ATG LHW Tourney - Round 2 - Michael Spinks vs Roy Jones Jr

Roy Jones knocked out Virgil Hill (broke his ribs), Montell Griffin, Merqui Sosa, Clinton Woods, and floored Reggie Johnson twice and Julio Gonzales three times in their light heavyweight fights.

He could punch.

I would favor Spinks, too. I think he carried a lot of his power up to heavyweight. Whereas, Jones maxed out at 175.

But Jones (in his heyday - before he moved up and fought Ruiz) could punch.

People seem to be able to separate the downside of a boxer's career when looking back at old timers, and they tend to view them solely as they were in their primes ... through rose-colored glasses.

They are less forgiving of modern fighters and many seem to take joy in focusing on the bad times when it comes to them.

 

Step away from the keyboard.

He's a great puncher, absolutely, but lets not go there.

 

Who did McClellan knockout that was considered impossible to knockout? Because at 168 Roy knocked out Mulinga and Thornton? Its not fair to compare anyone to Roy as a puncher, no one has a more spectacular highlight reel of finishes vs the level of of opponents Roy fought. No one is even close really and the kicker is he did it equally with both hands.

Roy's equally as accurate as Floyd(the most accurate) except instead of throwing 1 punch at a time pot shots and counters. Roy's throwing 7 punch combinations and/or leaping haymakers. Again it doesn't seem fair that Roy the least measured fighter ever could be as accurate as the most measured ATGs so people are in denial.

 

Ok I ask again who is the most impressive fighter the G-Man stopped? I'll help you the answer is probably Gilbert Baptiste who took the fight on super short notice

Roy stopped Tate Woods Malinga Sosa Hill etc etc.

 

Spinks via Kaboom!

 

Gerald McClellan was essentially beaten to death by Nigel Benn. If not for the expertise of his surgeon, he'd have died.

McClellan could punch hard, but he wasn't someone who could absorb a lot of shots. He rarely took a beating. When he finally did, he nearly died.

So "assuming" he would "decimate" the string of light heavyweights Roy Jones actually did beat has no basis in reality.

Gerald never displayed the ability to take shots from top light heavyweights and never showed he could beat a single one.

 

Jesus Christ, how can you defence saying Jones was the hardest puncher of all time. He wasn't even top 3 of his era!

 

Roy will become afraid of Spinks early and run ,, this ends one way Spinks by brutal knockout.

 

That's like saying Ezzard Charles couldn't take a punch because he couldn't stay off the floor against Johnny Holman or Donnie Fleeman.

Roy Jones was done against Glen Johnson. That was evident from the opening bell. You seem to love to compare Jones after 35, but won't do the same with boxers from other eras.

It's like you never saw Jones against anyone prior to the Tarver fight.

Gerald McClellan was in his prime and was essentially beaten to death against Nigel Benn, the first and really only time McClellan took a beating in a fight. Nearly 90 percent of his previous fights lasted two rounds or less.

McClellan never showed ANY ability to take a shot. Ever. He nearly DIED the first time he got hit hard regularly in a fight.

He is a classic example of someone who couldn't absorb a beating. The first beating he took all but killed him.

Yet, you assume he'd moved up ABOVE the weight where he nearly died at and would just steamroll all the champs Jones beat there? Based on what? He never knocked out a top light heavyweight. He barely lived against the first top super middleweight he faced.

 

Roy Jones and Gerald McClellan fought as amateurs in 1988, the year of the Olympics. McClellan won a split decision over three rounds.

There is a video of John Scully and Roy Jones sparring on youtube. At the end, you see Gerald McClellan sitting with Ray Leonard watching the session.

According to Scully, the sparring session took place three weeks after the McClellan-Jones fight, and McClellan refused to spar with anyone at that camp because he said his jaw was so sore from the Jones fight.

Basically, a month after going three with Jones, McClellan still wasn't fit to spar. McClellan was never very durable.

 

Wut? Jackson hit him with flush shots that would've shook even Hagler in their first fight.

Edit: There was also a lot of different factors in the Benn fight. For instance, I wonder if those rabbit punches did not cause more issues than legitimate boxing punches.