Middleweights: Marcel Cerdan vs Roy Jones Jr

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Post by JC »

Ezzard wrote:I'd also add that had Briscoe been around in the 1990s he'd have probably won one of the titles.
I'd be inclined to agree with this.

This has been an interesting thread with excellent points made on both sides. It has made me realise how many variables there are involved in comparing two fighters' careers, particularly if they fought in different eras.
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re

Post by barry »

>>>Barry, I'm not here to devalue Jones I simply believe that Senya's spirited arguement devalues others' accomplishments.<<<

Oh I know...I was just stating that Jones did in fact fight Castro and he did start out at 154...I was not meaning to be a smart-ass, or anything, so if I seemed like it I apologize as it was not intentional!
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Post by Senya13 »

Ezzard wrote:So can we say the same thing for McCallum? Does he get the same license?
It was just another example of proof of the rule that had worked for 15 years for Jones. McCallum looked exactly the same way as almost 50 other Jones' opponents. He wasn't known to be relying on fast reflexes or fast hands or fast feet prior to Jones' fight either, so that even if he were younger, he'd still be outsped too severely to be able to do anything, and at the things the Body Snatcher was famous for, he met his rival, who was even more exceptional at body punching than the master himself, while having a body made of iron to take anything McCallum had in reserve.
I'd agree only that Jackson made a habit of getting lucky. Remember Terry Norris? Jackson's game plan in every fight was 'knock the other guy out'. Jackson's skill was the KO punch.
Problem is he was being pummelled on the ropes when this happened. He wasn't used to that as far as I can tell from my 11 Jackson's fights.
But he was still favourite going into the fight and was still ranked in the P4P top 10. You are interested in rankings prior to fights in your system so why doesn't Curry's high standing count in this one?
I am aware, he was 2-1 favorite. But you see, I did it with these things in my mind, added the conditions about similar sizes and being ranked in the same division where the fight took place. Even a high-ranking P4P fighter can lose to another good fighter if he moves up in weight and challenges the champion there.
Apologies, I meant Valdez (Rodriguez for Rodrigo Valdez: there is some logic there, somewhere)...
So I figured, excuse my sarcasm.
But no you haven't commented on whether Monzon's 6 wins are better than Jones' 3...
I commented on what I thought about all 3 fighters' status at the time of the fight with Monzon, as well as about their status in history, compared to Jones' three fighters.
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Post by The Great John L »

Senya13 wrote:He wasn't known to be relying on fast reflexes or fast hands or fast feet prior to Jones' fight either, so that even if he were younger, he'd still be outsped too severely to be able to do anything, and at the things the Body Snatcher was famous for, he met his rival, who was even more exceptional at body punching than the master himself, while having a body made of iron to take anything McCallum had in reserve.


What the heck are you trying to say here? McCallum had very good reflexes when he was younger, and at nearly 40 years old those reflexes had eroded. Even if that were true, applying that same logic to another fighter who lost a few late in life, since George Foreman was never noted for his speed of hand or foot, then the fact that he had lost a step or two has no bearing on his loss to Morison? Morrison would have been able to beat him at any stage of his career – right!?!

You’ve veered so far from being reasonable, you’re making me actually look like I’m questioning RJJ’s greatness, which I’m not. He was an ATG MW, and his wins over Toney and Hopkins were great achievements, not to mention his KO of Hill, decision of Ruiz, etc. While I do think that Hopkins hadn’t quite reached his peak, he was far from being “green” as many have stated, and RJJs win was and still is impressive. But your fixation with putting any real emphasis on RJJ’s win over a WAY past his prime, nearly 40 year old McCallum seems almost indefensible and rather insulting to McCallum. Yes, McCallum was ranked at the time, and was still a credible opponent, but he was a mere shadow of his former self.
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Post by Senya13 »

