Quote 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.