Pick 1 fight at however many weights you like were 1 guy looked as unbeatable as can be... for eg. you might say HWT - Louis vs Scmelling II... that sort of thing. Also... I wont put fighters that I havent seen enough of...... Lightweight - DURAN vs Dejesus III Light-welterweight - CHAVEZ vs Camacho Welterweight - LEONARD vs Duran II Light-middleweight - HEARNS vs Duran Middleweight - ROBINSON vs Lamotta 6 Super-middleweight - JONES vs Toney Heavyweight - ALI vs Williams :thumbsup
Any one person can be beat, so I'd look towards weaker divisions to find this answer. Ricardo Lopez at strawweight is a given, and I'd say on form Wilfredo Gomez at 122. If he is less than 100%, Morales and maybe a few others could beat him, but Gomez at his best at 122 is clearly the best H2H ever at the weight IMO. Supermiddle is also historically weak, so Jones on his best night is a clear best ever at the weight. As far as very deep divisions go, Lightweight comes down to Duran and Whitaker IMO, I personally wouldn't pick any Heavyweight over the Ali of the Williams fight, but keep in mind that he had a guy in front of him who was only going to make him look good. Ray Robinson at welterweight of course, although there are a couple I give solid chances to, I favor him over all at the weight.
Even without Super Middleweight being historically weak, Jones would still be the best there. He's arguably the greatest head-to-head fighter in history.
No he's not. He ranks very highly H2H, but he is not the best. There are several at 175, a historically deep division, that would have beaten him. Granted he was smaller than some of those men I'd favor over him.
Head to head, pound for pound, who do you rate higher than Jones? If I had to pick one person to represent me in a pound for pound tournament, it'd be Jones. He had the athleticism, talent, and ring smarts/generalship to pick up a win against anyone in history.
1.Finito Lopez 105 2.Johnny Tapia 115 3.Wilfredo Gomez/Marco Antonio Barrera 122 4.Salvador Sanchez 126 5.Roberto Duran 135 6.Aaron Pryor 140 7.Sugar Ray Robinson 147 8.Tommy Hearns 154 9.Carlos Monzon/Marvin Hagler 160 10.Roy Jones Jr. 168 11.Bob Foster 175 12.Evander Holyfield 200 13.Muhammed Ali 200+
Roy was the kind of fighter that styles play very heavily into fantasy matches concerning him. For instance, he would lose to Bob Foster, a lanky murderous puncher that controls range and pace against nearly everyone, but would beat someone with the style of Archie Moore quite easily (although a match-up between the two isn't as easy to predict than just styles, as Roy's chin has been proven to be a weakness and Moore is the all-time knockout king). P4P, Robinson was more complete. Better overall puncher, vastly superior chin, equally as good on the outside as Jones and better on the inside. Complete fighters like that, guys like Ezzard Charles or Roberto Duran would be my pick.
In terms of Bob Foster controlling the range and pace against Roy, I'm not sure that was so possible against a prime Roy. His ability to keep the fight where he wanted it allowed him to go long periods of time without losing a round. Moore actually I believe would have a decent shot against Roy based on his craftiness and (as you said) knockout ability. Robinson certainly had the better chin, but I'm not sure he was as good as Jones on the outside. Better on the inside, yes, but Roy had the ability to not have to take a fight to the inside at his best (though I think in a rematch in the late 1990s Hopkins would have forced that upon Roy). Ezzard Charles and Roberto Duran are both excellent picks, though Duran breaking down mentally against Leonard in their rematch weighs against him to me.
well said cobraman. foster had phenomenal power and did carry power over to the heavyweights, but unfortunately had to face some of the best of all time and his chin didn't fare well with Ali and Frazier. he was the only fighter to cut up Ali's face tho with that steel cane jab. was like a bigger version of a Hearns