What I'm saying is McCallum was never known as a fighter who relied on his speed more than on his skills. His speed and timing indeed had detoriated, but even if he were in his prime, the difference in speed between him and Jones would still be too much, it wouldn't make much difference from what we had seen from his old version vs Roy. He'd still be made to miss most of the time, being countered at almost every attempt of aggression. And at infighting Jones was at least as good, I'd say even better than McCallum, both in attack and in defense, he had a much harder punch too.
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Re: re

Post by Senya13 »

Ezzard wrote:Barry, I'm not here to devalue Jones I simply believe that Senya's spirited arguement devalues others' accomplishments.
And I started this mostly to point out how unreasonable and biased some fighters' placement is at middleweight. Fighters like Harry Greb or Mickey Walker should be reated elsewhere, because they haven't done enough to be ranked at 160lb. Yet Greb appears in almost every rating in Top 5 at middleweight and Walker appears in almost every rating in Top 10 at middleweight. Neither of them even belongs in Top 10 based on lack of accomplishments at this weight.
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Post by Arbachakov »

McCallum had a gut and was clearly out of shape by the time he fought Jones.

He looked slow as hell and was a very ordinary fighter by that point.
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Post by Ambling Alp »

You can speculate that Jones would have beaten McCallum at his best, but that is all you are doing, speculating. He didn't actually do it. If Jones had beat McCallum when McCallum was remotely close to his best, that would a lot more. His win over over the almost 40 year old McCallum doesn't prove anything.

Seyna13 seems to consider fighters pre 1990's fighters to be inferior, at least middleweights. It's like he thinks the period of McCallum,Toney,Hopkins and Jones was some sort of golden age. Interesting since there hasn't bea great fight at 160 in 20 years).
I don't agree with this at all, but that isn't what bugs me the most.
What I don't like (and Ezzard mentioned this) is that he doesn't compare apples to apples.
Jones win over almost 40 year old McCallum is considered a big deal MCCallum lost the great Fabrice Tiozzo before Jones beat him. This clearly wasn't McCallum's best weight class anyway.

-However, he refers to Griffith as "washed up" when Monzon beat him. Griffith was past his his best, but he surely wasn't washed up. Griffith was 33, which is huge difference from 39. Griffith had won his last 10 fights, and was still considered one of the top 3 middleweights in the world.
He trys to claim that Monzon's title defenses over Valdez,Benvenuti and Brisco were almost not that impressive.
Are we supposed to believe that any of Hopkins title defenses are more impressive? Or that Jones one title title defense (against Thomas Tate) was more impressive that Monzon beat those guys??
-Seyna13 rips several other middleweight champions middleweight title fights. However, he doesn't even mention Jones' middleweight title fights.
Jones only had 2. He won the vacant IBF title, and had a grand total of one title defense. Many, many other middleweights did more in middleweight title defenses.

-Seyna13 doesn't want to count Grebs fights when Greb was well over the middleweight limit, when rating Greb as a middleweight. (Greb beat Tunney,Loughran,Gibbons when he was over 160). I agree with him on that.
However, he then wants to count Jones wins over Toney and McCallum when Jones was over 160.
Greb and Jones should be judged the same way. If you count the fights when they were over 160, Greb's victories were more impressive; if don't count them Greb was still more impressive.

-Seyna13 wants to count the win over Hopkins as big deal. First I want to say that I never said Hopkins was "green". What I was saying was that Hopkins wasn't nearly the fighter that he would become. He had not beaten anyone worth mentioning before he fought Jones. In fact a year after he lost to Jones, Hopkins actually had a draw with Segundo Mercado, who was pretty much a journeyman. (Hopkins even got decked twice). It would be a while before Hopkins would reach his potential. If Jones would have beaten hopkins in say 1999 or 2000, that would mean a lot more.
Jones win over Hopkins was a nice win, but that's about it.

-On the other hand, Senya13 trys to say that Greb's win over Walker's doesn't mean anything. Well, Walker had just won a newspaper decision over the lightheavyweight champion 6 months previously. If there would have been judges, Walker probably would have won the lightheavyweight title. Walker had to be at least close to his potential at the time that Greb beat him.

