Which Supermiddle would have given a prime Roy Jones his toughest fight?

My rationale for saying Ward gives Roy a tougher fight is this - Calz was dependent on his afffleticism to be effective, and there's no fighter in the history of 168 who can compete with prime Roy in that area. EVERY SINGLE THING that Calz does well goes out in the window against a prime Jones. When Joe opens up, he'd gets caught and hurt with clean counters he doesn't see coming, and he'd be become gunshy. A pretty damn easy fight for Jones tbh.

Ward is much less dependent on athleticism than Joe, and I think on the inside he could give Roy some difficulty with his dirty tactics. He still loses by a lot, but it's a more difficulty matchup for Roy based on styles than Calz is.

 

Perfect response.

"Roy wins though so relax"

Well said.

 

Possibly...and well reasoned response. I just think that Ward, wyhile very good, is too "straight up and down no special effects" to trouble Roy, whereas Calzaghe is all special effects (unconventional as hell).

 

Despite being the biggest Calzaghe fan on this board, I do see what you're saying, BUT, imo Calzaghe is incredibly underrated as a technician. Now there are people who will just not see what is right in front of their eyes, I have no intention to convince them otherwise, their minds are made up, they're a lost cause, but Calzaghe was a very, very underrated technically. You have to realise, it doesn't have to look pretty, it just has to be effective. Calzaghe was every bit as good as Ward, EVERY BIT AS GOOD.

 

sorry, but their respective resume and their performance against their common opponents doesn't point toward them being equally good. And it's not even close

 

Michael Spinks can shrink down to SMW and beat Roy, he would just have to Canelo himself and gain 20+ lbs after the weigh-in

 

Probably Eubank, who could be extremely cagey when he wanted to.

 

Jones wins 12-0 over that lisping fuck.

 

Lol indeed. RJ would have put Eubank into a shell and whitewashed him

 

An in shape james toney over 15 rounds in an 18 foot ring

 

Please

 

Yup.

 

Urgh. It's like the noble art was some early computer game he found the spam hack for. Disgusting

 

Makes me wonder if joe loaded his gloves or over-taped.

 

Na, just Welsh brute force.

 

Textbook technique

 

He did, in his book. He is a yuge RJJ fan, and said he would never have beaten him in his prime. Which is true.

MTF

 

Eubanks would also be my pick. Watson gave him hell by pressuring him, and Benn dragged him in deep waters the same way, but RJJ wasn't that type of fighter. Eubanks would have been fairly comfortable fighting that type of fight, looking to land a big shot every round or so.

MTF

 

Calzaghe has as good an engine as any supermiddle in history. He also has a better chin that Roy does/did - he was relatively easy to drop but he was never once really hurt by anyone - whereas history has shown that Roy has a pretty terrible chin. But aye, his speed advantage disappears out of the window here, and he'll get hit plenty.

MTF

 

Calzaghe beat Kessler by adjusting midfight and punching him around the place. Ward beat Kessler by headbutting him into bolivian.

The resume point is 100% true, though.

MTF

 

That was my point. It would be a "Harder" fight for Jones, because there would be no blind pressure from Eubank, instead, Eubank, who had a brilliant chin, would wait for Jones to do something then try to counteract it.

This isn't Richard Hall.........it's something totally different.

 

RJJ has said publically that he wouldn't have fancied a fight with Eubanks. Not the same as saying he wouldn't beat him, but he said Eubanks was the one guy of that group he was least keen on fighting.

MTF

 

And jc only barely slipped by bika, while ward defeated him comprehensively

 

Collins beat Eubank by having a certain style, and by Eubanks being psyched out of it by Collins mind games Eubanks own {Watson-derived} fear of hurting Collins, whom he believed to be a sort of suicide-fighter.

Eubank went serious rounds shaking off artillery from Carl Thompson that felled much bigger men like Rothmann, Haye and others.

I don't think Eubank would win, and it could be 120-108, but anybody who thinks Jones doesn't wind up having to solve certain problems is mad.

I can see Jones trounce Eubank over the first 4 rounds before settling into a cautious groove.

If Roy could be dropped by Del Valle then Eubank, who was a sneaky crafty fighter , can catch him too.

 

I've never really put much stock in Collins beating Eubanks. Eubanks was much diminished, mentally as much as anything, by that time, and even then Eubanks had Collins in terrible trouble at one point and basically backed away, asking the ref to step in. Prime Eubanks was a much more dangerous and ruthless fighter.

Not Steve's fault, and he deservedly got the win, but Watson took Eubanks' killer instrinct from him, in much the same way McClellan took away Nigel Benn's.

RJJ - Eubanks would be a fairly boring affair. Eubanks wouldn't look to engage at all, and Jones would land some nice shots which would score but be unlikely to cause Eubanks too much bother, as you say; Eubanks had an excellent chin. I envisage a similar thing to you, with Eubanks poncing around a lot, hoping to score with counters which might, just might, hurt Jones more than Jones is likely to hurt Eubanks.

MTF

 

The last time that happened to Jones, he got DQ'd........against Griffin

 

Agreed with Toney in 15 pick, although I would still struggle to see him winning a best of five

 

Reminds me of how bad McGregor's 'technique' was vs. Mayweather