Could Roy Jones have won a world title in his second bout as a pro?

Agreed. Mugabi won the title in bizarre circumstances when Jacquot done his ankle after a grazing punch/slip and was cactus thereafter. No fault of Mugabi of course and Rene was pretty average regardless. Jones would beat Jacquot IMO and i'd favor him over Mugabi as well.

 

I remember Jacquet hobbling around on one leg. Dude had heart! Somehow he beat Curry for the title. Just outworked him. Curry was so flat for that fight. I’m going purely off memory but it seemed like Curry was never in any danger but couldn’t get going at all.

 

Curry was pretty rubbish compared to what he was by that stage. Rene did have some heart for sure. He somehow gave it another go when he was cactus for all money and against a big puncher too.

 

IMHO, Roy would have beaten Mugabi.

Mugabi would never have handled his speed.

Mugabi was very tough but overrated IMO.

To my knowledge, he never beat a top level fighter in his entire career.

 

No. And thinking a different thing is s joke

 

It would have depended on who the opponent would have been.

 

I’m sure Roy would with seasoning but I don’t think he necessarily beats Mugabi in his first or second fight.

 

I don’t see why not.

Roy was exceptional.

Mugabi wasnt.

Norris and Gerald easily beat him with speed and power.

Roy had both.

 

I agree. Roy would've had to carefully choose which champ he fought, which is why I brought up Jacquot and Van Horn.

 

Did you notice I changed my avatar from the one holding the Minter v Antuofermo programme which I put up the day after you called me a liar and said I wasn't at their fight.You never mentioned it, so I thought you had maybe missed it?

 

Mugabi had given Marvin Hagler a helluva fight and had knocked out guys left and right — Curtis Parker, James Green, Earl Hargrove, Nino Gonzalez ... all credible fighters and more on top of that.

He was 33-2 with the very competitive loss to Hagler and a loss where he had his orbital bone fractured against Duane Thomas from a horrific accidental thumb.

You can look back in retrospect at what happened with Mugabi later and figure maybe he wasn’t all that, but at this point in time he was. He still had power, confidence, stamina and brute strength.

Could a debuting or second-fight RJJ have beaten him? Maybe. Is it a sure thing? No way. And it would have been basically suicidal management to put him in with such a dangerous puncher — a literal Beast — that early in his career before he even got his feet under him ... get clipped early and Roy may never have recovered career-wise.

Rene Jacquot? Darren Van Horne? Different kettle of fish ... RJJ would have toyed with those guys even at that stage. Nobody toyed with the Beast.

 

No it's not, Darrin Van Horn wouldn't have had a cat in hell's chance against even a debut Jones.