Was RJJ too fast at MW to be beaten by anyone?

[wmute]

He pushes his way in, and you know what? He's the second best SMW on the planet right now. He'll exchange and brawl. He doesn't have the most gracious footwork, but it works for him. He completely dismantled the #2 SMW with ease. The man is working his ass off to get back Ward. He's doing it the right way, not the way that most guys would. He isn't taking shortcuts and he's doing a damn fine job.

I must not know anything about boxing because I think Roy Jones is overrated. That I feel there are guys out there who would and could pose a lot of problems for him even in his prime. Believe it or not, even SRR lost to guys who he "Would beat with ease" and it didn't happen. This game is not absolute. Of course RJJ is probably the best fantasy fighter of all time. Maybe when he gets KO'd by another nobody you'll realize his skill set has always been lacking and that there are people who could have beat him at any point and time.

You know nothing because you likened Toney and Froch effectiveness on the inside. That makes everything else you wrote uninteresting to me.

[jabsRstiff]

I agree with all of that except that I'm not convinced yet that anybody dominates Andre Ward. He's rendered all of his title fight opponents completely ineffective so far. Of course Froch would be batting practice for Roy.

I would have never thought it possible that a guy could completely dominate the 168lb James Toney....

[fight_professor]

LOL @ dude who said RJJ would lose to Calzaghe at SMW.

That made my holiday season as it was so funny.

[Scott9945]

I would have never thought it possible that a guy could completely dominate the 168lb James Toney....

I would pick Roy everytime against Toney, but I believe it would have been more competitive if Toney wasn't weight drained. Toney never really wanted that fight at 168 and was pressured into taking it.

[THE REED]

"If Toney wasn't weight drained" is an oxymoron.

Name a fight outside of HW where Toney didn't struggle to make weight? All prior 44 fights of Toneys he struggled to make weight, but he won so the issue was never raised. He fought a much better fighter, and lost.. so played the card that he played with in every other one of his fights.

[Scott9945]

"If Toney wasn't weight drained" is an oxymoron.

Name a fight outside of HW where Toney didn't struggle to make weight? All prior 44 fights of Toneys he struggled to make weight, but he won so the issue was never raised. He fought a much better fighter, and lost.. so played the card that he played with in every other one of his fights.

Toney needed to get out of the 168 lb division before that fight and he knew it. He stayed there for the Jones fight because of pressure from Arum and his manager. And of course the career high payday.

I'm not aware of how hard it was for Toney to make weight against Williams and Barkley, but he looked like an entirely different fighter against them. He was just listless against RJ from the start.

[jabsRstiff]

Toney was considered by some to be the best fighter in the world in 1994....and he was favored to beat Jones. I wanted him to beat Jones. But, he got beat in a way that told me he would never compete with Roy at their best.....and Andre Ward hasn't showed me he's better than Toney was at 168. I have no doubt that the '93-'94 Toney handles Froch, Kessler, or anyone else who Ward beat.

[mofrekinfoe]

Marvin Hagler might have beaten him. We really didn't see RJJ tested.

We don't know how he will react against adversity. It wasn't that RJJ fought and dominated the best.. It was quite simply that he avoided fighting a bunch of big punchers at 160-168.

Jones by ud against hagler! Jones would have been a stronger and maybe even faster version of the Leonard loss....

[fight_professor]

Faster seems very likely.

[BennyST]

Merqui Sosa punched much harder than Froch.