Roy Jones Junior vs Muhammad Qawi

Roy probably outboxes him pretty easily.

 

Roy is supremely skilled. But, this is a bad matchup for him. Qawi is a tougher, iron-chinned, relentless, harder punching version of the Montell Griffin that gave Roy some trouble.

 

He might win but it would be far from easy imo.

 

I'm conflicted on Jones vs some top LHW's like Qawi. My gut feeling is to pick Jones in a hard fought decision, but Qawi, as others have said, has the style to make this really troublesome for Roy, especially with his low, crouching jab. Qawi would be especially effective when he got Jones on the ropes - better than Griffin was in the first.

 

I'm definitely picking Qawi. Jones has a few weaknesses which really play into Qawi's hands.

Guys like De Valle, McCallum, Sosa, Hopkins, Reggie, Griffin &c. all had at least momentary success with infighting vs Jones. Jones liked to fight at his own pace, wasn't good fighting off the ropes and was very hittable to the body. His entire inside game was basically just holding and pulling.

Qawi does all of these things better than all of the above. He also throws more punches, has a much better chin and is more skilled. He'd come in from behind that jab IMO, and work Roy's body bad. Jones would probably start putting as much as he could into his shots to keep Qawi off which would serve to make this an awesome fight and only to tire Jones out more. I think after looking pretty stupid at times Qawi pins him on the ropes consistently, and brutalises his ribs before stopping Jones around 10ish. Jones wouldn't be able to hold Qawi off or on the inside, he'd be bulled around.

Jones was a huge, underrated puncher, but not Spinks-esque.

 

Great post George. Happy Friday

 

Very tough match up for Roy in terms of style. Qawi is often misunderstood as a fighter and painted as some crude, face-first swarmer, which he most definitely wasn't. Tremendous inside skills, great variety of punches and knew how to get in close with underrated offensive footwork and head movement. Let's not forget he had no problem getting in close to Foreman and landing plenty of big shots on him before fatigue and George's natural size and straight advantages just became too much. And that was an ageing Qawi with quite a bit of flab on him by then.

That said, it's not a perfect styles match up for Qawi, either. It took two all-time greats to stop his march at Light-Heavy and Crusier, but let's not forget that Jones is in that category too, albeit he's smaller than both Spinks and Holyfield which could be an issue. If Jones was vulnerable against the ropes or when guys got in close enough to smother his speed, then it's only fair to say that Qawi, on the basis of his defeats to Spinks and Holyfield, was a touch vulnerable against unorthodoxy and hand speed / combinations which offset him and prevented him from finding his rhythm - and Jones certainly has both of those things to spare.

But does he have the resilience and engine to go with it, which was also key for Spinks and Holyfield? I think that's the key. There's often an assumption when Jones gets hypothetically matched with any all-time great which preceded him that he wins the early rounds, before getting slowed down and knocked out late on as he wilts under the pressure. I'm not so sure myself. Granted, he was of the twelve-round era and was usually in control of setting the pace of a fight, but there's really no hard evidence to suggest that he's bound to flake late on, if we're imagining him in his prime. He was a tremendous athlete who had no history of fading or looking vulnerable in the late stages, and has a decent number of stoppage wins in the championship rounds too.

The pure match up is one thing, and is certainly relevant here...But outside of that I just see Jones as the greater fighter and I think he wins a very hard-fought decision here, with a scare or two along the way. Jones didn't always have the contemporaries to shine against, but I think he was great enough to rise to the occasion if someone like Qawi was around. I think he'd be just about quick, elusive and clever enough to carve out a close one here.

Appreciate that might be too much of a leap of faith for some, mind you. And I yield to nobody in my admiration and enjoyment of Qawi - tremendous fighter who has a real shot here.

 

Roy with ease. Too fast, too good reflexes.

 

RJJ was the best light heavyweight ever. It's obvious who wins this. Allah won't save Qawi here. Maybe Krishna would give him better luck.

 

Jones decision.

If he uses his hand and foot speed and fights cautiously on the outside he can win this. Hes too smart to lay in on the inside with Dwight.

 

No-one beats Qawi with ease.

 

Dwight had great defense, a good jab and great combos.

But he has to get inside to do damage.

He had trouble with slick movers like Johnny Davis, and of course, Michael Spinks.

Jones has the physical tools to keep Dwight on the outside. If he can do this consistently, he can uses his speed and reflexes to outpoint Dwight.

 

QAWI POW

 

Great post, once again, but I"ll add I'm not sure Jones was a great puncher at 175 .. a serious puncher but many guys went the distance w him at 175 .. at 160 and 168 he was a great puncher .. I'd favor Qwai as well ..