I am going Spinks with decision. RJJ had amazing reflexes and speed and was damn near unhittable. But its quite hard to dodge punches vs a guy who is 3-4 inches longer than you, has a great jab, power in both hands and long arms. A lot of the tactics RJJ used at 175 wouldn't necessarily work with an accurate power puncher who is 3-4 inches taller. That being said, RJJ had amazing power, even at 175. He will have success landing big left hooks and lead right hands. I just don't think he will throw enough volume to win. Spinks will use his jab quite effectively and ocassionally stun RJJ with big right hands. RJJ has more than enough speed to survive and prevent Spinks from following up though. If RJJ was 3-4 inches taller with longer arms, i would probably favour him. Or if RJJ had great fundemental defense instead of relying almost purely on his amazing reflexes, i would favour him. As it stands, i pick Spinks by a competitive decision, 7-5 or 8-4. But if they fight 3 times, can RJJ win one? Of course he can and he likely will.
I just finished watching Jones-Toney and Jones-Ruiz. If Toney was so slick why didn't he exploit RJJ's relative lack of fundamentals. He was the favorite and he got shut out. Reminds me of A.J. Liebling who said solid instruction will carry a young man a long way but unearned natural ability has much to be said about it.
sure but i don't think any of them were as well rounded and skilled as Spinks. And i am not counting Roy out at all. Roy is my favourite fighter of the last 20 years and he gets highly underrated today. The man was a God in his prime. And he can never be counted out. I just think stylistically, tall hard hitting super skilled light-heavies like Spinks and Foster are a hard match up for him.
Toney was brilliant but he was a counter puncher who liked to stand, make you miss and counter. RJJ may not have had great fundementals but he was smart. He knew how to use his gifts in a clever way. RJJ moved around, didn't let Toney plant his feet to counter and used his quicker hands to beat Toney to the punch and then moved out.
Jones could avoid 500 punches in a row, but as soon as Spinks lands that right clean, it’s lights out for Jones. Spinks would patiently find his timing, measure Jones’ movement with that lead and set him up, and then would lower the boom and jinx Jones. Because of Jones’ speed, it would allow him to land, but Spinks would be able to ride the punches, block etc and take the sting off, whilst remaining calm and trusting his gameplan, effective pressure, making Jones work, jabbing doing different things to see where Jones can be set up, and once he find the opening, he’d jinx him.
I like both fighters but RJJ gets slept he never fought a dangerous KO puncher in his prime. And Spinks has significant height and size advantage.
Spinks is one of the very few fighters that I think would stand a very good chance against a prime RJJ. Unpredictable and unorthodox like RJJ himself but was also smart, versatile, well rounded. Also had the height, reach, and power that could really give RJJ a run for his money.
