I dunno how Roy would have fared against AJ, probably not well on size alone.. but I'd bet anything that Mike Spinks would have beaten AJ.
Michael spinks beat AJ without a doubt imo Roy might beat him,.but hed be playing a very dangerous game all night. Hed have to bank on AJ getting discouraged
Thinking back about it, aj pretty much only beat old men. The only three young guys he faced were Parker, Whyte and Ruiz. And he didn't look very good in any of these fights. Yeah,. he's a pretty big hype job
It depends. Neither had a chin. You have to make AJ the favorite because he's quicker handed with a bigger arsenal. IF Oleg landed that right hand flush though... yeah, AJ would be on Donald Curry Street.
I doubt it. Roy is 5'10 with the frame of a super middle. A 6'7 guy with power is gonna be too much for Roy, even if that 6'7 guy sucks. It's different with Spinks, because Spinks was a bigger and taller man than Roy. Spinks was listed at 6'2, but I feel 6'3 was more accurate. Spinks also hit a helluva lot harder than Roy.
Not to be critical of Roy, God knows I rarely am, but I would add that Spinks was also more skilled than Roy. Roy would be depending on speed and pot shots to beat AJ, whereas Spinks would be jabbing AJ's head off from the start.
AJ is not very good… AJ seems to be an arrogant/cocky asshole, you lose to a 5’9” fat little guy 2 fights ago…and still you are one victory away from getting $30-60 millions to fight Fury…
AJ confidence in himself dissipate as the rounds go on….he was skilled but smaller&weaker fighter he should’ve started round 1 trying to bang him out…instead he fought like jameel McCline nice and timid 3-4 second burst of aggression
Can't agree with that. If Spinks hit harder than the Roy who smashed Virgil Hill's ribs, it wasn't by much. Of course, big part of Roy's power came from catching people blind, but his effectiveness was no joke
Ummm... no. Spinks hit significantly harder than Jones. He has a case as the GOAT light heavyweight puncher. Jones does not. I know you're a contrarian, but you would literally be the only person on Earth who would dispute Spinks being a big hitter than Roy. Even REED would chime in and admit Spinks was a considerably bigger hitter than Roy. The Hill KO was more about blinding speed and perfect placement than raw power. Mike Spinks wouldn't have had to hit Richard Hall 20,000 times clean to stop him. He iced a much better and tougher southpaw than Hall (Marvin Johnson) with one left uppercut. Guys like David Telesco would not be lasting the distance with Michael Spinks. It's pretty absurd to even challenge that statement.
Disagreeing with you does not equal to being a contrarian, mate. Spinks has several showcases of the power of his cross, and his left hook. He also went rounds with several guys who were hardly unknockoutable, and his KO percentage is not through the roof. Yes, that has a lot to do with his careful style, but you can't pick and choose just his best knockouts as definite proof, either. I'd definitely rank Foster and Moore over him as punchers. Roy is in the same class as Spinks. Spinks is probably ahead, but not by much
Again, you're alone in this thinking, and you really have no basis for it. Other than the Hill fight. Also, you could cite the Griffith rematch, thats actually your best case. Roy was not on par with Spinks as a puncher. He just wasn't. The gap is big enough that I don't even wanna devote the energy. Watch Spinks' KO of Vonzell Johnson or the right hand he dropped Eddie MM with. It literally sounds like a bomb going off when those crosses land. Roy, objectively, did not generate as much puncher.
AJ’s mentally fragile nature aside, you cannot take away the fact that Usyk pulled off something special tonight, going from 200lb frame to soundly defeating one of the top ‘big’ heavyweights of today, and doing so against the predictions of nearly everyone. AJ was AJ; it was Usyk that ‘overperformed’ above all else.
Knockouts are not the only measure of power though. Knocking Mergui Sosa down with one punch (Sosa was ranked as the best chin in boxing at the time), downing Toney, downing McCallum, blasting out Tate etc etc are an indication of pretty good power
Every single fight you listed was at 160-168. Well, except the McCallum fight. Roy didn't have the power at 175 that he had at 160-168. I wouldn't list the Toney KD btw. Roy knocked down Toney on a balance shot. Reggie Johnson legitimately knocked Toney down. But no one would call Reggie on par with Spinks.
Sosa was a light-heavy when he faced Jones (who still fought out of super-middle) and 90s super-middles were the size of original light-heavies
Yeah, you actually are correct about the Sosa part. I had forgotten Roy was above the weight for that fight. Still not a Spinks puncher though. As a single punch, Spinks' cross is the second biggest weapon in 175 history, with the biggest obviously being Foster's hook.
The reason I bring up Roy is because he was a smaller man that moved up to HW and won a title like Usik yes technically Roy was a smaller guy but Joshua is way bigger than Johnny Louise in size and punching power by a country mile. So let's not act like Roy was in there with Klitscho or Lewis. The difference is Roy fought a paper champ and Usyk fought an elite unified Champion in Joshua. By saying AJ wasn't that good you take away from Usyks greatness. Let's not forget Usyk is undisputed at cruiser so we are talking about a great little man beating a very good champion in AJ. Not everything I post to get under your skin. But if I did that's an added bonus .
He really isn't, though. He's better. Definitely. But he isn't levels better. AJ really isn't very good at all. He never has been and never will be. MTF
He's done far more than HW Jones or Maskeav ever did, and I'm not quite as impressed with someone lasting 90 seconds vs Tyson as others.
Why? He found a way to lose to Corey Sanders and Mount Whittaker. Maskaev was hittable. Very hittable. I discount his early ko losses to McCall and Tua. But albeit he'd been thrown to the wolves its not like he displayed a cast iron chin on either occasion. He got lucky at the end with sucky ass Rahman. He totally lucked into that....Vitali retired and Maskaev found himself dancing literally the one dude he had the hex over.
I've been his biggest detractor. His boxbot box-by-numbers style, the insipid flat managed crafted personality, the ridiculous overhyping. His latest "Global Citizen" routine disgusted me. He can't even leave his house now for fear of laughter, how is that for global citizenry. Literally the worst HW ever to have had multiple outdoor title fights. But UNTIL last night I'd have refused to entertain notions about him being just blown out by this guy and that guy. Do I think he'd have beaten Joe Frazier? Maybe. Maybe. Frazier coukd be hit and hurt. He was 40lbs lighter not 20lbs lighter. He was 6 foot and hit table. He ate shots and was wobbled by smaller men hmthan himself, never mind AJ. IS it a 2 round Slystaff blowout? Of course its not. But AFTER last night..... I've got to question his intangibles. When Wlad was in trouble, he'd grab. He'd rough house. He'd charge, flail, try to kid his man he wasn't hurt. Vitali would take a deep breath and fire back. Marciano couldn't hit Roland LaStarza in the head. So he hit his arms. His thighs. His shoulders his chest etc and he billed into him until the hands came down. Joshua seems to be the sort of guy who can only win one way. He's got to be in charge to some extent. Ever see a dog that loses the scent? It charges around, nose down, digging up the turf, darting in a million directions, refusing to quit until it gets the scent back or gets called off. Joshua lost the scent last night and thought it was funny when the rabbit came fucked him in front of his own handler. Its one thing for Tex Cobb to eat shots vs Larry Holmes and laugh about it. It's something else for AJ to try that routine. That really doesn't need explaining.
