BOXING: If Roy Jones is successful in his outrageous attempt to step up two weight divisions and beat the WBA heavyweight champion John Ruiz in Las Vegas tonight, it will underline claims that he should be ranked alongside the finest boxers of all time.

It is no fault of Jones that he was born too late. Had he been 10 years older, Marvin Hagler, Sugar Ray Leonard or Tommy Hearns would have been happy to test his credentials, and what great fights they might have been.

But Ruiz represents the sternest examination yet of a talent that has enabled Jones to dominate the middleweight, super-middleweight and light-heavyweight divisions for a decade.

Jones is no shrinking violet, and as he shouted this week, "I just want to see the man out there who can beat me," it was easy to draw the conclusion that many watching will hope Ruiz can prove the old adage that "a good big 'un will always beat a good little 'un".

Jones has suffered only one defeat, by disqualification, in a professional career spanning 48 contests which began in 1989, and he is now generally recognised as the outstanding pound-for-pound fighter in the sport.

He still has the ability to unleash accurate multi-punch combinations in the time it takes the average boxer to contemplate throwing a single shot.

But the best bet is that Jones will win on points, although one humdinger from Ruiz could send the light-heavyweight champion back to pick on men his own size.