RJJ vs. Nigel Benn

nigel is a lucky man this never happened. what a legacy waster this would have been

 

Benn would've probably been picked apart. It would've been an entertaining fight but i don't think Nigel would've lasted the distance.

 

Some would say that Jone's doesn't have the chin to last against a massive hitter like Benn, I disagree. Jone's had an exceptional chin until he came back down from heavyweight IMO. Anyway, I don't think his chin would come into play all that much, I don't think Benn would be landing anything significant in the first place. I think Jones would take him apart over the course of about 10 rounds, then stopping him. Bad match up for Benn I think.

 

I think he always had a weak chin, but his reflexes stopped him from having to test it.

Anyway, Jones 10th round TKO.

 

It certainly wasn't great, but it was good enough to, combined with his amazing reflexes and overall speed, get him past a lot of big punchers.

 

Benn's style would be ineffective against a counter puncher like Jones. Benn often used his good upper body movement to make opponents miss and fire back with his hayemakers but Jones is simply too fast and would not over commit and force Benn to lead and then counter him with fast accurate combinations.

Benn has a punchers chance for sure, especially when hurt and Jones went in for the KO which he was much more prone to do at supermiddleweight and middleweight. RJJ TKO in 8.

 

Good post. Also at his best Jones contends for the most elusive fighter ever IMO.

 

Nope, he never. His chin was largely untested, only in some fights did he take a shot or two, but no sustained pressure on him. His defensive skills were the main reason he never hit the canvas. Using the word exceptional isn't the correct word to use, thats for sure.

Exceptional would be used when a fighter takes clean shots often from a serious banger.

 

Would you be more comfortable with the word 'exreptional'? It's exactly the same as 'exceptional' only I replaced the C with an R. I don't mean to imply that he had a Chuvalo or Hagler-esque chin, just that it was good, or possibly exceptionally decent. I feel that had his chin been tested when he was in his prime and at his prime weight, it would have passed.

 

You, sir, just made my day. :boogie

 

Benn would have probably been piked apart then stopped late say round 8-9. I infact cant see him winning am round.

 

rjj late in great fight

 

Maybe not exceptional, but certainly excellent, at 168.

Let's not forget that he was down only once in a career that spanned over 10 years of fighting top contenders from 160 to 175 and one 230 pounder. No problem. Then he lost 25lbs of muscle and was much weaker. I do think his durability deteriorated vastly because of that. Just look at Byrd. He had a phenomonal chin at heavyweight but got stopped by a relatively light hitter at 175lbs after the weight loss.


Even if he won most fights comfortably, Hopkins, Toney etc did in fact land their sunday punch and nothing happened. I don't buy into the "his glass chin was always there, just not reached". Even someone as exceptionally hard to hit (yes, exceptional) as him got hit with hard punches.