Look at the set-up for the shot that dropped Hill. There was no obvious opening for that, yet he gets a KO. Look at some of his other KO's. He was downright vicious when he let his hands fly. Easily SMW's biggest ever puncher. You can't beat Toney, Hopkins etc with only athletic ability. You need an IQ, a high one at that. Listen to him commentate; he's a savvy guy. He knows his Boxing. It's a shame that people only remember him for his athletic feats when his power/iq are deadly. Thoughts?
He's not the biggest SMW puncher ever. He couldn't stop Hopkins and he couldn't stop Toney. Now everybody sees their knockout percentage go down when they step up in competition. But other fighters have knocked out top level guys. Pac knocked out Cotto and Barrera. Foreman knocked out Frazier and Norton. Hell, Beterbiev just knocked out Gvozdyk.
He has excellent overall knowledge in boxing and also gives some great advice as a trainer and commentator. As a trainer, it's not that he doesn't excell due lack of knowledge, and as a commentator he and LL give the best insight in my opinion, at least tactically. You can be blessed with all the athleticism in the world, never pick up any sport and then 2 years later you are bring drafted 1st rpund in whatever sport you picked up. But you just can't do that in boxing. You have to put in the time, training, drilling, sparring, conditioning, watching, and developing. And you have to do them far more than other sports and it is all far harder than other sports. There's no corner-cutting, because if you do its your head getting punched in. RJJ gets a bad rap because of his unconventional style, he always knew proper technique and lear ed it from a young age, but adopted.his later style after years spent developing himself as a fighter and melding his athleticism with his skills. Listen to him talk boxing for 2 minutes without knowing who he is and you would think he was a registered USA amateur boxing coach.
Kovalev couldn't stop a 50 year old LHW Hopkins. Sam Peter couldn't stop a 45 year old HW Toney. It's hardly a criticism when 1 person stopped either of them in like 150 fights.
His IQ is overlooked because when his speed and reflexes went, he became very vulnerable and didn't have a plan B. I mean Glencoffe Johnson destroyed him ffs.
Who said his power is overlooked!? He took Malinga clean off his feet! His IQ is good, he liked to feint and positional sense was good. He had no answer to being feinted back at consistently though, against Griffin.
It styles isn’t it. Roy didn’t even attempt to knock out Bernard and Toney. They were tactical match ups. It’s same as his fight with Mike McCallum at LHW. He boxed him, as opposed to fighting him aggressively. Yet he knocked out Hill and Griffin who were 180 pound plus fighters on the night. Roy had plenty of power. He had great power at SMW. He knocked out Malinga. He knocked out Sosa.
He is knowledgeable but in-ring IQ is about applying that knowledge and adapting in the moment. Roy wasn't able to adapt after his reflexes dwindled. It' the old book smart vs street smart. In boxing we call it Ring IQ.
He didn't only lose his reflexes, he lost a lot of his stamina, activity and punch resistance. Moving down in weight like he did takes a lot out of a person. He was clearly severely affected by it and never recovered. It's not just as simple as having a plan B.
Maybe he lost a lot of stamina, punch resistance and activity. That's possible. But he still didn't have a plan B.
