I Like Roy Jones To Beat Floyd Mayweather

Published

13 years ago

March 28, 2012

Lee Wylie

Jones vs Tarver001 During a recent interview, Roy Jones Jr claimed that Manny Pacquiao would be a tougher task for him than Floyd Mayweather. Jones, a former four weight world champion [middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight], claimed that if weight, size and age were in line, he would have the perfect style to neutralise Floyd Mayweather. Manny Pacquiao's style however, he said, would be far more difficult for him to crack.

“The young Roy Jones, would probably beat Floyd Mayweather, because basically Mayweather has the same style as James Toney. My style is different to theirs. But when you come back and start talking about Manny Pacquiao, he's a whole different animal. He's a southpaw who throws bombs. You've got to survive his power first, then you deal with him. That's still left to be seen. Of course with my size I'll beat him, but if I was in his weight class, that would be a good fight to see, ” said Jones.

So how would hypothetical contests involving Roy Jones and Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao actually look then?

Part 1. Roy Jones versus Floyd Mayweather

By claiming that Mayweather has the same style as Toney, Jones is insinuating that Mayweather, a counterpuncher like Toney, would be using a lot of upper body movement to evade punches. Jones is also aware that both Toney and Mayweather share the same defensive shell – chin tucked in behind their left shoulder- which they like to roll and counter from. During their fight in 1994, Jones was able to use his speed and movement to neutralise Toney's defense. Jones' style was very much his own during his prime. Using his legs, Jones always kept the fight at his distance. Often backing up, Jones would lure his opponent in, then attack in lightning quick bursts. This style proved to be Toney's downfall. By feinting Toney into his defensive shell, Jones, using his superior footwork, was able to step around Toney and attack from a variety of different angles. Because he stood flat footed and because of Jones' hand and foot speed advantage, Toney was unable to adjust.

While there are obvious similarities between Mayweather and Toney, there are also some differences.

Firstly, Mayweather, like Jones used to be, is a rare athletic talent blessed with A+ handspeed and reflexes. As a result, Mayweather can afford to rely on physical gifts, as well as craft, whereas Toney – who possessed decent hand speed early in his career – relied purely on technique. Secondly, Mayweather's foot speed, while not as fast as it once was, is still very quick. Toney on the other hand, was often exposed in the footspeed department. As a result of his tendency to over do his defense, Toney would often go long periods without letting his hands go, whereas Mayweather's transition from defense to offense was seamless. Mayweather's defense is there to set up his offense.

Personally, I feel Roy Jones would have the stylistic advantage over Floyd Mayweather. By evidence, Mayweather always looked better against aggressive types who chose to press the attack, rather than sit back [Corrales, Gatti and Hatton]. Likewise, prime Jones also looked good when he allowed his opponent to be the aggressor [Pazienza, Brannon and Ruiz]. However, some of Jones' best wins came against supreme ring technicians, albeit some of them were past their prime [Toney, Hopkins, Hill, Mccallum and Reggie Johnson.]

It's difficult to tell who had the faster hands of the two. Jones threw more power shots at speed, whereas Floyd threw his jab more. Because Jones was the larger of the two, and was carrying more weight, I’d say Jones had the faster hands in a pound for pound sense. While there's not much to separate them in terms of hand speed, the superior footspeed belongs to Jones. Jones could move around the ring quicker than any fighter I've ever seen.

While both fighters are essentially defensive minded fighters, Roy should be considered the more offensive minded of the two as he would often take more risks when attacking than Floyd. As a result, Mayweather is deemed a more cautious fighter than Prime Jones was. Mayweather prefers to throw one punch at a time, primarily the straight right hand, which he only allows to be released with any frequency once his opponents’ primary weapon is taken away. Jones' primary weapon was his mobility. In order for Floyd to take Roy's mobility away, he would have to fight a far more aggressive fight than he is accustomed to. Mayweather would have to be more aggressive and try and cut the ring off.

Look at Jean Pascal against Chad Dawson, which is a similar matchup stylistically. Dawson was forced into taking the lead against Pascal, who, because of his in and out style of boxing, had Dawson on the defensive every time he leapt in with his combinations.

A defensive counterpuncher will always struggle with unpredictable, sporadic offense.