-Another source that that Senya13 uses when it suits Jones is Ring Magazine. However, did you notice who Ring Magazine does have in their top 20 all time middleweights? Lo and behold, the top 4 consists of Greb,Monzon,Hagler, and Robinson! Not mention that many others are in the top 20 that senya13 rips, such as Griffith,Fullmer,Walker,Cerdan, etc.

He is obviously not rating Jones the same way as he rates others.
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Post by The Great John L »

Senya13 wrote:What I'm saying is McCallum was never known as a fighter who relied on his speed more than on his skills. His speed and timing indeed had detoriated, but even if he were in his prime, the difference in speed between him and Jones would still be too much, it wouldn't make much difference from what we had seen from his old version vs Roy. He'd still be made to miss most of the time, being countered at almost every attempt of aggression. And at infighting Jones was at least as good, I'd say even better than McCallum, both in attack and in defense, he had a much harder punch too.
These are all merely opinions. I agree that McCallum was not noted for his speed, but his reflexes and ring generalship were such that he could overcome speed. I also agree that RJJ probably would have been too fast for even a prime McCallum, but that is also my opinion, and there were some moments in the first 5 rounds of their fight when the over the hill, nearly 40 year old McCallum was able to effectively force the fight and control the action. Several of the judges gave him a few of the early rounds, and I think that was an accurate reflection of the action. Had McCallum been younger, it’s certainly not a stretch to think that he would have had better strength and stamina, and would have been able to give RJJ a very rough time.

Again, your opinions are just that, and the only real fact of the RJJ-McCallum fight that should matter to anyone attempting to judge each fighter’s historical significance is that McCallum was nearly 40 years old.

BTW, using the reasoning you’ve applied to McCallum-RJJ, could Morrison have out boxed a prime Foreman?
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Post by Ambling Alp »

seyna13 had asked that I name 3 defeated opponents of fighters who I said were as good as the "sum total" McCallum, Hopkins, and Jones.

I am listing them, though since he doesn't seem to be impressed with anyone that fought before the 1990's he probably won't agree with this.

Some of these guys fought so many good fighters that it was hard to pick just 3. Many times they beat the guy more than once.
At any rate:
Armstrong-Ambers,Ross, Angott
Ray Leonard-Duran,Benitez, Hearns
Ross-Canzoneri,Petrolle, McClarnin
Ali-Frazier, Foreman, Liston
Louis-Baer,Schmeling, Sharkey
Spinks-Qawi,Johnson, Mustapha Muhammad
Charles-Moore,Bivins,Burley
Moore-Johnson,Maxim,Bivins
Langford-Jeanette,McVey,Wills
Napoles-Griffith,Cokes,Perkins
Jeffries-Corbett,Ruhlin,Sharkey
De La Hoya-Quartey,Vargas,Carr
Chavez-Camacho,Rosario,Haugen
Whitaker-Nelson,McGirt, Ramirez, (not including "draw" with Chavez)
Burley-Moore,Williams,Zivic
Hearns-Duran,Benitez, Cuevas
Duran-Leonard,Palomino,Buchanan
Ike Williams-Gavilan,Jack,Montgomery

This doesn't include wins over fighters who were way, way past it, like Jones win over McCallum. The opponents were at least remotely close to their prime.
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Post by Senya13 »

