... he would probably not have been humiliated by Tarver , Hopkins and Calzaghe and would have stayed light heavyweight champ for longer. Thooguhts?
Unbeaten for a few more years. LHW still had the same guys, not sure if Roy's age still catches up with him because he used talent, not skill to win. Glen still works him over, just too high of a workrate. And really don't think losing weight or muscle played a part in him losing 5x by KO.
Stays at light heavy . But still ends up getting kod by Tarver or if not him, someone else. I just thinkJones was heading for that anyway, could be wrong but who knows?
I think he'd have reigned a little longer. But unless he'd have changed his style to compensate for his age, losing was inevitable. He couldn't fight into his mid-late 30's like he did when he was in his 20's. His reflexes would have naturally diminished, and all it takes is a split second to change the course of a fight.
Thinking of how the Johnson fight may have played out is very interesting. Because Roy took that fight far too soon. It didn't even look like him in there. He was embarrassed by the Tarver loss, and was eager to take the next fight possible in order to try and get back on track. He signed for the fight only a month after the Tarver fight. He should never have done that. It's all interesting speculation. But I think that had he not have come back from HW for Tarver, he'd have beaten Tarver more clearly. And if that had happened, they may not have had a rematch. Of course we'll never know. Is all ifs, buts, and maybes. But that's my opinion. Even though I believe that Tarver would allays have pushed Roy hard, their first fight was so close because Roy was absolutely exhausted due to the weight loss. He rushed that weight off in only a couple of months. And by the 9th round he was spent. I think that if he'd not gone to HW and back and had fought Glen around the same time, I think Roy would have been his confident self and not gun shy like he appeared, and I believe that Glen would have been more cautious, as he wouldn't have had a fighter stood in front of him who'd just been knocked out 3 months earlier. I think if the circumstances had been different, then their mindsets and game plans would have been different. That's my take on things. Regarding the weight loss, I believe it damaged him. I think we've discussed this before. Mackie Shilstone told him to not drop back to LHW too soon. He told him that he needed a break. And he's also on record stating that losing muscle at an advanced age is bad for the body's immune system. Antonio Tarver, Chris Byrd and Chad Dawson also had issues when they did it too. Chris Byrd went from fighting huge HW punchers to getting taken out by a non elite LHW in Shaun George. I believe the weight loss accelerated Roy's ageing process. But I think it was always on the cards anyway. He had a unique, unorthadox style that was built around his incredible athleticism. He was a reflex based fighter. The other, later knockouts weren't due to the weight loss. They were simply due to being hit by hard hitting CW's who were able to land flush. Roy would always have been taken out by those shots, even in his 20's and 30's. But the difference is, those shots probably wouldn't have found his chin at that stage. There'd more than likely have been avoided.
Great and thoughtful post I'll need to look for that shillstone interview or article about him discussing the weight loss. Good examples of fighters dropping weight and performance. What's also interesting was how all those guys dropped the weight and then never really seemed to get it back Jones, dawson and tarver never ever regained form after dropping the weight I'll also add eddie chambers and how flat he looked at cruiser after years of people going on and on about how he needed to drop the weight The only example recently of a guy going up and coming down and being successful is huck after povetkin got back down to cruiser and reigned further I'm curious to see what happens with canelo and his weight shifts though he is much younger than the other examples
