Could Canelo react Roy Jones' punches?

Very true, no one's saying Lara was anything close to Prime RJJ, but at the same time that version of Canelo was nowhere near at the level of current Canelo. Lara didn't make him look foolish, but he certainly was a tough style for Canelo to deal with at that time.

No we haven't. We've never really seen him hurt or in any serious trouble. The closest we ever seen to him being hurt was vs Cotto's brother and that was in his early days. Floyd had him in a little bit of Trouble in the 7th, GGG in the rematch in 10th had him there for a moment, but he recovered rapdily in both cases. He was never in the kind of trouble Roy was in like when he got knocked down by Lou Del Valle. Though it was only a flash knockdown, he was caught with a great shot and it was definitely a moment where you realized RJJ was vulnerable if you can land a big shot on him. We've never seen Canelo really hurt badly or taken off his feet like RJJ was. But to your point, if anyone could put him down, a Prime RJJ maybe has the best chance of anyone. All I'm saying is that RJJ would have to be careful because he could easily find himself making a mistake trying to head hunt Canelo and getting countered with a shot that puts him down.

 

I always respect your opinions and your passion, but I don’t agree at all.

The problem is, Roy’s prime was 25 years ago, he tarnished his reputation by being beaten by guys he’d have beaten in his prime, and Canelo is currently right in the middle of his prime where he is looking awesome.

It’s my opinion that if you and some of the others went back and reminded yourself of just how great Roy was, that you would have a different opinion.

Canelo is doing great. He looks great and he is great. But beating guys like BJS and Smith etc, isn’t as impressive as when Roy knocked out Malinga, Hill and Griffin, as well as embarrassing a guy like Toney etc.

I think you’re overrating him.

Again, he’s simply never seen anyone like Roy before. Now you can say that Roy hadn’t fought a Canelo before, but he fought Hopkins, Toney, Reggie, Hill and McCallum etc. He’s fought technically gifted fighters, across different divisions.

The only opponent who comes close to Roy who Canelo’s fought, is Floyd when he was young.

Floyd, Lara and BJS all gave him issues with their movement.

Regarding Roy’s chin, Roy took good shots from Toney and Ruiz. And if you watched the Del Valle fight, Roy actually fell face first due to his back foot slipping on the wet canvas, which had to be wiped with a towel mid fight on two separate occasions.

Canelo is built like a tank. He definitely looks to have a better chin than Roy. But you know that the most dangerous shots are the ones that you don’t anticipate. The shot that Tarver landed on Roy would have knocked out most SMW’s and LHW’s of most eras, and I think that Roy lost some punch resistance after the drop back from HW.

What it mostly comes down to, is how they’d have matched up stylistically.

Would a 5’8 guy with a 70” reach who has struggled with movement before, have had a realistic chance of beating a prime Roy Jones who barely lost rounds in the majority of his fights?

I don’t think so.

I don’t see at as being a really close fight.

I think that both guys would have been cautious, with lots of feints etc, but that Roy would have won with his significant advantages in speed, reach and reflexes.

 

And, as others have astutely noted, Roy combined that speed with crushing power delievred from off- your-defensive-radar, unpredictable angles.

 

Complete agreement here. Roy was not chinny in his prime, this is a myth. A lot of guys sidestepped Roy during his capmaign at 168 and below or they were with King. Griffin gave him some trouble but Roy had turned the tide of the fight and was on his way to a win before the DQ. Griffin also was 1) very clever 2) former Olympian 3) trained by Eddie Futch.

Roy in his prime, reacted like he saw things in slow motion and moved like he was in fast forward, it was a nightmare for his opponents.

 

Money would be on Roy obviously.

However, I could see the CURRENT version of Canelo timing Roy, at least 3/10 fights.

 

Agree about Griffin being clever and the fact that Roy saw things in slow motion and moved like he was in fast forward. But that's precisely why you can argue that he was chinny. Because he was so fast in his day no one could ever hit him clean, so he never really got chin checked during his prime. His chin was never tested so you can't really say it's a myth that he was chinny in his prime, it was more of an "unknown" than a myth due to how fast he was and how no one he fought was fast enough to really catch him clean with a big shot so we never got to see how chinny he was until he slowed down later on in his career.

So this is an unprovable point. You can believe he was not chinny in his prime, but we literally never got a chance to find out due to how fast he was. As far as Canelo, the point I made is that Canelo not only has the hand speed to 168, but he also has one punch KO power that if he timed RJJ right he could test that chin. I think at this point it's pretty clear that at 168-lbs, Canelo would be the best fighter RJJ ever fought and RJJ would be the best fighter Canelo ever fought.

I get that most people would favor Prime RJJ because of the hand speed, but Canelo would give Prime Roy at 168 the toughest test of his career. And I can't see Roy stopping Canelo. So we have RJJ trying to win a decision while having to be careful not to get caught by Canelo. I mean imagine RJJ trying to showboat against Canelo. That would be very dangerous vs Canelo. RJJ could get away with that stuff vs the caliber of fighters he fought, but Canelo is another level. RJJ would have to be extra cautious and dialed in vs Canelo to win a decision. He couldn't showboat and get away with that vs Canelo. If RJJ tried to showboat, Canelo would make RJJ pay for playing around.

 

The fanboyism is flowing through your veins like Canelo's roids. Do you think Canelo beats Michael Spinks too ? Or Bob Foster ? LOL. Canelo wouldn't even beat Calzaghe

 

Has 168 lbs Canelo fought one man with greater handspeed, footspeed and reflexes than himself?

 

We will never know but I think he would of been able to find him here and there