Ambling Alp wrote:You can speculate that Jones would have beaten McCallum at his best, but that is all you are doing, speculating.
Same as it is speculating that McCallum would do any better had he been closer to his prime. Same as we all do all the time, when we are discussing virtual matchups, ratings, etc.
Seyna13 seems to consider fighters pre 1990's fighters to be inferior, at least middleweights.
I really don't know how many times do I have to reiterate the fact that I rate Marvin Hagler (pre-1990 fighter) at #1, and Carlos Monzon (pre-1990 fighter) at #3 and Ray Robinson (pre-1990 fighter) at #5.
Interesting since there hasn't bea great fight at 160 in 20 years).
You would be very surprised to know how many fights that are considered great or significant now (in hindsight) weren't considered as such at the time they happened.
Jones win over almost 40 year old McCallum is considered a big deal
I actually was using the Ring's policy of ranking fighters' placement in history in this or that weight division, to come to the conclusions I described above. The one where they rank Greb and Walker at middleweight, and Tunney and Charles at heavyweight. Earnie Shavers was once ranked at #10 in the 175lb division (for his victory over ranked light heavyweight 191lb Vicente Rondon), so that I now have all rights to claim Earnie Shavers was the hardest hitting light heavyweight of all time.
This clearly wasn't McCallum's best weight class anyway.
This clearly wasn't Jones' best weight class either.
-However, he refers to Griffith as "washed up" when Monzon beat him. Griffith was past his his best, but he surely wasn't washed up. Griffith was 33, which is huge difference from 39.
Based on evaluating other great fighters' careers at the age around 32-34, and considering Griffith's career up to that point (he had had plenty of fights at top level), and using the same arguments everyone has been telling me whenever I start telling them B/ Leonard, Charles, Robinson, Pep, and other great fighters started to lose fights around this age, that they were ring-worn.
Griffith had won his last 10 fights, and was still considered one of the top 3 middleweights in the world.
Where I pointed out that in that time span the only win over great fighter was when 30-year old Griffith beat a 41-year old Dick Tiger. Whatever other "10 last fights" there were, they were against opposition that wasn't on same level.
He trys to claim that Monzon's title defenses over Valdez,Benvenuti and Brisco were almost not that impressive.
Are we supposed to believe that any of Hopkins title defenses are more impressive?
If you took time to read my posts, you'd know that I gave Monzon a win over 1 Top25 middleweight (Benvenuti), whereas I gave Hopkins 0 (zero) such wins.
Or that Jones one title title defense (against Thomas Tate) was more impressive that Monzon beat those guys??
I never made claim about his defense vs Thomas Tate having any significance.
-Seyna13 rips several other middleweight champions middleweight title fights.
I simply listed those fights against clearly inferior opposition (often much-much worse than Thomas Tate), and posted comments about a couple of fights that were written in newspapers when those fights took place.
However, he doesn't even mention Jones' middleweight title fights.
Jones only had 2.
I see no need to mention what every one knows already.
He won the vacant IBF title, and had a grand total of one title defense. Many, many other middleweights did more in middleweight title defenses.
This I addressed when I listed Greb's and Walker's middleweight title fights, if that list of defenses was impressive, then I must not understand something. While none of them have a win of Jones-Hopkins caliber (with Hopkins' greatness estimated in hindsight; similar to how Greb's victory over Walker was claimed to be great, whereas it was considered totally meaningless at the time the fight took place).
Greb and Jones should be judged the same way. If you count the fights when they were over 160, Greb's victories were more impressive; if don't count them Greb was still more impressive.
I totally agree that Greb and Jones should be judged the same way. That's why I say Greb's fights at other weights shouldn't count for his legacy at 160lb, no matter that the Ring magazine listed him at middleweight ratings while he was fighting above that weight. OR, if we want to count those fights for him at middleweight, then Jones' wins over James Toney, Mike McCallum and Reggie Johnson (all former middleweight champions) should count for his middleweight legacy, even though they took place at other weights.
What I was saying was that Hopkins wasn't nearly the fighter that he would become.
This has been addressed multiple times, I'm not gonna spend time repeating the arguments and counter-arguments yet again.
-On the other hand, Senya13 trys to say that Greb's win over Walker's doesn't mean anything.
They weren't my own words, they were the words taken from newswire article printed in multiple US newspapers the next day after the fight.
Well, Walker had just won a newspaper decision over the lightheavyweight champion 6 months previously. If there would have been judges, Walker probably would have won the lightheavyweight title.
Again, if you took time to read the newspapers reports about that fight, you'd be aware that McTigue chose to fight at 160lb weight limit on purpose, so that his light heavyweight title wouldn't be at stake. He was never in danger in that fight, it was clear after a couple of rounds that Walker couldn't do anything to him, couldn't hurt him and neutralize his defensive tactics. Walker won the fight on doing a lot more, of course. Had the title been on stake, McTigue would be weighing close to 175lb and fighting a completely different kind of fight.
Walker had to be at least close to his potential at the time that Greb beat him.
Walker was very good welterweight at the time. At middleweight he wasn't considered anything, but another meaningless sculp in Greb's record.
Lo and behold, the top 4 consists of Greb,Monzon,Hagler, and Robinson!
With three of these four, being in my Top5 as well.
He is obviously not rating Jones the same way as he rates others.
I'll say it different, everyone rates Jones using different set of rules than they use for more famous (and popular) old-timers.
Last edited by Senya13 on 15 Mar 2007, 02:34, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Senya13 »

