Roy Jones Jr. Vs The Black Uhlan of The Rhine

There are just so few fighters like Roy that it's difficult to find analogous opponents. I know people will mention Max's right hand, but during Roy's prime who was able to land consistent rights... even with that left he held so low? I remember a couple guys doing slightly better than normal by going to the body with lefts... If Max could establish a jab, he could win this. But I don't know if he can...

 

Max Schmeling was a whole lot smarter than most of the guys Roy fought.

 

Toney, Virgil Hill, Reggie Johnson and Hopkins were pretty smart.

 

And every single one barring Virgil Hill (who was coming off a loss and long layoff) was at least 20 pounds lighter than a prime Schmeling and none of them hit anywhere near as hard as Schmeling. Schmeling wasnt just smart he was a very well schooled boxer with a good punch. Schmeling would present some interesting problems for Jones because he wasnt some one trick pony that would just fold the instant he saw Jones was faster than him. In short he was a lot more well rounded than modern fighters and as such he isnt going to be the pin cushion that Roy Jones was used to fighting. I wont even go into what happens if Schmeling lands on Jones with 190-200 pounds behind it...

 

This

 

And every single one was quicker than Schmeling.

Solving problems in boxing is essentially the same regardless of weight class. Toney, Hopkins, Reggie Johnson and Hill provided a broad range of problems, from Toney's cagey defense to Hopkins' body attack to Johnson's very educated southpaw style. Jones figured out each and won each fight going away. He was able to sample each fighter and when needed make adjustments.

Again, if Schmeling gets his jab going early, he will land his right. If Jones can derail that jab he can win. If not, it will be a hard, hard row to hoe.

^That.

 

Roy Jones vs The Lockness Monster

 

Ovid***ile vs Spell Check

 

For the win.

 

Let me turn that argument around and ask if you really believe that the Toney, Johnson, or Hill that Jones fought wouldnt get at least beaten and possibly stopped by Schmeling as well? I mean please, Im not using size as the main component of my argument. Im using the fact that Schmeling is a well trained, well schooled, athletic, all time great who had brains and knew how to beat a wide range of opponents and just happened to naturally outweigh Jones by about 25 pounds. Take Jones steroid use out of the equation and this isnt even competitive IMO. Allow Jones to use steroids and its an interesting match that may still see Jones brutally knocked out and nothing he did against Hopkins, Johnson, Toney, or Hill even comes close to being comparative to what he could do against Schmeling who is a totally different animal. Lets put this in perspective: Would you pick the best Toney over Schmeling? I wouldnt, forget about the zombie Jones fought. Would you pick the best Hopkins over Schmeling? I wouldnt, forget about the green guy who was fighting his first major fight. Would you pick the best Hill over Schmeling? I wouldnt, forget about the guy coming off a year long layoff and a punishing loss. Would you pick the best Reggie Johnson to beat Schmeling? I wouldnt. So what exactly does Jones beating those guys have to do with how he would do against Schmeling?

As far as the pin cushion comment, are we really going to pretend that Jones didnt spend the vast majority of his supposed prime fighting stiff after stiff after stiff and doing it while he was on steroids? Wanna buy a bridge?

 

Schmeling massacred Mickey Walker a p4p all time great that moved up to heavy and ko'd maybe the greatest heavyweight who ever lived. Roy Jones with all of one fight at heavy against a weak alphabet Title holder who was never considered the best of his division does not make me like Jones' prospects. Yes Jones is an ATG but at middle and super middle. Schmeling is smart, skilled, has fast hands and a much bigger punch. He would beat Hill, Toney, and Hopkins and I would heavily favor him over Jones.

 

Schmeling might have been skilled and may have had brains, but he was all that as compared to other heavyweights, who were pretty terrible during his time. Lower weights have a completely different criteria of skills and brains. AND speed. As compared to real skilled and clever boxer he was worse than mediocre, a third-rater at best.