If Roy Jones Jr steps in as a blast minute replacement for Billy Conn, is it curtains for Louis?

I reckon Jones dominates the fight until the point he's clocked.

Louis by KO.

 

Conventional wisdom obviously favors Louis. That said, if you get a Louis in there that feels a little weight drained from coming in smaller to keep up with Conn... why would I assume Jones would do worse? Not only would the smaller Loius not have as much of a size advantage on HW/CW Roy... Roy also would not be taking as many chances flirting with Joe's power... hard fight to figure how he does in comparison to Conn. Being that I feel he's h2h better... I'd have to assume he could very well do better

 

Firstly Jones would never agree to take the fight.

That aside, the one area where Conn was undoubtedly better than Jones, is durability.

Nobody, I repeat nobody, is lasting long against Louis without being able to take a serious punch.

 

last minute replacements would change anything against anyone. Not knowing what someone has and not training for them.

 

Jones would be more negative than Conn, was Ruiz caught Jones wit several shots so a great combo fighter with fast hands hands would catch Jones quite quickly at heavyweight and then it`s all over pretty quick.

 

Louis would outjab Roy, his reach wasn`t bad for his height and he set up his other shots brilliantly with his jab, better than anyone Jones fought.

 

Is it fare to say Roy has a bad chin really? In his prime he was never really knocked down (believe he had that one slip). Some guys when they get old and get knocked out once their never the same (fight mileage and all that). That being said I still think he gets knocked out after being ahead on all judges score cards lol.

 

Conn was able to take Joe’s shots and remain lucid and focused. That’s what helped him ost in that fight. Jones would not. First big shot that connects Roy would be in deep trouble. It ends early.

 

Who would know he had a bad chin. He was not hit clean.

 

Firstly, Jones was barely touched in his prime, and when he was touched had no issues taking punches. Once he got up in age, and weight fluctuations, then his chin was exposed. Prior to that, he had no chins issues.

Second, Jones would be bigger than Conn was, and frankly imo has more pop than Conn at these weights. Conn staggered and stunned Louis a few times, if he could, what would a quicker more unexpected shot from a more powerful man do to Louis? Certainly would be worse.

Third, Jones was a better ring general than Conn. He wouldn't be in harms way nearly as much, and he'd try and spoil and move his way to victory. He'd make it much harder for Louis to land all these combos people are envisioning him landing. Jones had catlike defensive and offensive reflexes. Conn was there to be hit more than Jones ever would be.

Fourth, again that version of Louis wasn't at his optimal weight and conditioning as you like to point out. So Jones would be fighting an even smaller Louis who wasn't feeling like he was at the peak of his powers. Being a little lethargic against an already faster and more mobile Jones is an issue.

Fifth, Jones would pose an elusive target to hit. Jones had good feet when he wanted to move, and that would make it tough for Louis to catch up with any type of frequency. Jones would be intentional cautious with Louis, making it all the more unlikely he's in harm way for all these combos I'm hearing about.

Again, I favor Louis, even that version to stop Jones, all I'm saying is... he's not doing worse than Conn did, in fact I think he'd do better

 

You said it yourself.

He had no chin issues because people were not hitting him.

When they did, we found out why he picked his fights so carefully.

Virtually everybody that Louis fought was bigger than Conn, and had more pop.

That didn't generally get you very far!

There I would have to disagree with you.

Conn's losing effort against Louis, is one of the best performances in boxing history.

If Jones gets on his bicycle, then he won't be doing anything to disrupt Louis's game, and he won't be looked on favorably by the judges.

Nobody ever beat Louis by running away from him!

This is true, but that aside, it is probably still Louis's prime.

It was around this time, that he demolished Buddy Baer in one round.

I don't think that he could avoid Louis forever.

He could run but he couldn't hide, if you don't mind the cliche.

Even if he does last the distance, the judges will not give him the fight, just for surviving.

You had to take the champions title from him back then!

 

People barely hitting him isn't a negative bud, it's an absolutely incredible positive. It shows how elusive he could be and how hard it would be for anybody to tag him with one shot, let alone combinations of shots will he's apparently forgetting to use his catlike reflexes.

It did get people far though... there were plenty of people who had pop who ended up beating him. So I'm not sure of the point here. He wasn't undefeated.

Conn putting in a good performance, or one of the best as you call it, doesn't exclude Jones from putting on a better performance. So I'm not sure the point you're making here.

A Louis that felt weight drained is now going to easily catch up to Jones and put all this pressure on him? We're talking about Joe Louis here right? You've seen him fight right? He's not some swarmer and mover who can easily corner or catch Jones. His timing would be completely thrown off with how elusive Jones would be and how fast his hands were. Jones would do what he always does, move, pop/counter... move again. Louis wouldn't be getting set, never mind the fact that he'd be plodding around the ring in a weakened form trying to catch one of the hardest people ever to catch.

Look at the Walcott fight, he moved, he hit, and moved away again. He did fine against Louis, and most thought he won, so obviously a strategy of movement plus picking your counter shots could work and has worked against Louis. My point isn't that Jones would for sure win a decision, my view is, I don't see him doing worse than Conn did.

I think you're grossly underrating what Jones would bring to the table.

 

Jones could not take a powerful heavyweights punch, neither could most guys that start at middleweight, that`s why their`s weight divisions, Roy just wasn`t a heavyweight and Louis was one of the greatest, plus he punched far harder than any light heavy.

 

Walcott was a smarter fighter than Jones and had better fundamentals, he would have beaten Jones at heavy, no comparison at that weight.

 

Pedant.