The Great John L wrote:there were some moments in the first 5 rounds of their fight when the over the hill, nearly 40 year old McCallum was able to effectively force the fight and control the action. Several of the judges gave him a few of the early rounds, and I think that was an accurate reflection of the action.
The scorecards, listed in boxrec database for this fight are not the official scorecards. There was a dispute between the Florida Athletic Comission and the WBC about the judges. The official judges were the ones assigned by the Florida, all 3 scored the fight 120-107, whereas the secondary set of judges (from the WBC) was sitting several rows away from the ring and scored it the way you see in boxrec database. The official verdict (and it's listed in all newspaper reports the next day) was Jones won all rounds. I'm still waiting till I learn the names of the judges (my film of the fight ends before they are announced), I'm gonna be putting them into database instead of the unofficial ones listed right now.
BTW, using the reasoning you’ve applied to McCallum-RJJ, could Morrison have out boxed a prime Foreman?
Morrison wasn't known as a particularly fast fighter. With Jones we have a long string of fights where he outsped all of his opponents (regardless of what age they were) by much, with the only exception to this rule being the Glen Johnson fight, but there he didn't even try, except for one round.
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Post by Senya13 »

Ambling Alp wrote:seyna13 had asked that I name 3 defeated opponents of fighters who I said were as good as the "sum total" McCallum, Hopkins, and Jones.
I didn't ask exactly that, I pointed out the argument about size multiple times. You obviously didn't consider this, thus Duran for Leonard. As well as I pointed out they must have both skill in abundance, and very good accomplishments. This eliminates most of the rest of your list.
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Post by Ambling Alp »

So Leonard's win over Duran doesn't count as as good win? That's ridiculaus. The vast majority of fighters move up in weight during their career. Duran was certainly a legitimate welterweight at the time of the fight.

You don't want to count the fights that I listed because it shows that many other fighters fought better competiton than Jones wins over Hopkins, Toney and his nothing win over McCallum.
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Post by Senya13 »

Had Hagler, Leonard or Hearns been the same size as Duran, they'd be totally different fights. I can't encourage bigger fighters to beat smaller fighters, such as natural welterweights or natural middleweights beating natural lightweights, and adding it to their welter/middle legacy. They have to beat genuine middleweights or bigger fighters to get credit for it, so that it is purely a matchup of skills and wits.
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Post by The Great John L »

Senya13 wrote:They have to beat genuine middleweights or bigger fighters to get credit for it, so that it is purely a matchup of skills and wits.
Based on this statement it makes all of your earlier disparaging remarks about Greb’s opposition look pretty silly. He feasted on talented guys bigger than him, but you seem to focus only his MW opposition. Or did I miss something obvious again?
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Post by Senya13 »

Those bigger men had to have serious achievements at middleweight (even if they fought Greb at heavier weights), for Greb's middleweight legacy to go up.
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Post by The Great John L »

Senya13 wrote:Those bigger men had to have serious achievements at middleweight (even if they fought Greb at heavier weights), for Greb's middleweight legacy to go up.
OIC. Thanks for clarifying that... :o
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Post by JC »

Senya13 wrote:Those bigger men had to have serious achievements at middleweight (even if they fought Greb at heavier weights), for Greb's middleweight legacy to go up.
But surely this negates your arguement that Hopkins is boarderline top 5 MW as his biggest wins are Trinidad, De La Hoya and Tarver, none of which really achieved anything at Middleweight.

