever competed struggled to deal with Jones’ speed; with the likes of James Toney, Bernard Hopkins, and John Ruiz each falling victim to the RJ alter-ego.
“Roy moved so fast that it would f—- up your whole understanding of distance and timing – everything would be off,” concluded Rogan: “He was special – in his prime, he was unstoppable, like every fight was an execution.”
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Roy Jones Jr ranks 10th in Bloody Knockout’s all-time light heavyweights
Last weekend, the boxing world fell silent as Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol threw down in one of the best light heavyweight championship fights in history.
Whilst Roy Jones Jr is undoubtedly one of the best boxers to have ever lived, it’s hard to pin down where he’d rank amongst the all-time greats – specifically, at light heavyweight.
Prior to that insane rematch between Beterbiev and Bivol, Bloody Knockout attempted to rank the 10 greatest light heavyweights in history; with Roy Jones Jr sitting in the No. 10 spot on our list.
Artur Beterbiev came in as our No. 3 ranked best-ever light heavyweight; only losing out to Ezzard Charles (89-25-1, 51 KOs) and Archie Moore (184-24-10, 130 KOs).