Who takes this bout in 2003?


Roy Jones Jr had just climbed all the way up to Heavyweight making history, capturing the WBA Heavyweight title from John Ruiz in a bout he used his skills and speed to clearly outpoint The Quiteman to a wide UD.

Mike Tyson was still considered an exciting, dangerous fighter coming off a 1st round KO over Clifford Etienne in a bout that showed the former undisputed champion could still throw vicious shots, needing only 49 seconds to finish the fight.

Roy Jones Jr relied on his speed, reflex and ring smarts to get by naturally much bigger men at the time, while Mike Tyson considered shot and a 3 round fighter at best at the time relying on his one punch power and reputation to get by fighters at that point of his career.


Would Roy Jones Jr be able to survive the early onslaught before 'Iron' Mike gassed out to use his skills, speed and ability to outbox & frustrate the former shell of Tyson or even force the fight to be stopped later on. Or would Mike Tyson only need a short amount of time to prove even at that point of his career he was simply too big, too strong, too powerful and too aggressive for the much smaller Jones to force an early night?


This was a big possibly at the time and as much as I didn't want to see it as both are one of my all time favourites, there was another part of me that sure has hell was curious!


Who you guys got??

Mike would have sent Roy to see the Wizard.

Jones could not take Tyson's punch in any era. Tyson KO 2

Jack

I do think it's a 50/50 fight for the first couple of rounds, but I'm gonna go with Roy in this one..at this point in time lol.

Even though Mike Tyson could have KO'd the much smaller Jones even if the shot was blocked, Roy did still had his legs at Heavyweight to get away from harms way early and wouldn't be laying on the ropes like he did later in his career. Once Tyson gassed out after 3 rounds, Roy would have had the speed and timing to pick the much slowed-down version of Mike Tyson apart.

Roy Jones Jr. isn't a stupid fighter who I think would have been extremely aware of Tyson's power, specially being the much smaller man would have respectfully cautious of it. Mike Tyson was pretty damn shot in 2003 who would almost plod in looking for a shot at a time. Roy would have not only fought on the outside but brought his cape out for the first 3 rounds to do everything necessary to fly as far away as possible from the power of Tyson before his pace slowed down enough, to start opening up. Roy Jones Jr.

That would've been a prime Roy versus a close to done Tyson. Roy would take it by UD if he survived the first 4 rounds. Which I think he would have. Prime Tyson would have finished him. But that version of Tyson was a 4 round fighter AT BEST, a 1 or 2 rounder otherwise.

Hate to see guys dumping on Roy now because of all the damage and embarrassment he's suffered late in his career. Prime Roy Jones is still one of the most gifted fighters that ever lived.

I have to take issue with the bolded part. Change "isn't" to "wasn't" and I could pretty much go along with your entire post (except that I think that it would have been more like 70/30 in RJJ's favor.

Going to HW and not fighting Tyson and The Ghost of Holyfield was the beginning of a series of ignorant moves leading up to a near suicide mission to Moscow coming up.

Sorry Viper but RJJ has become an extremely ignorant fighter.

I don't think a prime Tyson would have any issues whatsoever handling Heavyweight version of Roy Jones Jr. Mike Tyson would have simply been way too powerful, way too ferocious, way too quick and fast for Jones. It would look like Tyson-Spinks all over again! That is no knock on Roy Jones Jr., but more a credit to how great Tyson really was in his prime and also shows how much he really did decline towards the end of his career.

To me Tyson being a 3 round fighter towards the end is generous. Maybe for 2003, but in his last fight against McBride I recall him with his mouth opened up wide, huffing and puffing in the corner after round 2 looking done .


As for Roy, yup!! It's tough when people shit all over him because of how his career turned out, but all of his damage and blemishes happened after he was at his best. It's easy for people to judge him based on his losses when talking about how great he really was and how he would fair up against fighters of the past. But the guy had a very lengthy prime who accomplished some big things and did things in the ring that had never been seen.



Although Jones was never orthodox nor had strong fundamentals skills, I was more talking about him being a smart fighter inside of the ring..apposed to outside the ring. As for Roy Jones at the moment, the more he continues fighting, the more he hurts his career! In hindsight he should have never left Heavyweight and either retired after the Ruiz fight or take a mega fight with Tyson or another big name at Heavyweight.


Sad how things turned out for both these fighters as they remind me alot of eachother in terms of how great they were in their primes and how badly they declined at the end.

I think that the 2003 version of Tyson you still have to hurt him to stop him. It as only towards the end end when you didn't have to do that.

There's a reason Roy didn't take that fight and that's self doubt.

Possibly if Roy can frustrate Tyson winning by DQ wouldn't be a bad bet.