Say the Stracey who won the welterweight title from Jose Napoles v the version of Jones who gave Milton McCrory two very close fights. I take Stracey's superior boxing skills to carry him through to a clear albeit competitive points verdict after taking a few of Jones' hefty right hands enroute.
I would be inclined to agree. Jones tended to wait a bit long for my liking. Like he was always waiting for the big one to land. Stracey had decent boxing skills to go along with his punch and I think he would outpoint Jones. However, I would avoid a punch-out with Jones. Stracey would come in second-best on that one.
Yes he did, his punch output was fairly low and against the higher class of opponents he sometimes left things pretty tight!
I agree with Scar, Jones' output was low early on, he tended to wind himself up the longer it went, which certainly cost him in the McCrory fights, and could've in both Laing fights until he found the big punch. Stracey had good solid fundamentals with decent power, but his speed of both hand an foot wasn't great. If this was 15 rounds I'd take Jones' body attack which distressed Stracey against Palomino to wear Stracey down and earn a stoppage. Over 12 Stracey may just sneak it.
Why didn't I think of this ?? I was a fan of both guys during their careers and this could have been a very good fight. With his mix of stylishness, grit and high work rate, Stracey was always good to watch. With Jones, you just dare not blink. A lot to weigh up in this one. Stracey was a dreadfully slow starter and gifting an opening to Jones is a terminal mistake. A few people have pointed to Colin's relative lack of output but he has justified this in interviews in the past by saying he deliberately took the time available to him to get a feel for an opponent, the way he moves, the way he throws punches and clocking his trigger movements. Don't forget there are plenty of early stoppages on his record. Add this to his amateur record. I remember the 17 year old Jones going to London for the ABA Finals in 1976. He was up against Doncaster stylist and England Captain Paul Kelly. Kelly was the reigning Champion and a hot favourite. Jones blasted him in the first. If either one of these was known for gathering momentum it was Stracey. Check out his defence against the excellent Hegemon Lewis. By the end John is just hitting him everywhere. He swamps Lewis. Sickens him out of it. I just can't see Stracey going 15, 12 or even 10 rounds without Colin landing a direct hit. I remember when he came to Birmingham to wind up his training for the Don Curry fight. I was stood not 10 feet away while he hit the heavy bag. The guy carried astonishing power. I mean just ridiculous, plus he was such a clean hitter. In the end, a typical Jones fight. Stracey winning by a mile but starched anytime after the 8th.
I like Jones in this. LG is onto something here re Stracey's slow start; I know it was only the amateurs but Jim Watt sparked John H in about 40 seconds in the ABAs ('68 I think). Stracey wasn't a mover like Laing or McCrory whom Jones had to try to play catch up with; he was a traditional Lawless type of guy - good fundamentals, steady pressure, high guard but not particularly elusive. This would suit Jones I think. Although somewhat slow of foot, Jones was very patient, he would wait for his spots and had a decent jab, cross & hook...with ridiculous power. A friend of mine who was a pro at the time sparred with Jones for the Hans Henrik Palm fight. He said he was comfortably outboxing Jones thinking this was easy - the next think he knew was his trainer was standing over him as was coming round. I think Stracey would build up a small lead over several rounds (not a landslide) and would then get knocked out - I find it impossible to be able to accurately pick a round with a banger like Jones. Re McV's comment about Jones' best punch being a left hook, I think a case can be made for either the right or the left - Jones had a KO punch in either hand!
Nice one FastHands. Another thing I could have mentioned is that, although Jones was heavy footed as you say, he had decent upper body movement and covered up well. Wasn't easy to catch flush.
