Who would have been a favourite over PRIME RJJr at 160 + 168lbs

it's hard to see anyone beating a prime Roy at 168. I really can't think of one that would come close to an upset win.

at 160, i think Hagler had the best chance...glencoffe like pressure with better technique and iron chin; I think Jones still would take a UD with speed and enough power to keep Hagler honest, but it would not be an easy fight. Hearns and Leonard would have an outside chance, but Hearns would most likely get KTFO'd before he landed anything, and SRL was a slightly slower and less powerful version of RJ, so no.

 

There are plenty of things he does differently, it open for debate whether those things are better or not.

 

Volume punching (the slaps!), probing punches to open up opponents (though Roy maybe doesn't need to do that so much, he could just hit you ), probably takes a better shot and he probably has a better mentality for digging deep (again Roy maybe didn't need to do that). Roy obviously has a quicker punch, better power and reflexes and so on though...

 

I never saw Monzon in his prime, so I can't offer an informed opinion on him.

At 160, I would make a prime Hagler and a prime Hopkins at least even money against a prime RJJ. Hopkins was still a bit green when he fought RJJ, who was pretty close to his prime. Hopkins still won 4 rounds. I would think that a prime Hopkins wins at least a few more rounds.

At 168, Calzaghe v RJJ would be the closest match I could think of, but I would slightly favor RJJ, perhaps 7-5.

 

Actually no and no. More than a year after Hopkins lost to Jones he only garnered a draw in his title shot against Mercado. He states that this draw is what gave him total dedication to boxing and did indeed hammer Mercado in the rematch, about 2 years after he had fought Roy . Hopkins was on the up and up then for many years.

 

At 168, no one.

Roy was a little green @ 160 and still improving. He'd be a slight underdog against guys like Hagler, Monzon, Robinson.

Keep in mind though that with the day before weigh-ins, he'd likely be a bigger MW than a lot of the MWs of the past.

 

No man is favoured over Roy. Jones is 50-50 with the lot of em.