Prime for Prime who was faster?

[ElTerribleMorales]

All of them had lightning fast hands, but overall who was the fastest in his prime?

[Beanflicker]

There was nobody p4p faster than Roy Jones. And not only fast, the technique was crisp and had a lot of power behind it.

He hit Percy Harris with 4 straight left hooks in a little over a second.

[erics44]

JC

[Manos de Piedra]

Roy Jones in his prime was superman. IMO no one comes close to Roy's physical abilities.

[El Kabong]

RJJ is the fastest fighter I've ever seen although Floyd and Manny are up there.

[VG_Addict]

There was nobody p4p faster than Roy Jones. And not only fast, the technique was crisp and had a lot of power behind it.

He hit Percy Harris with 4 straight left hooks in a little over a second.

Some people don't realize that Roy wasn't just throwing wild haymakers. Those were crisp, accurate punches.

[TitoFan]

There was nobody p4p faster than Roy Jones. And not only fast, the technique was crisp and had a lot of power behind it.

He hit Percy Harris with 4 straight left hooks in a little over a second.

He also peppered "Yo Vinnie" Pazienza with what seemed like a machine gun outburst of shots before finally knocking him out.
God........ how I loved that fight!!!!

[Beanflicker]

For sure. He threw a triple jab at Pazienza in the time it would take a normal 168lber to throw one jab.

Or the Sugar Boy Maligna fight where Maligna threw a right hand, Jones countered with a left hook at the same time and knocked him out, ducked the right hand, and then hit Maligna with two punches as he was falling.

It's like Jones saw everyone moving in slow motion, I've never seen anyone like him. Guys like Floyd and Pernell were like that too, but I think Roy was on another level in terms of reflexes and speed.

[Boxer4life]

Roy hands down(so much pun). He had unbelievable hand speed, foot speed, head movement, just super fast over all. I'd say Manny and Floyd tie for second. I actually think Floyd has underrated hand speed. Most people don't realize how fast he really is and can't actually see the amazing things he pulls off inside the ring sometimes. Watch the Canelo fight in slow motion, it's impossible not to appreciate. And manny is just the Tazmanian Devil in the ring.

Not fair to throw Ali in there, he was so much bigger than these guys, but speaking of heavyweights, who was faster

Ali or Tyson?

[Beanflicker]

I think people forget how fast Floyd is because he doesn't let his hands go like Roy did. Floyd's a pot-shotter, doesn't throw a lot of those flashy combinations. He's also slowed down a lot in the last few years. Still quick as hell, but nothing like he was in his prime.

As far as Ali and Tyson... I'd probably give a slight edge to Ali in terms of just being able to move his hands quick, but like Joe Calzaghe a lot of the speed was shoe-shining, slapping shots, whereas every shot Tyson threw was tight, compact and with bad intentions on every one.

[TitoFan]

I think people forget how fast Floyd is because he doesn't let his hands go like Roy did. Floyd's a pot-shotter, doesn't throw a lot of those flashy combinations.

One of the reasons people find it hard to warm up to Floyd as they did to RJJ.
Not hate.... just a fact.

[VG_Addict]

Camacho and Meldrick Taylor have to be up there.

[imp]

Floyd is not fast.
Floyd is quick.

Oh how I wish floyd and roy were in the same weightclass...

[mikeeod]

Different types of speed when we discuss this. There is hand speed, foot speed, reflexes, and timing. Fastest hands I ever saw was Meldrick Taylor. Fastest feet was a tie between Ali, Roy, and Floyd. Best reflexes were Roy and Ali, best timing Floyd. Best combination of all those combined was Roy, who also had very good power up to 175, with Ali just behind him (less power). Whitaker/Floyd are right behind Roy/Ali in terms of all facets of speed. Floyd and Pernell put you in the position they want to land their combinations, where Roy was very instinctive and able to see the opening and land the shots before the opponent realized what happened.

One more factor worth discussing is one shot speed vs combo speed. Hearns and Manny had great one shot speed, and Manny has great reflexes and foot/close the gap speed. Roy, a Ray Leonard, and Meldrick Taylor all had great combination speed.

Roy is the one guy who I can point to who showed all types of speed and natural ability at the highest levels. Vs Percy Harris he one shots Percy for a KD right of the bat and alternately staggers him with big shots and/or rapid fire combos. Against Thomas Tate, Roy spots an opening as Tate presses him and scores the one shot left hook stoppage. Tony Thornton suffered a one punch KD and then was stopped on a long combo. Roy was a freak of nature, got sure.

[Violent Demise]

Out of those on the list Jones is fastest. Meldrick Taylor and Ed Hopson were faster than all of them