Who Could Roy Jones Not Have Beaten?

[robertzimmerman]

At middleweight he would have lost against Robinson and likely Hagler. Struggled with Basilio, Griffith, Hearns, and LaMotta.

At 168 which was his best weight IMO, I can't see anyone beating him in his prime. Possibly Robinson if he fought at 168.

At 175 I'd say Conn, Charles, Moore, Foster, and Spinks would be the guys who could beat him. Maybe Braxton/Qawi. There was a lot of talk about him fighting Dariusz Michalczewski, and I think that may have been a 50/50 fight.

Somewhere between LHW and CW I see Michael Moorer giving him all he can handle. Might even favor Moorer in that one.

At CW I'd say Holyfield. He would have his hands full with Jirov, but edge him out.

At HW there are just too many to list. His win over Ruiz was an anomaly. He would not have the power or the chin to compete with the ATG HWs.

On a P4P basis, Robbo definitely ranks higher in my opinion. But in a H2H fight at MW, I'd have had to have favoured Roy. Ray was a genius in the ring. But his prime was when he was at WW.

People seem to forget that Roy fought Thomas Tate at MW when he was 25, which was the same year that he fought James Toney. Roy wasn't green at MW. He just didn't have the names on his resume at that point due to circumstances.

The 25 year old version of Roy from 1994 could have beaten any MW in history. He was in his prime, weighing around 170 pounds on fight night.

Basillio and LaMotta were great fighters. But what makes you think that Roy would have struggled with them?

Basillio was a 5'7 former WW, who often weighed in below JMW for his MW bouts, back in the days of same day weigh-ins.

LaMotta was 5'8, with a 67" reach, who was a come forward fighter who marked up due to his style and the number of fights that he'd had.

Although they were greats of the past, you've got to ask yourself how they would they have coped with Roy's size, speed and style.

Regarding Dariusz M, what did he do to make you think that a fight against Roy would have been a toss up?

[robertzimmerman]

Antonio Tarver?

He couldn't have beaten a guy who he actually beat?

[robertzimmerman]

He left the HW division after that win. He was looking at Lewis, Tyson, Wlad, Holyfield...no way he stood a chance against them. Looking back at the HW division, I can't see him beating Dempsey, Tunney, Louis, Charles, Walcott, Marciano, Patterson, Liston, Ali, Frazier, Foreman, Shavers, Holmes, etc. He would suffer the same fate as Bob Foster every time he tried to step up to HW and Foster was a bigger hitter.

I'd have given him a good chance to have beaten Evander in 2003.

[robertzimmerman]

Good point. Never got to see him in with McClellan, Julian Jackson, Nigel Benn, Eubank, prime Calzaghe, Michalczewski, or Collins.

Very true. But 3 of those guys didn't want to face him.

[robertzimmerman]

... and Nunn, Littles, Liles, Michalszewski etc.

My old friend Bat.

How's it going?

We can't do this dance again.

We've done it too many times now. But you know that Liles and Dariusz didn't want to fight Roy, and you know that Toney had knocked out Littles before he fought Roy.

[robertzimmerman]

More detail: Here is everyone that held a significant belt between 1990 and now that I think Roy would beat:

Michael Bentt
Herbie Hide
Bruce Seldon
Oliver McCall
Chris Byrd
John Ruiz
Clifford Etienne
Hasim Rahman
Lamon Brewster
Nikolai Valuev
Siarhei Liakhovich
Oleg Maskayev
Sultan Ibragimov
Ruslan Chagaev
Samuel Peter
David Haye
Chris Arreola
Bermane Stiverne

Good list.

Hide, Haye, Byrd and McCall are the standouts.

Very tough matches.

Also, Peter and Rahman if they'd have had no respect for him.

[robertzimmerman]

Damn, just imagine Roy vs. Hagler... I imagine Roy would have done a serious number on Hagler and made him look ordinary. I couldn't split a prime Roy and a prime Joe Calzaghe. Both ATGs, Roy probably ranking higher out of the two. I also think Roy done the right thing not going after Lennox Lewis at Heavyweight.

A prime SMW version of Roy was on another level to Joe.

[robertzimmerman]

Roy does not beat heavyweights... He gets walked down and put to sleep like he did against pressure guys when he lost a step.

He wouldn't beat ATG HW's, but definitely some of the lower tier guys.

[W1LL]

A prime SMW version of Roy was on another level to Joe.

No way of ever knowing. I think a prime, on-form Calzaghe was close to untouchable.

[robertzimmerman]

No way of ever knowing. I think a prime, on-form Calzaghe was close to untouchable.

Joe was a great fighter, but there's plenty of evidence available.

Roy was faster, harder to hit, and he had one punch knockout power in either hand.

Joe's biggest flaw was that he was always easy enough to hit, especially with right hands. He also had confidence issues. He never believed in himself as much as he should have done, which is why he was content to defend a lightly regarded WBO belt for 10 years.

As great and as awkward as he was, even in his 20's and early 30's he was scraping by Reid and was getting dropped by Mitchell and Salem.

He was far from untouchable and never good enough to have beaten a mid 20's version of Roy.