Could Calzaghe have beaten the Ruiz that Jones beat?

For all you know, he might not. He might not even beat top LtHW's or CW's let alone a HW.

Personally, I think he max's out at 175. But I wonder if he'll ever fight there before it's too late.

Win or lose vs. Kessler, it's time to find out IMHO.

 

Nah :-( of course not. Can you not see the difference between the Roy Jones that beat Ruiz . . . and Calzaghe? Common buddy . . . it's pretty obvious.

Ruiz didn't looked bad because he is such a bad fighter or out of shape . . . Ruiz looked bad because RJ made him looked bad.

 

Ruiz could actually punch earlier in his career. Most people forget that. He definitely hits hard enough to KO a natural SMW if he connects.

 

What do you mean by styles? Explain.

The way I see it, Joe doesn't have the size to absorb a clean shot from Ruiz, nor does he have the defensive capabilities to avoid flush shots for 12 rounds. As elusive as JOnes is, Ruiz STILL was able to land a clean punch every so often.

And Ruiz, while not having Top power, is still a good size HW. Did Byron Mitchell have Top HW power? No he didn't. But he caught Joe while they were trading. Ruiz is more then capable of doing so. And would probably bully Joe around the ring. Fighting 168er is one thing. Fighting a guy who would easily outweigh you by 50 pounds is another. When Ruiz holds Joe, Joe will expunge A LOT of energy trying to keep him off. No way can Joe win here.

 

Totally agree. joe definitely doesn't have the style to pull it off. Ruiz would tie him up with ease in close.

 

He excells against pressure, this is not even up for discussion. He'd however be so undersized against Ruiz that it's not logical to say that his style would be effective for very long against someone with such a tremendous size advantage.

He can backpedal for survival and still win rounds close, but against MW-SMW-LHW's, not fully blown HW's.

We're talking about getting a win here?

 

Yes and LaMotta would get ripped with combination after combination in the process, which would have more of an effect than on the 240 pound Ruiz I am afraid.

 

Ruiz is nothing special BUT he is a legit HW as he has beat and dropped Holy, beat and hurt Rahman, beat Golota, beat and hurt Johnson, and stopped Oqeundo when he was a contender, all named are/were top HW contenders he also should of beat Valeuv, and held his own against Chageav, i think he would not only beat Calzaghe but he would stop him as Calzaghe ain't as good as Jones or as big and skilled as Toney his style is taylor made for Ruiz IMO.

 

Unfortunately, the inside fighting Joe's so good at would probably be nullified by the Hugmaster.

 

If Toney could do it, then so could Calzaghe.

Byron Mitchell landed a flush punch to the temple. He is considered a tremendous puncher, and the punch only scored a flash knockdown. Calzaghe is allowed to be hit a few times over 43 fights.

If Toney could survive the hugging then so can the lighter footed Calzaghe.

I'm not sure you realize just how good Calzaghe is. One of the best defensive fighters, one of the most evasive fighters of the last decade.

Calzaghe would look how Willie Pep looked against 5-12-0 fighters against Ruiz's heavyweight speed.

 

First half of the fight -

-go into fight at a relatively light weight, to maintain assets (especially speed and fitness)

-try to box at range, adopt a very defensive attitude

- look to use speed to beat Ruiz to to jab

- move in and out throwing one or two punches at a time rather than bunches, so as to conserve energy (vital to win the fight) lots of head and body movement, use the SMW reflexes

- use footwork to avoid the clinches where possible when not just hit him on the way in (and accept he is going to get you on ocassions and it is going to be tiring)


Once a sufficient lead is built up, go into survival mode, to conserve energy (fighting a heavyweight would be tiring - especially when making the effort to taking round) and to see out the fight. This would neutralize Ruiz's 'wear him down plan', leaving Ruiz needing a KO.

(Survival mode might be something along the lines of, on your toes, guard up, on your bike, throwing only to discourage the opponent)

 

Enzo would make sure he boxed smart.