Tommy was still very much around in 1995/6... 37/38 years old knocking out inferior bums calling out roy jones jnr on usa network......tommy had only lost once in the 1990s a tight as hell pts loss to barkley where the broken right hand seemed as much to blame as Barkley.. Roy seemed unbeatable at this point ...as he did right up to 2003 and the HW title....ring magazine did a what happens at smw if tommy 1991 meets rjj....all three experts saw a rjj knockout or stoppage Round 7/8......fools they didnt have the full picture....by the summer of 1988 tommy was still a flamboyantly confident lightning quick mw champion bullying beating barkly almost regally ....for 2 and a half rounds into a bloody carcass....it was like he was a cruel sadist kicking a dog...to the roars of the crowd...than what happened next was the equivalent of the dog getting up from the beating just as tommy moved in for the kill and suddenly crunching down on his bollocks...the crowd going dead silent....one punch changed tommys career and life ...all the swagger went for the rest of 88/89...tommy tightened up his defences,stopped moving,seemed to lose speed as his body tightened...his legs were failing him.....the once good chin dented by the accumulation of andries,roldan and barkley and kinchen...seemed to have gone... By 1990/91 the speed and swagger and chin was back as he outclassed olajide and virgil hill... So what happens at 168 lbs when late 1991 tommy fights 1996 roy?....
Who the hell knows.... You should favour the prime fighter here but if tommy lands a right hand on this suspect chin... Everything could happen
I think tommy was a lot better still than people at the time thought.his still considerable speed and skills neutralise roy and he drops a few right hand bombs takes out roy in 10
If Tommy sat back and jabbed I think he lands right hands and knocks out Roy.. He was that great. If he fought with his jab and not going after Roy.
Jones would deserve to be a huge favorite in this one. I don't see how this is close. We're talking about perhaps the best 168-lber of all time against an aging fighter who in his last few fights had been stopped by Barkley, almost stopped by a past-prime, short-notice-replacement Kinchen, barely bested a way-past-it Leonard, and outboxed an ancient Olajide.
You might be right in the second part of your statement .. but the first part is a bold statement considering RJJ after toney took a softer route and didn't want tougher comp. imo
I'm a massive fan of Tommy ..but in this one I'm afraid I fear a ko from Jones. If Leonard could Rock him in 89 and Barkley drop him ,then Jones would shoot through and KO hearns ..hard .
