Roy Jones Jr. vs. Thomas Hearns/Roberto Duran at 154-160

[Ezzard]

The only advantage Jones has is foot speed, other than that Hearns is better at everything.

Hearns is much, much more liklely to land a KO shot than Roy is.

Hearns did not have faster hands.

Depends what Roy was taking at the time.

[kwillymac]

I think that Roberto Duran wouldn't stand a chance against Roy Jones Jr. Roy would be way too fast. I think Tommy Hearns would knock out Roy Jones. At middleweight Roy never got touched. I think Hearns would have touched him. And we see when Roy gets touched he goes down. Hearns by KO in 5.

[Diamond WEAPON]

I think that Roberto Duran wouldn't stand a chance against Roy Jones Jr. Roy would be way too fast. I think Tommy Hearns would knock out Roy Jones. At middleweight Roy never got touched. I think Hearns would have touched him. And we see when Roy gets touched he goes down. Hearns by KO in 5.

Watch the Ruiz fight and the first Tarver fight. Roy got touched in both and was pretty much fine. It wasn't til he started slowing and Tarver shattered him that he became a bit "chinny".

[kwillymac]

I think that Roberto Duran wouldn't stand a chance against Roy Jones Jr. Roy would be way too fast. I think Tommy Hearns would knock out Roy Jones. At middleweight Roy never got touched. I think Hearns would have touched him. And we see when Roy gets touched he goes down. Hearns by KO in 5.

Watch the Ruiz fight and the first Tarver fight. Roy got touched in both and was pretty much fine. It wasn't til he started slowing and Tarver shattered him that he became a bit "chinny".

I agree but I think Hearns could hit harder then both of those guys especially at 154 lbs. He was a destroyer with the right hand.

[I Feel Fine]

Jones was bigger, but he didn't have Leonard's chin.

Not to fuss, but I already said that.

That is the key point. You seriously think that Jones chin is going to be able to take Hearns shots in order for him to hit Hearns? Hagler and Leonard took huge shots from Hearns, do you think Jones could withstand that? Jones would not outbox Hearns who was an equally capable boxer. We are not talking about an average puncher here. We are talking about an elite puncher here in Hearns and I don’t see Roy being able to take Hearns power shots. The more likely scenario is Hearns by KO or TKO, or if it goes the decision then Hearns takes it too. Roy would have been on survive mode most of the fight.

I think the premise I was trying to raise is that Jones would be harder to hit than Tommy and that at this weight Tommy showed himself susceptible to a big blow against lesser fighters than Roy. As a big Hearns fan I certainly don't need it explained how good a boxer or how big a puncher he was; he was very multi-dimensional as a boxer, more than Jones was. I just think this wasn't his best weight and I wonder if it might be tempting to forget how good Jones was after such a poor eight year run he's had and forget how good he was in his prime.

But, as I said, I think its a toss up, I'm merely leaning towards Roy. I think there is some validity to a point that Emmanuel Steward has made about Hearns, that he was somewhat better against boxers than punchers. Thing is that Roy wasn't just a boxer, especially at this weight; he could bang too.