Bivol wins by UD. Roy was flashy but Bivol boxes circles around Roy. Not exciting for the casual fan but effective. Bivol starts slow and loses the first but wins the rest.
Bivol, as good as he is, has next to zero chance of beating Roy Jones. The current champ may have a small chance of knocking Roy out but that's not Dmitry's game. Bivol is a great boxer but Roy is noticeably better. They could fight 10 times and Roy wins nine of these bouts if not all ten.
Am I missing something? Jones had 0 fundamentals and relied on his speed and athleticism. Bivol has great fundamentals and timing. 2 things you need to counter speed. Add in his ring IQ and I think we have a good matchup. Close fight but I have Bivol pulling it out.
Prime Roy was the most gifted fighter ive ever seen, looked unbeatable. Bivol is a great fighter but I don't think hed be able to handle Roys speed . Roy Jones UD
This. Jones may have been slightly faster but Bivol is much much better fundamentally. His punches are also straighter and more direct. Bivol's chin seems a lightyear ahead of Roy's lightbulb chin. I think Roy struggles when he no longer has a huge speed edge on his opponents, see: Calzaghe. People who think Bivol has no chance have either not thought this through or have taken too many hits off the RJJ crack pipe.
Bivol's superior skill and discipline is not enough to overcome the deficit in pure peak ability. Wide UD or late stoppage for RJJr. There would be no controversy.
Roy had a genius boxing IQ. Pulled off an insane knockout based off of a single flawed movement or pattern. He wasn't a typical boxer stylistically, but its baffling to see his intelligence overlooked in favor of his athleticism. As if we didn't see in Hamed and Haye, that it requires both to display this level of dominance over world level opposition.
Bivol has a lot more to do to be in the conversation for GOAT at LHW. Prime Roy is the clear pick here.
