Hopkins is great but fortunate

In any scenario, RJJ's ego wouldn't have allowed him to stay at 160 for his entire career so he would have eventually been out of B-Hops way anyway.

 

His 160 wasn't that weak. JDJ, Johnson, Echols, Joppy and Eastman were pretty solid contenders/former champs, and he decisively beat every regining champ as well, Holmes, Tito and DLH. He didn't give away too many rounds either. Sure it wasn't the strongest class and Toney wasn't around, on the other hand, when opportunity came - and Hopkins was a HUGE underdog vs. Tito - he took it by force. Hard to argue with his MW resume, he reigned over a decade and won every title out there. Roy on the other hand never picked up the lineal belt at 175 and in a stonger division avoided the biggest challenge (Michalczewski) and fought another biggie (Tarver) years after handpicking opposition, and look where it ended. Hopkins never EVER handpicked opponents or avoided a single MW challenge. He wiped the floor with his competition and ended his reing fighting P4P the best prospect at the time in JT. Pretty impressive.

 

both toney and jones, like hopkins, moved on from the mw division after winning titles there. however, toney's body of work at mw is better and lengthier than roy's and even hopkins. jones wasnt prime when he beat hopkins and toney took out a prime nunn (despite being down on the cards he pole axed him).

but to answer your question, i don't think either man could stay at 160 and had to move up. in that sense, you can't really say "what if they stayed" since neither man physically could. if you mean prime for prime in the mw division amongst the three i would have to say

1. Toney

2. Hopkins

3. Jones

Jones just didnt have the body of work at mw despite beating a green hopkins. Hopkins did beat very popular and very good, however undersized greats in odlh and tito but he did lose twice to a guy that isnt near him on any p4p list. he has some other solid wins but toney stopped one of the best pure boxers in the mw division of his generation and has some other solid wins as well.

 

The last thing you have to say is that ODLH was a MW champ...

 

Really? James Toney ain't ****.

B-Hop is legit, and did not use steriods.

 

michael nunn is a better win than anything bhop has done at mw. bhop has some solid wins, but has lost to rjj and taylor twice. yes, you could make the case for hopkins being above toney, and you could make the head to head case as well. as far as body of work, i just can't but hopkins above toney at mw. i'm a big fan of hopkins as well.

edit to note that a lot of that has to do w/ how much respect i have for "second to."

 

I believe Hopkins would have beaten Toney, but prime Jones over Hopkins anyday.

 

man, hopkins, toney, and jones should have had rematches and more fights together when they were still relevant

 

That's pure nonsense. Toney got a miracle-from-behind win vs. Nunn while Hopkins absolutely dominated and stopped the P4P#2 fighter for the undisputed title in the performance of the decade. WTF man?

 

On the assumption that Toney and Jones could of stayed at mw, then I see Hopkins living in there shadow. Jone's style back then was all wrong for counter-punchers like Toney and Hopkins, so I could see him becoming the man at mw. There were also solid guys like Reggie Johnson and McClellan who had a very good chance of beating Hopkins as well.

 

Its was Toney counters and body punches which set up that ko, you can even hear him saying to his trainer before the final round that Nunn was getting tired and wouldnt last the distance. Nunn fault was brawling to please the home crowd, when he should of boxed instead.

At mw, Hopkins best win is over Tito, and Tito wasnt very good at mw.

 

in terms of h2h I have:
Jones
Toney
Hopkins

Toney proved he could beat someone as good as Hopkins when he beat McCallum, Hopkins has never beaten anyone as good as Toney was back then. If they fought when Hopkins was Toneys mando for his IBF belt Hopkins would of got beat.

 

Tito absolutely trashed and brutalized 3-time MW champ Joppy for the world title and was the bigtime favorite vs. Hopkins. Now don't tell me you saw the beating coming, very few did. Hopkins was THAT good, not Tito that bad, Trinidad would've beaten every other MW by KO, but he fought Hopkins and that's a big difference, just ask Tarver, Pavlik or Johnson.