Cassius Clay 60s vs. Roy Jones 03

[Chepppaaa]

muhammad ali started with a very low weight for a heavyweight, around 192 pounds. joney at his ruiz fight was 192 pounds. so actualy it not makes sense p4p, but they were at the same weight at some time. young clay and still prime jones at heavyweight.

thats how athletic young clay was, any cruiserweight ever would have ahd his hands full.



to me, easily amongs the best fantasy fights ever. maybe only 154 young jones jr against 154 sugar robinson tops this.

who do you have?

[jezzamundo]

Interesting question, although with a seemingly obvious answer. In a way, it depends which version of Clay/Ali we are talking about. Ali's peak came around 1966-67 when his weight was around 212lb and if that's the guy we're talking about, I'd take him to knock out Jones in a heartbeat and also to beat pretty much any other heavyweight in history.

If we're talking a pre Archie Moore version of Ali vs Roy Jones, while I'd still pick Ali to win, it would be with less certainty. Stylistically it's a very interesting matchup, because Ali was a counter-puncher who was used to being the faster man in the ring, an advantage he would not enjoy against RJJ. We saw against Jimmy Young, with an admittedly post-prime Ali, how uncomfortable he looked when made to be the aggressor in a fight. On the other hand, Jones would be facing a man who was 4 inches taller and with a 4 inch reach advantage, very fast hands and a chin good enough to withstand anything Jones threw. My pick would be for Ali to win via a mid-to-late rounds KO, with the scorecards fairly even at the time.

[chucktaylor]

joney at his ruiz fight was 192 pounds.

Roy Joney is like Roy Jones, but with the chin of James Toney. Unbeatable.

[Ricky_]

There's a boxers of the past forum for this.
Ps ridiculous matchup, Ali would KO Jones ffs he's a smw.

[squiggy]

There's a boxers of the past forum for this.
Ps ridiculous matchup, Ali would KO Jones ffs he's a smw.

Except when he wasn't. Such as in 03, when he was a heavyweight. As the dude specifically mentioned in his post.
However, jones was never a great heavyweight--just one who could impose his will on a john Ruiz. Just as he'd have been in over his head at that weight against Lennox Lewis, so too he'd surely have been deftly handled by an at-his-best Ali.

[punchoutsb]

Roy Jones couldn't beat any of the great heavyweight champions...or the few great cruiserweight champions...or many of the great light heavyweight champions.

A pre peak Ali would lose two or three rounds to Jones in clear UD. A peak Ali stops him in seven one sided rounds.

[jamesmcdonnell]

Ali all the way - better chin, faster (than Jones was at heavyweight), and more volume.

As great as Jones was, he was best at 168-175, whereas Ali was really always a heavyweight. Ali would have made Jones miss and pay, and if Jones landed, it would have had zero effect. The same could not be said if and when Ali tagged jones.

[MachoTime]

Roy 03... Against a young prime Clay no way not even in the ballpark. Clay wins easily maybe even stops Roy.

[KBB]

Roy had two fatal flaws going against him in this match up, he lacked the punching power to hurt Muhammad and keep him off of him and Jones' chin would've been tested in a major way.

If Ali was able to KO the far bigger, Liston and Foreman then just imagine what happens to poor little Jones' chin once it gets tapped.

Ali by vicious KO inside 7.

[ClivePatrickLyons]

MISMATCH AND ROY CAN CHEAT ALL HE WANTS

[Lackeos]

In absolute terms, Ali is way better than RJJ. RJJ's only win at heavyweight was against John Ruiz, and it wasn't especially impressive. RJJ could not have managed such a great record against Liston, Foreman, Frazier, Norton, etc.. It's already the consensus that Ali is better than RJJ p4p, but RJJ at heavyweight is nowhere in the same ballpark as Ali at heavyweight. The biggest factor of separation is that Ali could take the very biggest punches at heavyweight, whereas RJJ's punch resistance is fairly ordinary for a light heavyweight.

[TheBeast]

Ali might stop him

[magwitch]

There's a boxers of the past forum for this.
Ps ridiculous matchup, Ali would KO Jones ffs he's a smw.

Except when he wasn't. Such as in 03, when he was a heavyweight. As the dude specifically mentioned in his post.

well in '03 Roy Jones would have been a much more experienced fighter that Clay, depending on how old Clay was. However, I don't think Ali would have been denied. Jones would have needed to set traps, because he would have been second best in an area where he was very rarely second best, speed/ reflexes, to name two.