Could anyone in the history of boxing ever beat a prime Roy Jones Jr.?

Fair enough.

Loughran was an absolutely brilliant fighter. Beat many heavyweights and all the top middleweights and lightheavies of the time, including Harry Greb.

 

How does JC get knocked out when Jones couldn't knock out fighters like Lou DeValle and David Telesco?

Joe never got knocked out and Roy Jones knocks him out?!

Tunney beat Dempsey, Greb, and a host of other greats and Jones beats him??

Charles beat Moore, etc. and Jones beats him?

Moore's resume speaks for itself and he only has a chance to beat Jones?

All this defies logic.

Jones looked good against weak competition. That does not mean he could beat proven ATGs.

 

Jones struggled against decent lefties like DeValle. Calzaghe was more than just decent. Remember he fought Jones when he (Calzaghe) was also past his prime and owned him. A prime Calzaghe would be too much for an overhyped (by HBO, media, etc.) Jones. Joe's stamina, workrate, technical skills, and speed combined would be overwhelm Roy. Roy liked slow, average fighters he could control. Let's look at this with a dry eye.

 

Agreed. To do more than just give him trouble, JC would have to have an answer for RJJ's speed, which he wouldn't have. And not having a great defense, he would have been tagged pretty consistently. Still, he might have been able to land a big shot, especially back before the hand issues, but that would be about it.

 

Prime Jones at 175..not sure..maybe Spinks..But i like Roy"s chances.

 

In the light-heavyweight division yes.

In the supermiddleweight division no.

 

Horrid post.

 

Anyone can beat anyone if the right punch is landed (even if by luck) so I don't think you can say RJJ (or anyone else for that matter) but I can't think of anyone that a prime RJJ wouldn't have been the favorite against.

 

glenn johnson.

 

He got careless and was dropped by Del Valle, otherwise he handled him with the same ease he handled every other of his opponents during his prime. Not to mention we're considering this matchup in both fighter's primes at 168, not at 175 where Jones's power and punch resistance were more of a liability, along with his diminished foot speed.

Calzaghe has always had very fast feet, even when supposedly past his prime. Footspeed was one of the first things to go for Jones, on the other hand. In his prime, his footwork and ability to dictate the range and pace of the fight was one of his strongest attributes. As he aged and moved up in weight, this ability started to deteriorate to the point where he was more or less relying on his handspeed and defensive reflexes (the latter of which would be next to go). By the time he fought Calzaghe he showed about 60% of his prime handspeed, and only in small spurts whereas he was able to sustain it for an entire fight in his prime. His legs were shot, his stamina was shot, his defensive reflexes were shot, and his durability/stamina was shot. Calzaghe was the same fighter he'd always been, the only difference being that he had slowed a hair, but not nearly to the extent that some make out.

In a matchup between the two prime for prime, Jones had the faster hands, the much more powerful punch, the better accuracy, the better ring generalship, and the bullet right hand to counter Calzaghe's southpaw style at every turn. Calzaghe's own footspeed, stamina, and workrate would cause Roy problems down the stretch no doubt, but Jones holds all the cards in this matchup to win a comfortable decision.

 

i was embarrassed for roy in that fight, calzaghe put on an exhibition,not only did he hold back he carried roy for half the fight...

so jones was shot! calzaghe was the same as ever? no punch,46 fights in, aged 37 and fighting at 175lb a weight in which he looked fleshy! calzaghe was a great fighter who endured and aged much better than jones but to say he was the same as ever!!!! he couldnt punch for ****!

 

Don't laugh, but. Calzaghe could...

 

I don't think anyone could have easily outboxed a prime Roy Jones Jr. I think people might have been able to knock him out (Michael Moorer), but not have outboxed him. If you watch him in the Griffin fight, that was Griffins peak and best performance of his career. Roy Jones was outboxed for the first time in his career in that fight, but Roy Jones had an extremely high ring intelligence and still took control of the fight.

In the Tarver fight a past prime Roy Jones was being outboxed but he still had enough left to win. I think Moorer would be like Tarver 2, where he wouldn't outbox Roy but Roy wouldn't have been able to hurt Moorer and Moorer's power would have eventually ended the fight. Probably by TKO.

 

Cutting out the rest of that sentence kinda takes it out context. He'd been slap-happy for years by that point and had adapted his style accordingly. He always had similar punching technique (i.e. not technically sound), he just didn't have as fragile hands in his younger days. Maybe better technique would've prevented the breaks that eventually sapped him of his power?

 

Michael Moorer is supremely overrated as a LHW, too basic and defensively flawed for a guy like Jones. I think Roy could've and would've outboxed him comfortably. He may've even stopped him. That's not to say with Moorer's power he doesn't stand a chance of getting a KO against the more flat-footed LHW version of Jones, but I wouldn't count on it.