I bought some DVD's of RJJ a couple of years back. I was having a clear out the other day and I found them and put one on. The first RJJ V Griffin fight came on, I hadn't watched it before and only watched a few rounds as I was busy. Jones seemed to be having a hard time with Griffin. I'm assuming that Griffin was at or near his peak at this time, so my question is: What would be the result if a prime Montell Griffin met a prime Joe Calzaghe? (At 175 or catchweight).
prime calzaghe is a 168 fighter , but it would not matter IMO V griffen who was very short for a light heavy. griffen reminds me a lot of current light heavy champ erdei. IMO prime calzaghe punches to much /sets to high a tempo and wins on workrate and speed. griffen was a good counterpuncher if you chose to stand off him and box with him shot for shot, but calzaghe has the stamina/workrate/combo`s /angles speed of punch to win on points and griffen was never a big puncher . calzaghe has the foot speed to close on griffen all fight and not let him fight his style. that was what won griffen the fights v toney. toney was downright out of shape for the first one and in the second griffen moved around toney whose feet were stuck in cement and pot shotted him to a close win from memory. i remember the second griffen v jones fight,cant rmember the first bit of the jones fight, just the acting that griffen done at the end.
Jones was getting to him, i have no doubt Jones would have won vs Griffin. As to Griffin fighting Calzaghe, i dont think Griffin has a shot against a prime champ. I had high hopes in him when he fought Michalchewski in germany, but he totally dissapointed. He wouldnt have won against Calzaghe either.
Calzaghe would face major problems against prime Griffin who was quick and very elusive. Prime Griffin put on two competitive fights with a young Toney and gave a prime Roy all he could handle. Calzaghe would have problems with Griffin's style just as was the case for the Hopkins fight. Calzaghe does not have enough pop to hurt Griffin. I would lean towards Griffin via close decision.
Griffin dominated the first 3 rounds against Michalchewski and was knocked out in the 4th partially because he ran out of gas. Griffin only had 4 weeks to prepare for that fight as he took the fight on short notice. It was not enough against the Tiger who was then in absolute prime and a terrific fighter. Maybe Griffin would have done better if he had more time to prepare as he shoowed he had the skills to outbox him.
he was not that quick. decent legspeed nothing exceptional about his hand speed. the reason he gave roy a little bit of trouble in the first fight is because roy liked to pose /look good and not take risks. allie that to the fact that roy was throwing only 20 to 30 punches a round and not putting any pressure on griffen until the end made it competitive. in the second fight roy nearly put griffen away with every punch he threw , roy came out up for it willing to miss to get his punches off and griffen had no answer at all. styles make fights. toney in the first fight was out of shape/lackluster and slow and simply got outworked. in the second fight griffen used his feet to get in and out and around toney who while looking fine body wise had slow feet and griffen used his style advantage to rack up enough points on the judges scorecards when toney simply could not adjest his feet or body to get into position to throw v a fighter that came in and out and around on him because his feet were so damn slow. styles make fights,just as hopkins had a bad style for calzaghe, griffen had a bad style for toney. griffen imo would have loads of trouble with the angles/speed of hand and foot and with a fighter willing to let his hands go as much as calzaghe does. not easy to counterpunch a fighter who throws as much leather as calzaghe does because counterpunchers like a bit of time and a breather to get there shots off not constant in your face punches. look at toney v tiberi for a prime example of a counterpuncher being frustrated by a fighter way way less skilled but just throwing leather. and calzaghe is a skilled technician way above anything tiberi was added to the fact griffen was a dwarf of a light heavy and would not be able to keep it long. no one has ever estabilished a jab v calzaghe and griffen never had the workrate to potshot his way to victory, IMO.
darius hardly won a round before round 4 in half his title defenses. he was a punching bag for the first 3 rounds in most of his fights. he needed 3 rounds of punishment to get the adrenalin flowing for some strange reason. never seen a boxer like him in that regard.
In his prime Griffin was a world class boxer. I agree with you that Clazaghe's superior workrate will give Griffin a lot trouble. But Calzaghe will also miss with a lot of these punches because Griffin is so slick and more importantly he will get countered back. Calzaghe might win more rounds but there is a possibility that Grffin might steal it as judges have often been impressed by his style in the past (see Toney fights) Stylewise prime Griffin is a difficult opponent for anyone. I still think he lost both Toney fights but they were competitive.