I know you mention Hopkin's longevity but Monzon and Hagler can hardly be faulted on that score and you said their quality of opposition keeps them out of the top five, however both men fought better comp than Hopkins. I'm not trying to be a smart ass I just think there seems to be a double standard.
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Post by Ezzard »

Senya13 wrote:
Ezzard wrote:So can we say the same thing for McCallum? Does he get the same license?
Senya13 wrote: It was just another example of proof of the rule that had worked for 15 years for Jones. McCallum looked exactly the same way as almost 50 other Jones' opponents. He wasn't known to be relying on fast reflexes or fast hands or fast feet prior to Jones' fight either, so that even if he were younger, he'd still be outsped too severely to be able to do anything, and at the things the Body Snatcher was famous for, he met his rival, who was even more exceptional at body punching than the master himself, while having a body made of iron to take anything McCallum had in reserve.
There are so many sssumptions here that are simply ungrounded. If as you say Roy is so easily going to outspeed everyone else why did he bother fighting anyone at all? McCallum at 25 might, just might, have been a darned sight quicker than a heavier McCallum at almost 40. This would have had a bearing on the fight. We might also expect him to have more stamina and endurance. To dismiss his chances is either due to poor analysis or an over zealous emotional attachment... To insist on this as a great win but dismiss Jones' defeats as being past his prime is not a coherent argument.

I'd agree only that Jackson made a habit of getting lucky. Remember Terry Norris? Jackson's game plan in every fight was 'knock the other guy out'. Jackson's skill was the KO punch.
Senya13 wrote: Problem is he was being pummelled on the ropes when this happened. He wasn't used to that as far as I can tell from my 11 Jackson's fights.
You're clutching at straws here... Even when the evidence (not opinion) is recorded as a win for Jackson you still cling to an idea that Graham was better. Graham was a top fghter and on another night might have won but "might" is all we can say.
But he was still favourite going into the fight and was still ranked in the P4P top 10. You are interested in rankings prior to fights in your system so why doesn't Curry's high standing count in this one?
Senya13 wrote: I am aware, he was 2-1 favorite. But you see, I did it with these things in my mind, added the conditions about similar sizes and being ranked in the same division where the fight took place. Even a high-ranking P4P fighter can lose to another good fighter if he moves up in weight and challenges the champion there.
So Curry was a smaller man than Mike because he held titles at 147. MCCallum was not a smaller man than Jones even though he held a title at 154? How many double standards do you think your system can get away with?
Apologies, I meant Valdez (Rodriguez for Rodrigo Valdez: there is some logic there, somewhere)...
Senya13 wrote: So I figured, excuse my sarcasm.
Don't worry, it's appreciated...
But no you haven't commented on whether Monzon's 6 wins are better than Jones' 3...
Senya13 wrote: I commented on what I thought about all 3 fighters' status at the time of the fight with Monzon, as well as about their status in history, compared to Jones' three fighters.
Not the same thing though... Even if I was to agree with you on the merits of Jones' opponents Monzon beat each of the foes mentioned twice. That's 6 opponents to Jones' 3.

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Post by Ezzard »

Senya13 wrote:What I'm saying is McCallum was never known as a fighter who relied on his speed more than on his skills. His speed and timing indeed had detoriated, but even if he were in his prime, the difference in speed between him and Jones would still be too much, it wouldn't make much difference from what we had seen from his old version vs Roy. He'd still be made to miss most of the time, being countered at almost every attempt of aggression. And at infighting Jones was at least as good, I'd say even better than McCallum, both in attack and in defense, he had a much harder punch too.
Even if all this is true. Even if Jones walks through him at 160 in his prime Jones didn't actually do it so you can't list it as an achievement, which is what all this is about. If I buy your line it has no bearing on what Jones achieved. I think you need to reconsider.
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Post by Senya13 »

