Joe Calzaghe Vs. Roy Jones Junior @168

Calzaghe would come into the fight late, but I don’t know whether it’d be enough, but he’d have success.

 

Not sure if Joe wins but feeling it'd be close.

 

Hard to say as we never saw a prime Roy Jones, Jr - only ROID Jones, Jr

 

I have no doubt Jones wins and convincingly so. At 168, he was a beast.

 

Hmmm, hot take - Roy stops Joe easier than some might think.

Those straight line pocket entries to unleash those flurries, prime Roy hits you as soon as he sees you twitch. Roy was faster in foot, hand and reflexive speed and hit much harder than Joe did.

If Joe survives 12 rounds, it's on chin and determination but the guy that I saw deal with Toney and brutalise Pazienza has too much speed and wicked power for even the best of Joe. It's a much different battle of dealing with a left hook for Joe than facing Mr Lacy.

 

All I can point to is the fight that their older versions had. Both were faster when they were younger. It would be closer than that fight because Jones lost more than Calzaghe as they aged. That said, the fight they had was lopsided in Joe's favour. Let's say Jones gained more. The question is how much and would it be enough to tip it in his favour? I think Jones would always struggle against Calzaghe, personally. I'll take Joe on points.

 

Really?

Why do you think Jones of say '95 would struggle with a younger version of Calzaghe?

 

It might be a decent fight but ultimately I’d have to favor Jones.

 

Read my post.

This is our reference point:

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I get that but respectfully, I don't think their fight is any reflection of what a prime Roy did in the ring.

KO-worn and a ghost of the fighter of 13 years earlier. His footwork, handspeed, punch resistance and more importantly, confidence and self-belief in the ring when they fought were nowhere near what he was at 168 lbs.

I don't underrate Calzaghe here - just that I believe that he wasn't in the class of prime Roy and would expect a Roy who didn't know loss up to that point to show how good he was.

 

Joe has no chance and loses every round

 

That’s always his reference point.

Always.

It’s such a weak argument.


It’s like studying Mike against Lennox, or Ray Leonard against Norris.


Nobody who watched their careers could possibly have favoured Joe.

He did absolutely nothing in his career to have been favoured.


Roy barely lost rounds in most of his fights, where he either cruised by or destroyed, world level fighters such as: Castro, Malinga, Hopkins, Toney, Griffin, Hill, Reggie, Hall and Woods etc. We can even add Ruiz.

Whereas Joe looked awful against David Starie, Ricky Thornberry, Kabary Salem, and he went life and death with Robin Reid, sandwiched between 2 of Reid’s defeats.

They were simply operating on different levels.


Roy was also faster, more powerful, far more accurate, with better timing and a far better defence.


Then there’s the psychological aspect, which everyone seems to ignore.

Joe did not go all out to pursue a prime for prime fight in real time, during his actual career. He wasn’t interested.

When they did fight, it was after he’d said that the fight would be pointless, as Roy was a shot fighter and had been for years.

Then since his retirement, he’s admitted on two separate occasions, that he doesn’t know if he could have beaten him at his best.


So look at his actions and his words.

They speak volumes.


The guy only fought around 10/11 world level fighters in his entire career.

To me, it’s absolutely staggering how many people believe that he’d have beaten Roy.

He really wouldn’t have.

1. He wasn’t good enough to have been favoured.

2. He didn’t have the belief.


Only a moron would pick him based upon their actual fight.

 

I remember it vividly.

At the time, the commonly held narrative was that the likes of Benn, Eubank, Watson, Collins and later Calzaghe were at least a clear level below your McCallums, Hopkins, Toney, Roy and Nunn's of this world prime for prime.

Perhaps, this was American media bias but Eubank pretty much admitted this, himself, when he said he wanted no parts of Roy. Whilst very humble-appaearing nowadawys, Chris was and is a very proud man - he ain't saying that ish lightly.

 

Aye, agreed by and large I think. The slapper had underrated intelligence and adaptability once he adjusted from his not infrequent early tendency to hop in in straight lines square on with his chin up swallowing right hands. Might be that he could switch to working behind his jab with more discipline and find a bit of success bushwhacking Roy from odd but crafty angles and burying him occasionally under a well-timed flurry. Especially if he could punch with him a bit, jab to the chest a bit. Or if Jones showed him the sort of slightly excess respect he sometimes tended to show the best fighters he faced and focused more on trying to shut Calzaghe down with low risk/minimum fuss rather than going to town on him.

but yeah, Joe's just going to get horribly beaten to the punch more often than not, and Roy could really punch very hard out of nowhere at super middle. Calzaghe was usually the ring general in his fights as well which wouldn't be the case here. Him saying in his own book that he wanted no part of Jones at their respective bests (though he was mysteriously keen to jump in with the shot to shite version immediately after) should speak for itself.