Whose the best heavyweight RJJ could have beaten?

:-((

 

To the topic : probably Ruiz , barely.
Might even have a competitive fight that could go either way with Jimmy Young or Oswaldo Ocassio or Fres Oquendo.

 

Dempsey, Tunney, Moore, Charles, Patterson, Walcott and Braddock all lost to worse LHWs than Jones

 

Tunney lost to Greb. How is Greb worse than anyone on Jones' resume? Also, if Jones were matched like Dempsey, Tunney, Moore, Charles, Walcott and Braddock, his ledger would have quite a few losses.

 

I said he's worse than Jones not anyone on his ledger, although who knows maybe Hopkins/Toney were flat out better. And who knows Jones rarely lost a round and he may not lose a round against Dempsey, Tunney, Moore, Charles, Walcott and Braddock

 

I see him having success against smaller HW's who he could easily counter or those who he could potentially stop...

Tunney
Patterson
Dempsey(RJJ wouldn't stop him but he'd counter him al night long)

Of these 3, I suppose the most highly regarded is Dempsey so that's my answer. I think RJJ could have had success countering Jack's wild shots in the earlygoing then, make him look foolish with feints in the second half of the fight after Dempsey gains an appreciation for Roy's hand speed. It's doubtful that Jones could hurt Jack and Jack could definitely hurt(understatement) Roy but the hand speed/reflexes were still there in '03 and I see these advantages as decisive against a crude, albeit highly regarded, slugger. Oh, boy let the **** storm begin.

 

I agree that Charles, Moore and Walcott would beat Roy but he would make Braddock and Dempsey(read post above) look foolish.

 

I'm changing my opinion to Roy schooling Povetkin & taking a shutout UD.

Povetkin really was overrated in many aspects.

 

Best that he could beat?

Former number 1 (imo) hw's i'd give him a decent chance or better against in a 15 round fight are the following (if I don't think there's enough footage i've left them out)

Corbett*
Fitz*
Jeffries*
Willard*
McVey*
Tunney
Sharkey*
Braddock*
Walcott*
Charles
Patterson
Ingo
Young
Spinks
Douglas
Old foreman*
Vitali
Byrd

The guys with a * i'd probably favour jones over. The other guys have between a 20-49 chance of losing to jones imo.

 

How about Roy against abc beltholders of the '80s-2010s?

 

Can't remember them all from the top of my head but I struggle to think of many i'd give jones no chance against.

Leon spinks
Tate
Weaver
Berbick
Thomas
Damiani
Bentt
Hide
Seldon
Schulz
Moorer
Ruiz
Lyakhovic
Briggs
Valuev
Maskaev

He has a chance against any of the above titleholders (leon was a paper champ but the rest were just strap holders)

Haye..... Not sure about. Tough one to call.

 

Jones would definitely beat Haye!!

 

the 80s are interesting, the more i vist them, the more i appreciate the technical prowess of the group as a whole. big, in shape and technical fighters could be a problem for jones. because of his style, he's going to be a potshotter for the most part at heavyweight.

given that i see roy favoured against:

spinks
berbick (i know...he's good, but inconsistent and pretty slow)
bentt
hide (never impressed me much)
schultz
moorer
maskaev

i'd also give him 50/50 or so against guys like damiani and seldon (ONLY cause of that ****ing jab)

 

it feels like sacriledge to say but...stylistically he has a chance. schmeling may have been too patient and let roy build up a lead. that beauty counter right would be useless given jones' style