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re: Favorite fighter (boxer or mma) of all time
Posted on 5/21/18 at 8:51 am to MidnightVibe
Posted on 5/21/18 at 8:51 am to MidnightVibe
quote:
He couldn't be touched....until he hit like 34 and got touched by every meddling journeyman fighter and all their cousins. And why? Because he wasn't technical And, really, to say he "wasn't technical" is to be put it REALLY nicely. Dude didn't throw jabs. Come. On.
Yes to all of the above. The weight gain to get the heavyweight belt then quick weight loss plus age made him touchable when he got into his mid 30's. When he lost the blinding speed he became hitable. But before then, he just went out there and whipped everyone's arse, typically in dramatic fashion, and he did it his way. No technical boxing whatsoever, just jumped in and out of range in front of people and knocked the piss out of them almost at will. So, yeah, when the superior athletic ability went, he did not have the technical skills to remain viable. But he was something else in his prime and just unreal to watch toy with world class fighters.
As for being better than Bernard Hopkins, I say yes he was. He beat him relatively easily when they first fought and he claimed his hand was broken prior to the fight as well. Hopkins won a unanimous decision rematch, but that was 20 years into Roy's career and 17 years after the first fight when Roy was no longer Roy.
Posted on 5/21/18 at 10:07 am to Tiger n Miami AU83
quote:
But before then, he just went out there and whipped everyone's arse, typically in dramatic fashion, and he did it his way. No technical boxing whatsoever, just jumped in and out of range in front of people and knocked the piss out of them almost at will. So, yeah, when the superior athletic ability went, he did not have the technical skills to remain viable. But he was something else in his prime and just unreal to watch toy with world class fighters
I agree with this. I love me some boxing, even boxed competitively myself for a time, and appreciate the rich history of the sport, but I'm not one of these "get off my lawn" / "defense wins championships" types. Not only do I appreciate fighters who have a style that is all their own, but I think fighters are better off if they do have a style that's uniquely theirs. And if RJJ can dominate boxing across multiple weight classes for well over a decade without throwing jabs, then by all means, do your thing Roy.
That being said, when you don't throw jabs -- like, at all -- you've gotta be more than just a little bit faster than your opponent. You better have some x-men mutant type quickness. And he did. Which is why he was so damn fun to watch. And why most people (myself included) were shocked when he just completely fell off a cliff. But in hindsight we probably shouldn't have been surprised. What was inevitable is that as soon as that guy lost even a half a step, he was dunzo. It wasn't an "if"question as he kept on fighting past his prime -- as virtually all fighters do -- it was when.
Posted on 5/21/18 at 10:19 am to Tiger n Miami AU83
quote:
As for being better than Bernard Hopkins, I say yes he was. He beat him relatively easily when they first fought and he claimed his hand was broken prior to the fight as well. Hopkins won a unanimous decision rematch, but that was 20 years into Roy's career and 17 years after the first fight when Roy was no longer Roy
But B-Hop was still B-Hop. Which, depending on your preferred metric for quantifying greatness or bestness or the like, is a factor to either consider, or not consider.
Also, I don't know that i would characterize their first fight as a "relatively easy" win for Roy. I haven't watched that fight in a long long time, and so I could be mistaken, but my recollection of that fight is that it was a fairly close contest.
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*and I don't feel like pulling it up on youtube....at least not today
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