Thread: Prime Roy Jones Jr: The hardest guy to hit of all time?

I've watched every fight from Pernell Whitaker, Ali and Floyd Mayweather Jr careers, most of James Toney's career, most of Winky Wright's career, I've seen Herol Graham, Niccolino Locche, Willie Pep, Benitez, ect ect.

But considering all things, I think Jones had to be the hardest guy to hit with a hard flush shot. It just seemed like he knew exactly where to be to have a blow completely miss, and when he was there to be hit (like on the ropes), he seemed to know how to pick off all the shots with his gloves. Guys like Pernell and Mayweather had better defensive technique I guess, but it seems to me like Roy was caught a lot less in his prime than they were in their primes.

What do you think? I'm not saying Roy was the best defensive fighter of all time, I just think his incredible reflexes, athletic ability and ring generalship combined to make his chin the hardest to touch.

Originally Posted by Beanflicker

I've watched every fight from Pernell Whitaker, Ali and Floyd Mayweather Jr careers, most of James Toney's career, most of Winky Wright's career, I've seen Herol Graham, Niccolino Locche, Willie Pep, Benitez, ect ect.

But considering all things, I think Jones had to be the hardest guy to hit with a hard flush shot. It just seemed like he knew exactly where to be to have a blow completely miss, and when he was there to be hit (like on the ropes), he seemed to know how to pick off all the shots with his gloves. Guys like Pernell and Mayweather had better defensive technique I guess, but it seems to me like Roy was caught a lot less in his prime than they were in their primes.

What do you think? I'm not saying Roy was the best defensive fighter of all time, I just think his incredible reflexes, athletic ability and ring generalship combined to make his chin the hardest to touch.

Yes he was in middle of the ring it was hard to land anything on him even body shots when he went to the ropes he got caught but Jones was able to defend most of those and then get back into center of the ring Roy Jones is best p4p fighter of all time imo he just dominated everyone even 3 hall of famers just imagine if Jones had Haglers chin thats scary thought.

Originally Posted by Beanflicker

I've watched every fight from Pernell Whitaker, Ali and Floyd Mayweather Jr careers, most of James Toney's career, most of Winky Wright's career, I've seen Herol Graham, Niccolino Locche, Willie Pep, Benitez, ect ect.

But considering all things, I think Jones had to be the hardest guy to hit with a hard flush shot. It just seemed like he knew exactly where to be to have a blow completely miss, and when he was there to be hit (like on the ropes), he seemed to know how to pick off all the shots with his gloves. Guys like Pernell and Mayweather had better defensive technique I guess, but it seems to me like Roy was caught a lot less in his prime than they were in their primes.

What do you think? I'm not saying Roy was the best defensive fighter of all time, I just think his incredible reflexes, athletic ability and ring generalship combined to make his chin the hardest to touch.

I Would Say Roy Had To Be The Best PURE athlete Gifted with The Fastest Reflexes seen In At Least a couple Of decades.Roy had Some bumps at a respectable level of comp.(hopkins,griffin,harmon,del valle,harding).Yes He defeated all Of them But I Think whitaker over all in his prime,against better competition,was a tad bit harder to nail,he also had much better fundamentals .all in all roy was A Gifted athlete That Could Have Excelled at most sports no doubt.

Pernell, Will' O and Lopez were all hard to hit in their primes also.

I think Mayweather and Whitaker are harder to hit.

RJJ was hard to hit in large part because he made you pay for trying to hit him. Sure he used skill and speed to defeat most of his opponents but he showed just enough of his power to warn guys off. I don't remember him even getting rocked before the Tarver fight and just like any fighter, It's the punch that you don't see coming that hurts you the most.

In his younger days, he saw everything but I think age and believing himself to be invincible caused him not to really pay attention to all the details. Then he came back way to fast and got KO'd for real in his next fight. Now in his newest comeback, he has to spend a lot more time worrying about getting caught again.

I was glad to see that in the Hanshaw fight he showed a lot of his old spark by eluding punches, using power when necessary and catching many of Anthony's punches. He's still not using the jab very much though. He's using it as more of a pawing range finder than a weapon.

[quote=slk123 ]
RJJ was hard to hit in large part because he made you pay for trying to hit him. Sure he used skill and speed to defeat most of his opponents but he showed just enough of his power to warn guys off. I don't remember him even getting rocked before the Tarver fight and just like any fighter, It's the punch that you don't see coming that hurts you the most.

In his younger days, he saw everything but I think age and believing himself to be invincible caused him not to really pay attention to all the details. Then he came back way to fast and got KO'd for real in his next fight. Now in his newest comeback, he has to spend a lot more time worrying about getting caught again.

