Sosa never won a title or made money, but he was a serious serious threat at 160 in the late 80s and early 90s. Never seen Lucas or heard much of him? Wouldn't even know his first name.
The best guys Jones fought apart from Toney and Hopkins were the crafty cagey concrete old veterans Thornton, McCallum and Castro.
He put 'World Class Names'? Included was lightweight, post severe neck surgery Vinny Paz!? And Clinton Woods!
I have never been corrected on this board, ever, by someone who has boxed when I say how much weigh matters. Hatton's entire style was predicated on cutting weight and bullying guys who were smaller than him. It's why he made Zoo quit and ragdolled Paulie. Picture running a few miles compared to running a few miles on an incline...then you'll know what about three rounds feels like vs. A guy lighter than you and a guy heavier.
Eric Lucas Neither were great fighters, but they fought and won at world level. They weren’t journeyman.
Thornton was USBA champ when it was big and sold a lot of tickets with Philly fans packing out Atlantic City, on network TV every fight in the 80s. In the early 90s he had less coverage but beat Sosa and Tiberi in brilliant showings then ran Eubank and Toney close in big fights. Far from a journeyman, even though he kept his day job as a Postman! Real old school skills - slipping, shoulder rolls, cutting off the ring, sneak right hand, lots of power, immense durability. Toney considered him a threat and trained accordingly..
Lmao Reggie Johnson would never beat Roy. And he was an excellent 175 sadly his fight with Tarver has been vaporized off the internet
James Toney on Thornton: 'I'm surprised you haven't said anything bad about Tony Thornton yet!' 'Well, he hasn't tried to diss me. I respect Tony Thornton. He's a cagey veteran. When I was a kid I used to watch him on TV. He beat lots of great fighters before I even turned pro, So he knows his way round a ring as well as anyone. He knows all the angles, all the moves. He can be real slippery and I know he's tough. But when the fighting's over he's just a regular guy.'
In the fight with Roy, Tony Thornton had come back from successful shoulder surgery but it popped out again, even so he slipped pretty much all of the 20-punch combo Jones threw against him on the ropes!
I have already acknowledged how weight can be an important factor, but again, it depends on who you’re fighting and how the styles mesh. Put Wilder in the ring with a limited HW with a basic style, and his reach would be a huge advantage. Put him in the ring with a prime version of Mike Tyson, and his size advantages on paper would be a disadvantage for him in the ring, against that particular fighter and stylistic match up. Ricky’s weight advantage wasn’t actually an advantage for him against Floyd. Floyd’s reach advantage was far more important than Ricky being heavier. You are trying to imply that Floyd was up against against a bigger, heavier guy. He wasn’t. He was taller, he had a huge reach advantage, he was much faster and on another level in terms of ability. How many fights did Ricky have above LWW? How many fights did Floyd have at WW?
Canelo snuck by Austin Trout in a bout marred by open scoring. That was his crowning achievement. He only held another belt because he was gifted a vacant title against Matthew Hatton. Those metrics impress far less when described in their actual context. It's hardly the most impressive weight-jumping victory we've seen, at a catch-weight no less, and really can't be compared to the move up to fight Ruiz at all.
It would be extremely close at 160. The 91 Reggie was like a southpaw smooth conventional version of Jones himself, his KD of a 100% weight strong Toney was far more impressive than Roy's.... And his 10th round against Collins was more impressive than any round I've ever seen from Roy
If you’re gonna use that line of reasoning, then Hopkins was a bum. Canelo had beaten Trout, Josesito, Gomez, and Cintron, and is now pfp 1. Your bias is obvious.
