How do you rate Colin Jones as a puncher?

very good puncher but not elite. Tremendous left hook but an average right hand. Would have liked to have seen him carry on for a few more years to get a better gauge other than the 2 Laing KO's and the Palm KO TBH

 

He turned over his hook really beautiful. I love the way he turned his toe in sync with leveraging the shoulder. Really strong stuff, no wonder he hit very hard with that shot.

 

Jones's power was a powerful puncher who could take most opponents out with a single punch, or at worst, with any 2 or 3 punch combination. But he was not on the level of Hearns, Leonard, or Cuevas, in terms of sheer one punch KO power.

 

It's tough to pin down exactly partly because he was one of those fighters who retired after a short career in their prime having only fought a few top fighters.Also because he's not a great talent who can land easily on any opposition.

From what we saw in his brief career, i tend to think he had the look of having genuinely top-notch raw power and certainly his KO's against the usual early career journeyman opposition are as brutal, consistent and emphatic as you would expect from an extremely hard hitter.

The step up against McCrory could be taken a few ways.You can be harsh and say the power didnt carry, but what i took from those fights was that it was his other tools and overall ability, minus raw power that were struggling to be as successful.

It was already obvious in the upcoming contenders crossroads bout with the physically gifted but lazy Kirland Laing that Jones was going to really struggle with good movers with better speed and\or boxing skills than him.

Jones was slow of foot, very methodical, not particularly fast of hand and didn't throw a lot of punches, nor was he fluid with his shots.He didn't land much at all on McCrory,certainly not with his best fully leveraged shots, he was consistently turned or kept at range. yet his power gave him a chance at a 2nd half KO in both fights and obviously took a toll on McCrory mentally, despite Milt usually only shipping what seemed to be the odd body shot or not quite perfectly landed right hand.

McCrory reaction in both fights was very clearly that of being in with someone who he REALLY didn't like to get hit at all from.So much so he ended up losing a decent number of rounds through ceding the momentum and initiative when he had shown(and contiuned to have)superiority in most areas physically and technically.He could also use conditions quite close to McGuigan vs Cruz as an excuse if he had wanted, which must have been tough on a pale welshman but were never mentioned as he wasn't a superstar expected to win.

McCrory himself was massively overhyped at the time and somewhat deflated by them, but taken on his own merits he was a fine Welter who i'd pick over the vast majority of the past decades' Welters.Good technically and a handful physically.


So, i don't hold those fights against his power per se, more so his overall ability as a fighter and puncher....this is the kind of fights i'd be expecting to see someone like Galaxy have had he fought this kind of opposition, maybe he get the late KO because he was stronger and a bit better at getting his best punch off, but still same sort of thing.

All in all as a Welter puncher i'd rate him very highly when just talking hard hitting contenders...as an overall puncher he'd only rate a passing mention because of his non-elite overall effectiveness and brief inconclusive career.With fights against some world level contenders who perhaps had a better style for him than the rangey, potentially very mobile McCrory, ie Honeyghan, Brown or a number of fighter just below that level it would easier to give him a more accurate conclusive rating.His exposure as a Puncher(if not necessarily overall fighter) would- like many more obscure punchers who competed in the original 8 divisions- have benefited from picking up a belt in a weaker era or division.

Another british puncher who kind of reminds me of Jones, was Henry Wharton.He was even more methodical and a lot more disinterested, but threw better combos.His left hook was awesome.

btw i wouldn't agree Jones had an average right hand, at least not in terms of power.It seemed effortlessly heavy handed to me, just not thrown as well as the left hook.

 

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FG5N4CJFzmI[/ame]


That's a good example of what i mean about the right.Didn't seem to much on that counter at all and the guy goes down in an instant.Props for getting up after 2nd one though.


[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdvji7vvU2Y[/ame]



[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkhDcCkq0hs[/ame]



[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVskeckYsD0[/ame]

 

It's the Curry KO.He looked like the occasion had got to him before it as well, but it's such a good precision punch i can't hold it against him too much.Especially after a few solid comeback efforts at 154\160 against Dewitt and McCallum.

 

Beautiful left hook.
He had a lot of power in that hook, no doubt.
Enough power to be a world class puncher.

But those guys like Kirkland Laing and the European champion, I forget his name, and some others .... they left themselves open more than a world class opponent would, or should, for Colin's most obvious favourite weapon.

So, on the highest stage, his value "as a puncher" not proven. But that's at the highest standard, against the top men in a damn good welterweight era.

 

A very good puncher,but not a great one. He never let enough of them go,imo. This cost him in his two fights with Milton McCrory. Particularly the first one.

 

Very good puncher I saw him ko Kirkland Laing twice, at the Conference Centre, I think, he was a good banger but somewhat of a slow starter.

 

McVey...I thought the first Laing fight was at he Conf Centre, 2nd at the RAH?

I think Jones was a proper banger with both hands...iirc in Laing 1 the first rock of the landside was a right hand...I saw him KO Richard House with a beaut of a right hand at the RAH (June '80???).

I reckon Jones' problems were he was a bit slow of foot, didn't tend to throw in combination, and needed to set himself to be effective, with the movers he wasn't always able to get off because of this, but with a clean shot he had world class power.

One story I'll share is that an ex pro mate of mine sparred with Jones for the Palm fight (late '82). He told me that he was easily outboxing Jones, couldn't believe how easy it was...the next thing he was coming around with his trainer standing over him seeing if he was OK...

 

It's the punches you don't see!
I don't think there is any doubt that he was a great puncher. If he hit anyone clean they stayed hit.

 

You are right of course,[I'm getting old], the second fight was at the
R A H both were 9 rds stoppages.