5% body fat. No. He wasn't anywhere near that. If he was, he would have gotten murdered in the ring. Bodybuilders get to that for stage and when they do it, they are weak and depleted. Dropping 15 lbs is hard when you are a scrawny 130 lbs. When you are 5'10 and 190 (and naturally about 160), with access to the world best sports nutritionists, dropping 15 lbs in many months is easy. You are the one who seems to not know anything about the topic here.
I see you are choosing to argue semantics and ignore my actual point. RJJ was in incredible physical condition at 193. He wasn't carrying any noticable increase in body fat. Being in that kind of shape and cutting 15 pounds in a short amount of time when you've never had to cut that amount before is extremely difficult. How many cruiserweights do you see dropping down to light heavyweight in their 30s ? Just wondering since you seem to believe this is an easy thing to do. When have you had to cut a substantial amount of weight in your 30s? Are you a professional fighter? Amateur wrestling background?
Why not? I think most elite guys in the 80s/90s were. They were plentiful in supply and basically no testing.
Most people in this thread are still influenced by the fight that happened Saturday night. I don't care what anyone says, the Roy who fought Ruiz beats the version of Tyson post Lewis. Roy was a completely different fighter pre Tarver 1, the man was a legitimate ATG and special fighter and was the p4p number 1 boxer in the world at that time. Tyson was severely demotivated after getting man handled by Lewis, owed the IRS millions of dollars still and was just fighting to pay off debts. What exactly is that version of Tyson going to do to win? He was less than a 3 round fighter at that point and Roys reflexes and speed were still sublime, Tyson would be a punching back in the later stages of the fight. Tyson doesn't even beat the version of Ruiz that Roy fought, he loses an ugly UD that involves a lot of holding and clinching. Roy would of been an overwhelming favorite if it happened in 03 and for good reason.
Ruiz wobbled roy in their fight. A Tyson jab would have rocked Roy and set up a vicious 1st round KO. Roy was never going to beat Tyson or any other heavyweight with a punch. He ran away from heavyweight for a reason, we see this clearly when he routinely started getting knocked out by light heavyweights and cruiserweights.
Please, Ruiz landed many hard shots on Roy that fight and Roy took them well. Like stated before, Tyson was less than a 3 round fighter in 2003. He was shot, demotivated and disinterested in boxing. I just find it hard to believe that a shot fighter would have the ability to land something significant on a pre Tarver Jones when no fighter before him could. Roy wasn't the same fighter after moving back down to LHW. You know it and I know it. Roy still had sublime reflexes and speed in the Ruiz fight and could easily go 12. That shot version of Tyson isn't going to catch Roy, especially not in first round which is completely idiotic to think of.
To quote Roy Lennox is ducking me Tyson is ducking me for his own health I'm glad neither fight happened he wouldn't half a brain to spend his money.
Kinda hard to believe that if you start taking PED´s at 18, you won´t be having issues down the line.
I remember Tarver stealing Roy's thunder at the post fight press conference for the Ruiz victory. Tarver stood up and said he ran Roy out of the light heavyweight division and that Roy wasn't even the best fighter in Florida. Roy's answer to that was " mark my words, I will kick his ass before my career is over.
Go watch that first round again. Roy Jones wobbled and the commentators picked up on it. This from a feather fisted Ruiz. Ruiz couldn't replicate that moment because he's John Ruiz, a **** fighter and among the worst heavyweight champions in history. You know it and I know it. In fact, that's the only reason Roy moved up to heavyweight to fight Ruiz, he knew it would be easy. Don't pretend that moving back down was the cause of Roy's bad chin. He was severely rocked before by Lou De Valle and would show exactly what would happen in future bouts where he would get caught with a clean, hard punch. Like from Tarver, Johnson, Enzo, and on and on and on... Tyson from 2003 was more than capable of landing a devastating left hook or right hook/right uppercut combo within the first round to put Roy to sleep. You'd have to be utterly delusional to disregard this likely scenario, Roy had no business at heavyweight and Tyson would have flattened him worse than his worst future KO.
It would all have depended on which version of Mike would have shown up. It would all have depended on his mindset at the time. If he'd have been in shape and motivated, where he'd have trained and fought to his full capabilities, then you'd have to think that even though he was way past his best he'd still have had enough left to have taken Roy out. If he'd have taken the fight purely for the cheque with no real desire, then Roy could absolutely have beaten him. Personally, I think that the Lewis fight embarrassed him, and he took his frustration out on Etienne who he had no respect for. By the time he fought Williams and McBride, he didn't even want to fight. He didn't want to train. He was fighting purely for financial reasons at that point, as he had many lawsuits against him etc. His life was in complete chaos. As we all know, he just gave up mentally against McBride. A fight against Roy would have done huge PPV and Mike would have been in a no-win situation. So it would have been really interesting to have seen which version would have shown up. He could have had huge desire or he could have just cashed out. I wish we could have seen it. From what I've read, both Mike and Roy met up in Miami towards the end of 2003, in the hope of fighting each other in 2004 at some point. Regarding your opinion on the exhibition, I respect it, but I don't see how it would change anyone's opinion on an earlier fight.
