Could heavy wght Roy Jones Jr have replicated ali against liston?

Liston's main problem would be the lawsuit for assault and battery after the match.

RJJ was great, and his win over cherrypick "The Slow Man" Ruiz was notable, but no fking way does he win over Liston, in fact if he makes it out of the third he's doing well.

 

Sure, but I'd assume he'd have been cautious, and very elusive for the early stages of the fight.

I can't really envisage him winning, but I think that saying he doesn't make a round is unrealistic and disrespectful.

There's an awful lot of HW's who could have beaten Roy, but you have to note that the version of Roy who fought Ruiz at a shade under 200 pounds, would probably be the fastest opponent of who ever fought him. The only HW who I see getting him out of there extremely early, is someone like Mike at his best. I think most of the others would have needed a few rounds to catch up to him. Sonny was a monster, but Roy had incredible speed and reflexes.

 

He'd replicate Patterson.

 

Liston had a long powerful jab .Jones would struggle to cope with that.

 

Impossible to answer because the Ali fights were obviously fixed.

 

Roy wouldn't get in the ring with Sonny Liston at gun point! much less for money

 

Liston would destroy him

 

One well placed jab on Jones from Liston would have hurt Jones and caused him to unravel,...to come apart at the seams, ....follow up body punches would have made it look like the 1st Patterson fight. Round 1 or 2, I don't know...I can't decide, but Liston hurts and ko's Jones about as easy as he did Patterson.

 

Ali had physical gifts that Jones simply did not. He was 4 or 5 inches taller, longer reach, much much better durability. Jones would have needed all of those things against Liston. Listons ridiculously long left, which was as hard as a right hander from most HWs would have posed serious issues. How does Jones survive it, much less get past it, and if he could get past it he has the right following close behind and a left hook that was effective even in close despite Listons long arms to worry about. Beyond that Liston was incredibly strong so I dont really see Jones having any success with him whatsoever. I think its a pretty horrible matchup stylistically and physically for Jones. It would be target practice for Liston and devolve into a running match for Jones. It wouldnt be "if" Liston stopped him but "when" and my prediction would be pretty early. The technical mistakes Jones makes would play right into Listons jab. Watch some of Listons fights where the guy thinks hes out of range and Listons ridiculously long jab loojs like it comes halfway across the ring to catch them.

 

I think trying out potshot Ali is a tall order for any fighter, no matter how gifted... and certainly to tall an order for a sub-6 footer. It's pressure and crowding that proved a nemesis to Ali's style, and then only when done by a select few.

 

I don't think Jones Jr. has the style to survive the first round.
At such physical disadvantages he'd have to be some sort of cagey spoiler or durable as a rock to go rounds with Liston. And Jones wasn't that.