Jones wins it, with Calzaghe placing a clear second. Anyone wants a technical debate as to why he can beat Ward and James Toney, please. feel free...
Can't you do better than that? 1. Calzaghe always shows up in shape, Toney does not. 2. Toney was fantastic and blocking and countering shots, the vast majority of which were powerful and designed to hurt James. Calzaghe didn't throw hard, he threw with constant volume. 3. Countering is all about establishing your opponents rhythm and using that to time them. Calzaghe had no mappable beat to his offense, thus making him difficult to continually time. 4. Calzaghe may be just as good, or even better than Toney at ad******g. 5. Power?! Not like Joe fell over in the wind, is it.
Final would be Jones - Calzaghe/Ward/Toney Not too sure how it would have played out between those 3... Kessler and Froch are in the bottom, for obvious reasons. Is it possible that ass whipping we saw in 94 would be the final of this tourney?:huh:yep
A super middleweight Toney was in shape not always but decent ..And if Joe couldnt keep Toney honest I think Toney would have no problems walking him down ..And as far as countering well when you throw looping punches its easy to counter how else was Joe decked by lesser fighters ? Toney would have a field day with those looping shots .. And on the inside you kidding Joe was not even close to the inside fighter Toney was Joe has never shown to be better than Toney at anything based on the guys he fought ..Joe had an incredible work rate but against whom ? Toney would counter parry and pick Joe apart and could manage to stop him .. This Toney destroys Joe http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPT2TCgk6l8
Assuming the best version of each are the ones fighting.... Jones wins this hands down, with Toney in second. Y'all can ***** about the rest...
James Toney had one of the best lead/counter right hands in the 1990's and Calzaghe has ate lead right hands from Robin Reid, Hopkins floored him with it so did Kabery Salem and Byron Mitchell. SMW Toney would have landed that right hand on southpaw Calzaghe on the regular basis till he f Had that Super 6 taken place, I think Calzaghe would go life and death with Kessler and Froch then pull a Dirrell with a doctors note from doctor Shaw High, and Sakio Bika taking his place. Calzaghe would then go back to Cardiff and complete the trilogy with Mario Veit, and be in Sven Ottke's shadow.
The Doctors note line made me laugh, but it would have been likely in my opinion, depending on how he was doing, IF he'd have entered the tournament. Joe was a great fighter, but his heart, desire and ambition, has to be called into question. I'm deadly serious when I say that I can envisage the following scenarios. 1. He'd have entered the tournament, but he'd have had a get out of jail free card up his sleeve (a hand injury) if things hadn't have been going his way. Joe was very arrogant and he had a huge ego. In my honest opinion, he'd rather have feigned an injury, than looked bad losing to the likes of Roy. His mindset would have played a huge part. I'm not hating on Joe, I'm just giving my honest opinion. In my opinion Joe wouldn't have held the belief that he could have won the tournament. In my opinion he knew he couldn't beat Roy at his best. I've been watching Joe since 1995, and i've heard and read countless interviews and have watched how he's carried himself over the years. He said he didn't really want tough fights. He said he knew what his capabilities were. He stayed at 168 for far too long, even starving himself towards the end, instead of pushing himself and moving to 175 earlier. Was he genuinely injured 3 times against Glen Johnson? Showtime labelled him "No show Joe" He nearly pulled out of the Lacy fight, until Frank threatened him, and made him take the fight. He wasn't injured, it was a psychological problem. It's irrelevant that he ended up destroying Lacy. The incident showed Joe's mindset. Again, in my opinion, Joe would not have entered the tournament believing that he could win it, whereas someone like Roy, would have had supreme confidence. 2. He'd have moved up to 175 before the tournament was signed. He would never have said that he wasn't interested in taking part, because it would have looked bad, and it would have been held against him. So for me, he either would have said he wanted a fresh challenge at 175, or he'd have taken part, but bailed if absolutely necessary. Again, I'm not hating on him, he was a great fighter. But he wouldn't have put himself in a situation where he could lose big/look bad. Depending on the draw he could have made the final. But if Roy had've breezed through to the final, and he was unsure of himself, then he'd have pulled out and acted devastated. That's how I see it. I don't think he had the mentality to say "**** it! I'm gonna give this everything whatever happens." (Carl Froch comes to mind.) There's no way he could have coped with a big loss. I think it would have affected him worse than Ricky Hatton. I hope Bailey doesn't read this.
If it's all hypothetical then we assume Toney is at his best. Toney throws caution to the wind, not bothered by Calzaghes flurries, goes right hand happy. Calzaghe can adjust his angles from as a southpaw stance, but still eats right hand after right hand, as Toney plants his feet, and deliberately stays in range of Calzaghe, willing to trade. Here we have a man, who even as a shot, fat, 40-year-old heavyweight, monsters like Sam Peter and Rahman could not hurt. Calzaghe would eventually succumb and get stopped.