Which boxers from history would have the best chance of beating prime Roy Jones Jr?

He did struggle early with Griffin, but he’d turned the tide before the knockdowns.

Roy did find it very difficult against Harding, which is why I think Liles would have given him issues.

Marvin was a wrecking ball. But he may not have been so aggressive against Roy.

 

I couldn’t say with confidence that Ray and Marvin would have beaten him.

I don’t see how Monzon would have been been 50/50. He was too slow and predictable from what I’ve seen.

A prime Hopkins wouldn’t have been 50/50 either. The fact that he purposely priced himself out a rematch in the early 00’s speaks volumes. And Roy beat him easily in 1993. Much easier than the official cards, and Roy was 24 with a badly injured hand.

 

I personally couldn’t pick Calzaghe. He had neither the defence or the confidence to have beaten a prime version of Roy.

I’d have given Liles a better chance.

 

Beats up Roy?

I can’t see that at all.

It would have been a bad stylistic match up for Duran.

Roy could move like Leonard, and he had one punch knockout power in either hand.

There’s no way Roy would even have tried to have pot shotted a guy of Duran’s size, especially with his style.

Duran was greater than Roy on a P4P basis, but H2H, Roy would have been a horrible match up for him.

 

Hearns dealt with Ray’s speed because Ray chose the wrong tactics. He tried to outbox a great boxer who had a significant size advantage.

Roy had a good chin. He could take a shot. There’s now a myth that Roy had a glass jaw. He didn’t. He was knocked out against big LHW’s and CW’s in his advanced years. And that’s because his faded reflexes left him vulnerable. And when he was way past his best and no longer able to compete at the highest level, he was basically left defenceless.

A hearns fight would have been very interesting. Like I’ve always said, Roy would needed to have fought him very aggressively.

 

Roy had an injured right hand against Hopkins. His trainer wanted him to postpone the fight. But he wouldn’t agree to it because it was his first big chance after being a pro for 4 years. When he split from his father and signed with HBO in 1992, he was trying to make up for lost time.

He’s said numerous times over the years that the injury and the occasion made him a little apprehensive.

If they’d have rematched in the late 90’s-early 00’s, he’d have been much more relaxed and confident.

All Hopkins would have done is tried to have spoiled to slow Roy down.

He was offered $6m in 2002 for a rematch at a 168 C-W, but he demanded $10m or no fight, before calling out for the JMW’s to come up and face him instead. What did that tell you?

 

He wasn’t harder to hit.

Joe was extremely easy to hit, all throughout his career. Especially with right hands.

Joe did possess great hand speed, but he’d never have had the confidence to have fought Roy like he did in 2008.

 

How is any of that relevant?