Better overall skills: Roy Jones jr or Sugar Ray Leonard

I can't stand how Jones leaves himself open. Poor hand positioning. Always low.

Spinks would counter the crap out of him, so would Archie Moore and Ezzard Charles.

 

That's called baiting.

 

Nah they werent quick enough.

 

Except he doesn't have faster hands than most welterweights. He's slowed to a crawl, he has awful knees, and his old ass bones are brittle and racked with arthritis.

There is a line when skills can't save you anymore because you don't have the body of functioning pro athlete any longer.

Watching Roy against Lebedev, he's not there yet. His speed is present, he hurt his opponent several times, he was sharp, and was having a pretty good day defensively. His flaws, and a deteriorating chin, got him caught yet again.

The man was a weapon in his prime. Slowed down, though, his low hands and straight lines of retreat make him a target guys like Danny Green and Lebedev would never have had a prayer to hit if Roy was in his twenties.

Leonard lost ONCE past his prime(Twice if you count Hearns, another great fighter), a lopsided decision beating, after which he acknowledged he was too far gone physically(Couldn't turn his punches over quick enough to land with authority on Norris), and called it quits for damn near a decade. He never got pancaked like Roy, because his hands weren't ever all over the place(Tarver), he never turned his head to a punch(Johnson, Green), and relied on more than high hands when on the ropes(Lebedev).

I think their past prime performances are a pretty good indication as to who the better fundamental boxer was. Roy beats Leonard at 160(Or anywhere Leonard fought that Roy could actually make), but any boxing coach on earth would say to learn from Leonard, and just be in awe of Roy. Roy got thrashed twice by Tarver, Leonard outboxed Marvin Hagler after a long layoff with a ton of rust. Roy's style is utterly dependent on having a weapon of a body. Lose that weapon's peak effectiveness, and lesser men have the openings they need for shock victories.

I honestly consider coming back after years off, some eye surgery, and a drug habit to be about as difficult as cutting 25 pounds and losing a step. Their results then differ wildly.

Roy Jones is still a top 20 fighter at 175-200.

 

Whatever it is it's stupid and dangerous.

All the reason why he got caught and clobbered later on when he shouldn't have. I can understand trying to goad your opponent into a shot with your hands down for a second, but Jones was just plain arrogant and rarely had his hands up to protect his face.

 

I dont think so,for 1 thing the fight would have been at 154....Hearns nearly killed himself to make that weight in '81. As the weight rose Leonard looked even more vurnable which most of his performances showed,Hearns weight problem was the biggest reason Ray won that 1st fight Hearns was a deadman out there..still a great comback tho..1 i dont think Jones ever could have done.

 

I think the biggest difference between them is in courage and their stomach for a fight. Leonard repeatedly faced tough fights and found a way to win. Jones never had the heart to get hit and come back and win, which is why he would have lost to Moore, Foster, Conn, and a score of others.
As much as I hate to admit it (I have a bias against guys that fought in the Olympics), Leonard was the real deal. RJJ was a product of his era and vastly overrated.

 

If you can make 145, you can make 147.

Its Hearns own fault if he cut too much. Ray was still the better man over the championship distance.

 

Your right he was the better man when it counted in that fight Hearns fault was his and Stewards fault...i dont take anything away from Leonard he took 1 of the worst beatings in that fight..but he showed guts and determination like knowone I've ever seen....there's no way in **** Jones would have rose to the occasion like that he would have been on his back a long time ago anyway...

 

Leonard. He could do more off the front foot than Roy ever dreamed about, better atclose range IMV, just a few more tools in the shed.

 

So did Jones, he was throwing a lot of uppercuts inside, pulling away or to the side from a clinch to get enough space for it. And body punches were Jones' specialty back from early days, from all ranges.

 

You should pay more attention when you watch his earlier fights again. When there is danger (mid to close range), one or both hands are always up, protecting his face.

 

Indeed. Against Brannon for instance, he caught everything on his arms and gloves until the man tired himself out.

 

Agree with you Senya, but he wasn't as disciplined in his early career as you think. He had the speed and reflexes to reset his hands in proper guard position to protect himself. He still had that low, lazy hanging left though.

 

When you know how to guard you jaw with your left shoulder, you don't need to keep your left hand up all the time.