Roy Jones Jr. vs Andre Ward

[EdwardRevolver1993]

This one was probably brought up here at some point, but I'll try nevertheless.

I always thought that Andre Ward was among those few, who could give prime Roy fits or even beat him. But, of course, we have this place to debate it.

I just rewatched Jones-Hopkins I (which was an overall decent fight). And I do believe that the notion that Jones and Hopkins were "green" there is overly exaggerated. Not as advanced, maybe. But it was a decent fight, fought on a solid technical level. Down the stretch, Hopkins found the way to time Jones and catch him within Roy's potent flurries. Hopkins also had success at close, with Jones on the ropes.

Roy's speed and athleticism were separators and won him the fight.

At LHW, Montell Griffin had an underrated success in the first half of their 1st fight (well, until he hadn't).

In your opinion, what could Ward achieve against Roy at 168 and 175?

At 168 - let's take Roy of the Toney fight versus Ward of the Froch and Dawson fights.

At 175 - Roy of 1998-2002 versus Ward of the 2nd Kovalev fight.

[giacomino]

Jones, UD

[Jeff_lacy_ko]

Ward if the ref lets him fight dirty. Jones if the ref is quick to break

[scorpio83]

Jones by decision at both 168 and 175lbs behind his quicker hands and combinations.

[jwfg]

Ward by decision. Roy wouldn't fight Dariusz Michalczewski, so he ain't fighting Dre.

[margaret thatcher]

roy wins

[goose 5]

Jones wouldn't go to Germany to fight Darius M. He was willing to fight him in America.

[gilgamesh]

Jones is just flat out better than Andre Ward

Ward needed a lot of advantages given to him to get where he got in Boxing. I don't think even crooked judges and shady referees can save him from defeat against Roy.

Unless he gets a Montell Griffin style DQ win over Roy or something.

[Woldemar]

Jones UD

[Jeff_lacy_ko]

Jones didnt exactly dominate 160 hopkins, 175 mike mccallum or 175 mintell griffin (1st fight)

Ward is better than all of them and fights similar to hopkins in particular. Plus hes bigger naturally and faster than all the above mentioned

[margaret thatcher]

120-107x3 over mcallum isnt domination?

[Jeff_lacy_ko]

120-107x3 over mcallum isnt domination?

Didnt mike win like 3 or 4 rounds? Were there 2 sets of judges??

[margaret thatcher]

120-107x3 over mcallum isnt domination?

Didnt mike win like 3 or 4 rounds? Were there 2 sets of judges??

not that i know of. i only watched it half heartedly knowing the result but it seemed to me like 120-107 was about right, maybe you could give mike a round or two if you wanted to

[EdwardRevolver1993]

120-107x3 over mcallum isnt domination?

Didnt mike win like 3 or 4 rounds? Were there 2 sets of judges??

Yes, there was some sort of conflict between Florida athletic comission (the fight took place in Miami) and the WBC (whose belt was on the line). WBC wanted to use their panel of judges, that included 3 experienced US officials from different States. While Florida comission wanted to use their local judges (that were less experienced on the world title level).

After days of debates, it was decided that 3 Florida judges will be scoring the bout on different sides of the ring (as judges normally do). While WBC judges will be scoring the fight from the press row. Odd situation.

I didn't quite understand whether the scoring of WBC judges was therefore considered unofficial. Would their scoring matter, had their given the fight to McCallum? Maybe, maybe not.

But if I recall, ring-announcer was reading only the scores of Florida judges. The scores of WBC judges were later shown on the screen by HBO.

Florida judges scored it a shout-out, 120-107x3.

WBC judges had more competitive scores: 116-111, 117-110, 119-108.

I'm now actually interested in rewatching that fight to see whose scores were more indicative of what transpired inside the ring. But my memory is that what you say is true - McCallum was game and deserved some rounds.

[goose 5]

Jones claims he carried McCallum.

[tiny_acres]

120-107x3 over mcallum isnt domination?

Didnt mike win like 3 or 4 rounds? Were there 2 sets of judges??

Yes, there was some sort of conflict between Florida athletic comission (the fight took place in Miami) and the WBC (whose belt was on the line). WBC wanted to use their panel of judges, that included 3 experienced US officials from different States. While Florida comission wanted to use their local judges (that were less experienced on the world title level).

After days of debates, it was decided that 3 Florida judges will be scoring the bout on different sides of the ring (as judges normally do). While WBC judges will be scoring the fight from the press row. Odd situation.

I didn't quite understand whether the scoring of WBC judges was therefore considered unofficial. Would their scoring matter, had their given the fight to McCallum? Maybe, maybe not.

But if I recall, ring-announcer was reading only the scores of Florida judges. The scores of WBC judges were later shown on the screen by HBO.

Florida judges scored it a shout-out, 120-107x3.

WBC judges had more competitive scores: 116-111, 117-110, 119-108.

I'm now actually interested in rewatching that fight to see whose scores were more indicative of what transpired inside the ring. But my memory is that what you say is true - McCallum was game and deserved some rounds.

To me the McCallum fight was not even needed at the time. Mike was 39 and coming off a loss. He had been a pro for 15 years and this was a money grab fight.
Mike gave his all for 12 rounds but it was the all of a very past prime atg fighter.
Jones gets too much credit for this fight

[margaret thatcher]

oh wow, those secondary cards show it was such a nail bitingly close fight - only 4 of the 6 cards have jones winning by more than 10 points! jones breezed the fight, it was definitely a domination. we might as well say ward couldnt dominate edison miranda then

i dont see him get much credit for the win btw, the fight barely even gets mentioned

[Nile4000]

Roy by UD.

[emallini]

Roy wide

[Ezzard]

Ward. Maybe late stoppage.

[margaret thatcher]

no chance prime roy is stopped by ward (tell us how that happens?), unlikely he loses at all tbh

[NazNaci1]

Prime Roy was just too fast and powerful. Ward would be in defensive mode.

Even trying to maul Roy in his Ward-like way, he could and probably would get buckled and dropped. Bodyshots would also detonate hard.

Roy by wide UD, imo.