I was glad to see that in the Hanshaw fight he showed a lot of his old spark by eluding punches, using power when necessary and catching many of Anthony's punches. He's still not using the jab very much though. He's using it as more of a pawing range finder than a weapon.


[/quote Del Valle Sat Him On His Arrss.And No,It Was No Slip.

Willie Pep and Nicolino Locche were harder to hit imo.

Hopkins, a 40-year-old McCallum, Griffin in their first fight and Harding all landed PLENTY of shots. Lou Del Valle stuck him down on his ass. He couldn't block a great deal of Glen Johnson's shots.

It's got to be Pep, with Whitaker a close second.

Originally Posted by slk123

RJJ was hard to hit in large part because he made you pay for trying to hit him. Sure he used skill and speed to defeat most of his opponents but he showed just enough of his power to warn guys off. I don't remember him even getting rocked before the Tarver fight and just like any fighter, It's the punch that you don't see coming that hurts you the most.

In his younger days, he saw everything but I think age and believing himself to be invincible caused him not to really pay attention to all the details. Then he came back way to fast and got KO'd for real in his next fight. Now in his newest comeback, he has to spend a lot more time worrying about getting caught again.

I was glad to see that in the Hanshaw fight he showed a lot of his old spark by eluding punches, using power when necessary and catching many of Anthony's punches. He's still not using the jab very much though. He's using it as more of a pawing range finder than a weapon.

You got it exactly. From a pure defensive POV, Pep, Sweet Pea, and PBF are harder to hit, but RJJ made you pay for you misses more than anybody. He incorporated skill defense with KO power better anybody out there in his prime, even Toney. Toney would roll and get hit with glancing blows. Jones just made you flat out miss, then retalitated with meaningful counters and combos. Of course, at the lighter weights, PBF was almost/maybe as good about making people pay for misses.

As for the jab, that's never going to happen. If he spent 2 months in the gym using only his jab and and sparring with his jab only, he might be able to salvage a few more good years, but it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks.

Originally Posted by Nium

Hopkins, a 40-year-old McCallum, Griffin in their first fight and Harding all landed PLENTY of shots. Lou Del Valle stuck him down on his a**. He couldn't block a great deal of Glen Johnson's shots.

No they didn't Jones dominated McCallum and Harding fight he had bicep injury after 2nd round Lou Del Valle knocked him down with a flash knockdown and none of these guys caught him with big shots of course everyone gets caught this is boxing you will get caught but it was super tough to catch him with hard shot even Whitaker got caught and floored in his prime.



He couldn't block a great deal of Glen Johnson's shots.


Prime Roy Jones Jr: The hardest guy to hit of all time?

It seems alot of people have forgotten just how great Roy was in his prime . He was THE man ! The Tarver / Johnson fights were a shell of the fighter he once was so we shouldnt bring that into it when takking about peak fighters . Its like saying Ali was useless cuz he got owned by Berbick

Originally Posted by GAME

It seems alot of people have forgotten just how great Roy was in his prime . He was THE man ! The Tarver / Johnson fights were a shell of the fighter he once was so we shouldnt bring that into it when takking about peak fighters . Its like saying Ali was useless cuz he got owned by Berbick

WHAT?So In His "PRIME"Jones Beats Tarver As Easily As Ali(Which Ali Prime 1st Off) Would Have Beat Berbick. Also,Who Will Be the First Yelling "Hes Next champion When Jones Beats Tito In This Farce Coming Up?Not Trying To Jump Off On Ya But Jones/Ali Comparisons Of any Type are

i think it's fair to say that jones was the all-time hardest boxer to hit in his prime. i can't recall him getting hit flush even once until the tarver fight.

the only argument against jones is his level of competition (of which, he had little control, especially since he didn't duck anyone) in comparison to pep and whitaker. His toughest opponents (hopkins, tooney, ruiz) were either defensive specialists or, to say the least, not known for their offensive exploits. nonetheless, he went a looong time w/o being floored, staggered, stunned, of even hit flush. and he faced some tough guys who went right after him, like bryant brannon.

now pep (who i've never really seen) and whitaker were tough to hit, to say the least, but they were defensive specialists. what makes jones special is that he was hard to hit while going forward, while going for the KO (i never understood the grumblings about jones playing it safe--his KO ratio speaks for itself). one could argue his opponents were too scared to hit him but the fact remains one has to leave oneself open (for at least a split second) when one is throwing a punch. jones was simply the most physically gifted ( in terms of speed and power) fighter to ever enter the ring. he was hard to hit, and hit hard.