How good was RJJ at heavyweight?

After beating Clifford Etienne in 2003, Mike's life was a complete mess. He was out of shape, he was involved in a lawsuit, and he filed for bankruptcy etc.

A potential fight was discussed for 2004, but Antonio Tarver and Danny Williams stopped it from happening.

 

Roy wouldn't have had a chance against Mike when he was at his peak. But I'd have given him a chance against the versions that fought from 2002-2005.

 

He didn't avoid fights against Evander and Mike, and don't forget he was a LHW about to turn 35, with 50 fights on his resume.

 

In a round?

I can't see it mate.

Of course Roy would have been asleep if he'd have been hit with the shot that Williams was hit with. But the question is: Would he have been there to have been hit? He'd have been on his bike until Mike fatigued.

Roy definitely had a chance to beat the version of Mike who fought Williams and McBride.

 

Correct.

I think it's wise that he backed out of the Sanders fight. He didn't want to be messing with a hard hitting, 6'3 southpaw that had speed. That would have been a horrible match up for him.

 

We know that he didn't face another HW, so why bother asking the question?

Mike's said that Roy met him in Miami, and there's quotes online of what Mike said to Murad Muhammad when he was contacted by phone.

Nobody really believes that Roy was demanding $100m or no fight.

Evander was approached in 98, but he turned down the idea because he thought he was in a no win situation at the time.

A fight was almost made in 2003 after Ruiz, but Evander fought Toney instead after King had pi$$ed him off.

 

Sanders and Klitschko wouldn't have brought in mega money, and they'd have been awful match ups for him.

Lewis would have brought in mega money, and Lewis seemed interested at one point. But according to Vitali, Lennox's Mum begged him to retire after their fight.

 

I honestly think that Jones would have beaten a post Lewis version of Tyson.

If I am wrong, then Tyson made a catastrophic miscalculation, by not taking the fight.

 

It would have been very hard to pull off. Although they were winnable fights, they were still very risky. But I don't think he'd have gotten much credit for it even if he had've accomplished it.

He'd have been bashed for not fighting Vitali, Lewis, and Tarver at LHW.

 

I think he had a chance.

Maybe we'd have seen it if Tarver hadn't have knocked out Roy.

 

well big deal, really you are just saying that you think Tyson really declined after Lewis.

 

I don't think so. Here's why...

Roy fought fair. By the rules. Tyson dure didn't especially later on in his career when things weren't going his way.

I think Tyson mauls or does something to Jones the first minute of the fight. And it'd be a fight, not a boxing match like Roy would much prefer.

No ref is disqualifying a Mike Tyson in the first round. Probably not even the second round. It'd be points taken away is all. But Tyson would be hitting Jones illegally. And following up even like the Saverese fight hitting the ref in the flurry of activity.

Jones does not have anywhere near the physical strength to tie up Tyson to prevent it. He'd look to the ref for his help. Tyson wouldn't be looking to the ref. He'd be doing other things in there to hurt him. But he would not fight fair.

And that's what Jones would need, I think anyway. A fair fight by the rules and a ref on his side to get things to the later rounds. He would not have a ref on his side when facing a Tyson. and Mike would literally be getting away with a lot of things before any shot of a dq.

 

I think tyson would hate to look bad in front fo s smaller guy. He thrived on facing bigger challenges.

if facing joens, he'd do it only for a payday, in the shadow of his career, in which case hes not interested in winning, merely picking up a paycheque faster than bruce willis.

 

That doesn't seem right at all. Are you actually claiming that after fighting only 4 times at 175, against the almost 40 year old McCallum, Griffin and Hill, he was going to go up to fight Douglas? Bearing in mind after getting put on his ass in his next fight against Del Valle ( July 98 ) he would definitely have had second thoughts about getting in with a decent Heavy.

I ask because 6 months after that Jones was 30, and you seem adamant his Heavyweight ambitions started at 28 / 29.

:good

 

Vitali and Lewis would be retired by then but he would rightly be seen as a fortunate champ in the right place at the right time. No one would have cared about Tarver had he unified the HW division.

Overall he'd have received plenty of credit.