Would You Pick RJJ, Against Most Middleweight Champs?

Yes the only time imo Hagler got it 100% right in a huge fight and even then we had a cut drama. Hearns didn't get the room he needed, partly due to Marvina and mayyybe due to Tommy as well. The age old was he forced or did he choose.

I think the fight is monumental when you factor in everything and were there to watch it live. You can see more back and forth action packed fights between D grade fighters of multiple Saad fights but taking into account these were around about the best two in the world and the historical importance man was it an event and a half.

 

I think he beats them all .. too fast, too hard hitting, too smart, too well conditioned at 160 ... even Bernard Hopkins, never one to spread positivity said he didn't think anyone ever beats Jones at 160 -168 and I agree ... no knock on an exceptional division filled with amazing fighters ... Jones in his prime was that great ..

 

I agree with you .. if he did in that first thirty seconds somewhere I can't find it on film and I've looked quiet a bit ... he definitely landed hard twice between :25 and :30 and rocked moved Hagler but I'd certainly like a better look at it from another angle ... supposedly he hurt his hand here too ..

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Yes - that's it!

Literally one of the more devastating performances against arguably the best alternative fighter to the best fighter of the day. However, there are better fights out there in terms of back and forth action. That being said, due to the politics in fighting these days, we will never likely see a spectacle that contains the drama, the build up and the definitive conclusion that this fight offers.

Internet and social media has removed most of the mystery and intrigue in boxing. 40 years ago, you wouldn't necessarily know that a fighter was struggling in training unless you were on the circuit, nowadays, the casual fan can watch the fighter eat, sleep and sh1t in 3D 24/7. Not that I'm against greater exposure for the average fighter, mind you, just that all the supposed big fights don't really feel that big anymore due to overexposure.

 

Well theres a few who would be very dangerous.

Gerald McClellan
Thomas Hearns
Nigel Benn
Julian Jackson
Michael Nunn
Sumbu Kalambay
Herol Graham

And then you have ATG Middleweights like Hagler, Monzon.

Jones never really fought many punchers that I can recall either, so if McClellan, Hearns, or Jackson catch him it might be curtains.

 

You've summed it up beautifully mate!!!!

 

This is the one super fight of his career that Hagler went balls to the wall .. he didn't hold back worried about stamina or trying to box .. it was his greatest moment because let's face it, the way Hearn's blew away Duran after he went a competitive 15 rounds with him had to say something ... Hearn's never, ever looked better than that Duran bout , absolutely fearsome and Marvin not only took him on he went for the kill from the first moments ... My only criticism of Hagler has been on his inner confidence and how it plagued him in some bouts but against a very dangerous guy in that guy's prime Marvin showed more confidence in himself in a huge moment than he ever did before or would do later on .. would have liked to see him do the same against Leonard two years later instead of the absurd strategy he went in with ..

 

The question is how many fighters did Jones fight that had one punch KO power ? He never really had the threat of that in his prime.

 

Both Jones and Toney names Merqui Sosa as the hardest puncher they ever faced. They didn't hold back the superlatives either.

Jones -

STRONGEST

MERQUI SOSA: Merqui Sosa was a very powerful guy. You couldn’t push him back; he didn’t give up anything in the ring. I had to get him out of there early. He was very strong and wasn’t planning on going nowhere.

BEST PUNCHER

SOSA: Merqui missed me with a shot that almost buckled my knees. If that had landed it would have been different. I was like, ‘Wow, this guy’s trying to kill you!’ I went to work on him after that and got the fight over. Tarver had good punching power, but he didn’t punch harder than Merqui Sosa.

Toney

BEST PUNCHER

MERQUI SOSA.. Sam Peter is the hardest puncher Ive fought, but pound-for-pound its Sosa because he hurt me the most. Ill never forget that fight, we fought on an ESPN show in Atlantic City on a Sunday. I went at him like I did everyone back then and that mother f_____ hit me so hard in the third round I was seeing triple for the next three rounds. He knew how to hit and he was so awkward that I couldnt time him and he caught me high on the head.

 

It's all about perspective for me.

Hags idolised Duran and Hearns massacred him. When Hags got cut, it could be that he was supremely confident in his chin and strength or it could be that he was a wounded lion fighting out of instinct, scared of the prospect of losing to a fighter who was clearly capable of hurting him.

To be fair, I wouldn't be angry with anyone for being weary of that version of Hearns. Tommy underrated Hags I feel - there's confidence and there's arrogance and there's recklessness.

 

I've heard quote that before but I don't consider Sosa a KO artist, I'm no doubting he can't hit. But hes not kind of guy to turn your lights out with 1 punch like Jackson, Hearns, McClellan. I don't think Jones ever had that threat looming over him in any of his fights unless I've forgot someone.

 

Addressing the thread title, yes. I believe Roy Jones would beat “ most “. I can’t imagine more than 50% of men who ever held the middleweight title or some variation of it beating him. That said he might lose to guys like Hagler, Robinson and Monzon.

 

Two different type of hard punchers.

The lightning in a can, catch you with what you can't see punchers and then the heavy-handed, thumping punch that you feel six weeks afterwards.

Foreman is still considered one of the hardest punchers of all time and he rarely turned the lights out like JJ, Moore or SRR.