On the night he fought Ruiz, what HW champs would you make an underdog to Roy Jones? (besides Ruiz of course)
Jones had his own ref on that night. The turth is Jones has a suspect chin at light heavyweight, and would be need to outbox guys to win. I suppose he would likely beat fighters his size without a big punch. Leon Spinks, and Jimmy Braddock are two examples.
moorer , maskaev , maybe rahman (50-50), some of the oldies that were even smaller than roy (that doesn't mean all of the smaller than roy oldies) , maybe joe louis (he was outpointed by charles , stopped by marciano , and some will say outpointed by walcott) , leon spinks , MAYBE patterson and johanson (i see it as a 50-50 , 70-30 against johanson) , maybe fitzsimmons.
At his best and including WBO titleists Oliver Mcall Frank Bruno Tim Witherspoon James Smith Francois Botha (although he was stripped) Axel Shultz Mike Moorer Valueav Oleg Maskaev Lamon Brewster Chris Byrd Leon Spinks Ken Norton FLoyd Patterson Sergei Layhovich Ray Mercer Tommy Morrison Henry Akinwande Herbie Hide George Foreman comebacking George
I doubt RJJ would have a great deal of trouble with Johnsons style at all. OOPS... I forgot!! There is no advancement in boxing abilities or technique that would eclipse Johnsons 'SUPERIOR' defensive skills.. LMAO. I doubt RJJ would have had a great deal of trouble with anyone before Louis either. Ezzard Charles would be a more interesting match.. Sam Langford even better as a raw FIGHTER in the lower weights. But of course... the great Ketchell KO's him in one.. lol. Nye Nye Stanley.
Do you count the WBO or not? A lot of the WBO titlists would be underdog to Jones, including Hide and Akinwande. Fighters with good speed & stamina would cause Jones problems.... he was gassing at the end against Ruiz I feel. Chris Byrd would have beaten him, IMO.
