Roy Jones at 193lbs beats Vitali Klitschko

When anyone, including you, decides to make any sort of argument, I'll happily tear it apart. There is no precedent to suggest Jones would have problems with Vitali. Ruiz, a better puncher than Vitali, couldn't hit him clean all night so why would anyone assume that Vitali could? Vitali has far less technique and speed than Ruiz does. He also has, and this is crucial, poorer footwork.

 

What do you disagree with?

Ruiz throws shorter punchers, turns them over better, has better foot placement, gets his body behind them better, keeps his chin more protected whilst throwing, puts together smoother combinations...what exactly do you disagree with?

To be fair, I think you're one of those people who likes boxing but doesn't understand it. That's fair enough if you are.

 

I didn't once say Ruiz hit harder.

I said he's a "better puncher" not "bigger puncher". Better as in technically better.

 

You can't score boxing.

aside from that, Byrd made Vitali miss a lot. Those numbers were exaggerated in Vitali's favour, like the Johnson numbers. Both Byrd and Johnson showed how inept a puncher Vitali is.

 

Yeah, I think so.

Most people can't get beyond hindsight. They forget how good Jones actually was that night and focus on fights like Vitali/Adamek where he is up against a guy who blocks punches with his face. The times were Vitali has fought a decent fighter who knows how to avoid shots, he's looked poor. Look at how poor Solis made him look but two better examples would be Byrd and Johnson.

Vitali will always look like a beast against guys with no head, upper body or foot movement. That's why he excels in the modern heavyweight division because he's faced Arreola, Peter, Gomez, Sosnowski, Adamek and many other guys who simply have no defence. They stand in front and take whatever Vitali throws, giving the impression he's a skilled, accurate puncher. The truth is, against good opponents, Vitali shows his weaknesses.

The Haye fight would have been much closer than the Wlad/Haye bout was. Whilst Wlad is a supremely talented puncher, his brother isn't. He gets by on punch output, a chin and decent power. He does not have any sort of fundamental skills, like many former kick boxers. His stance is abysmal, he puts together shocking combinations and leaves his chin hanging out, he trows off balance arm punches and so on. People will always say "and yet he wins, so you're wrong" but that's not true. He wins despite his flaws because his opponents are even worse.

I have seen all Vitali's fights and I've never once seen anything which leads me to think he's land a good shot on Jones over 36 minutes. His main issue is his dreadful footwork because Jones would be in and out four times before Vitali thinks "ok, I'll walk towards him". The difference in foot speed is immense and Jones would be all over him like a wasp, in and out before Vitali knows what is hitting him.

I genuinely feel it's a strategical mismatch. Vitali has huge flaws and every one plays into Jones' hands. Jones has flaws too, yes, especially his chin, but they're flaws which Vitali couldn't exploit in a 12 round fight.

 

No, I don't think Jones' chin would hold up. What I am saying though, is that Vitali isn't going to land a single shot in the entire fight. He'd grave Jones a lot but how many fighters had success on Jones before he dropped to light heavyweight? Anyone who was as amateurish or slow as Vitali?

Jones Jr., even the version at heavyweight, was still agile enough to make people look stupid when they threw punches. He was clowning much faster, sharper, accurate punchers than Vitali for fun, so why should it be assumed that Vitali would land? He clearly wouldn't.

Vitali would have no success.