J-C wrote:I know you mention Hopkin's longevity but Monzon and Hagler can hardly be faulted on that score and you said their quality of opposition keeps them out of the top five, however both men fought better comp than Hopkins.
*sigh*
I repeat my Top5 the last time:
1) Marvin Hagler
2) Bernard Hopkins
3) Carlos Monzon
4) Roy Jones Jr
5) Sugar Ray Robinson
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Post by Ezzard »

Senya13 wrote:
Ezzard wrote:Your test falls down on question 2 as McCallum was the naturally smaller man.
How exactly was McCallum a smaller man than Jones?
McCallum's weight statistics (rounding up):
150lb - 2 fights
151 - 1
153 - 4
154 - 8
155 - 4
156 - 3
157 - 4
158 - 3
159 - 4
160 - 3
162 - 1
163 - 1
165 - 1
167 - 2
168 - 3
170 - 1
171 - 1
174 - 2
175 - 4
180 - 1
182 - 1

grouping by weight divisions:
154lb - 15 fights
160lb - 21 fights
168lb - 8
175lb - 8
190lb - 2
This is very misleading. In a non-title fight weighing 1, 2 or even 3 (?) pounds above 154 does not necessarily make it a middleweight fight.
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Post by Senya13 »

Ezzard wrote:If as you say Roy is so easily going to outspeed everyone else why did he bother fighting anyone at all?
What you mean? He fought AND outsped everyone he faced (although someone may question this regarding the Glen Johnson fight, but I'll say look at the round where Jones "woke up", he could hit Johnson at will, easily finding and exploiting holes in his defense.
McCallum at 25 might, just might, have been a darned sight quicker than a heavier McCallum at almost 40.
I might have been quicker when I was younger, than I am today, but if I faced a top runner, that wouldn't matter much, he'd still run 100 meters several seconds faster than I.
We might also expect him to have more stamina and endurance.
He didn't seem to be weary and gassed at the end of that fight, from what I remember.
You're clutching at straws here... Even when the evidence (not opinion) is recorded as a win for Jackson you still cling to an idea that Graham was better. Graham was a top fghter and on another night might have won but "might" is all we can say.
I simply am remembering the 2nd Tarver fight. The fact that Tarver stopped Jones there, doesn't mean he was a better fighter. Because he was outboxed silly the previous 1.5 rounds.
So Curry was a smaller man than Mike because he held titles at 147. MCCallum was not a smaller man than Jones even though he held a title at 154? How many double standards do you think your system can get away with?
McCallum had fought at 175lb for 3 years and captured (and already lost) a title there by the time Jones met him. Curry hadn't won any title. On physical attributes he is not smaller, but actually bigger than Jones, and his body frame carried that weight quite good.
Donald Curry moved up less than an year prior to facing McCallum. He was smaller than McCallum, his body frame wasn't as big as McCallum's.
Not the same thing though... Even if I was to agree with you on the merits of Jones' opponents Monzon beat each of the foes mentioned twice. That's 6 opponents to Jones' 3.
Beating opposition, that is inferior to those three fighters, several times doesn't sum up arithmetically.
Bernard Hopkins beating Antwun Echols or Robert Allen twice each, doesn't equal his win over Felix Trinidad, for example.
Senya13
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Post by Senya13 »

Ezzard wrote:This is very misleading. In a non-title fight weighing 1, 2 or even 3 (?) pounds above 154 does not necessarily make it a middleweight fight.
He was clearly reducing weight to fight for the title:
1984-10-19 153 title
1984-12-01 153 title
1985-06-15 160 non-title
1985-07-28 154 title
1986-05-02 163 non-title
1986-08-23 152 1/2 title
1986-09-15 162 non-title
1986-10-25 154 title
1987-03-21 165 non-title
1987-04-19 153 3/4 title
1987-07-18 153¾ title
moved up to fight for middleweight title
1988-03-05 158 3/4 title
1988-06-27 168 non-title
1988-12-22 171 non-title
1989-01-09 170 non-title
1989-05-10 159 title
and so on. Before he moved to light heavyweight, in tune-up fights he was weighing 1 or 2 divisions above the one he was fighting for the title.
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