By being out of range, and launching an ambush, you are surprising the counterpuncher, hence his first motion will be to cover up and defend. In theory, if the counterpuncher does not know what type of attack is coming next, you are in essence giving him nothing to counter.

No doubt, Mayweather is the superior technician of the two, but it's hard to see past Mayweather's low risk taking. Jones on the other hand would place a lot more emphasis on offense. Roy would be throwing his combinations whilst moving. As a result, his attack would be very creative and unpredictable. Jones could lead with hard and fast left hooks to the body followed by a right hand up top or vice versa. If Mayweather chose to press the attack, Jones would be backing up, then leap in at every angle imaginable. Mayweather, a counterpuncher, would be spending too much time trying to evade Jones’ offense, namely his left hook lead, as opposed to attempting to initiate his own.

Technically, Floyd is the better defender. His ability to block, slip and counter in close is breathtaking. Yet ask yourself this; Who have you seen hit with the cleaner shots, Roy Jones from 1994-2004? Or Floyd Mayweather from 1999 until present day?

It's easy to forget just how good Roy Jones actually was defensively. We did not know how bad Jones' chin was, as a direct result of his legs being so good. His legs, as opposed to Mayweather's upper body, were HIS defense. During his prime, I cannot name a single occasion where I saw Jones hit clean, let alone hurt, whereas Floyd Mayweather has been hit clean and hurt on numerous occasions during his best years [Castillo, Corley and Mosley].

If I had to pick an area in which Mayweather would have the significant advantage, it would have to be in close. I regard Floyd Mayweather as the best inside fighter in boxing at the moment. Just like when Pernell Whitaker proved he was better than Julio Cesar Chavez in close during their bout, Floyd Mayweather proved his inside mastery during his undressing of formidable inside fighter Ricky Hatton. While Jones was no slouch on the inside, it is this area where his best asset, his legs, would be ineffective, and Mayweather's best asset, his technical skills, would be very effective. If the fight was fought in the pocket, in a conventional way, like Kalambay versus McCallum or Barrera versus Juan Manuel Marquez, then I'd favour Floyd.

Unfortunately for Floyd, this would not be the destination of the action.

On a personal note, my favourite fighter of all time is Roberto Duran. Apart from being one of the best aggressors in boxing history, I also think he was one of the best ring technicians ever. In his first fight with Ray Leonard, Duran dominated the action with his superior craft in close. Leonard could not match him in the skills department. His handspeed was nowhere to be seen. Contrast this fight with the rematch, and you see an entirely different fight. Duran's superior technical skills were rendered useless by Leonard's foot speed and movement. Duran could not get close enough to Leonard in order to do what he did best.

While the disparity in foot speed would not be as huge as it was between Leonard and Duran, there would be enough of it in Jones' favour to take a lot of Mayweather's best work away from him. Opponents that stand in front of Floyd, like Gatti, Mosley and even Juan Manuel Marquez [uncharacteristically in their fight] will get eaten up by his vast spectrum of skills. From a pure boxing perspective, there have not been many better, if any, than Floyd Mayweather.

However, Roy Jones was arguably the most unique talent in boxing history. He had the boxing brain to maximise his athletic talent, which resulted in Jones' style being very hard to decipher. Yes, Sergio Martinez has a similar sort of style to Jones, and yes, I'd pick Floyd Mayweather over Martinez at 154 if ever they decide to face each other.

Again, ask yourself, could you see Roy Jones struggling with Matthew Macklin the way Martinez did? Neither can I.

Consequently, I would have to agree with Roy Jones' assumption that he would hold the advantages over Floyd Mayweather, both physically and stylistically.

Mayweather is a tremendous talent, a fighter whose style translates to more longevity than that of Jones'. Once Jones' other-worldly speed of hand and more importantly, speed of foot had diminished, he did not have the technical skills to fall back on, whereas once Mayweather's physical gifts fade, an all time great defensive skill set will see him ok.

But when it comes to both fighters at their best, for my money, Roy Jones Jr, would have proved to be better than Floyd Mayweather.

Part 2 [ Jones versus Pacquiao] coming soon….

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Lee Wylie

History has Shortchanged Freddie Dawson, One of the Best Boxers of his Era

Published

2 days ago

April 2, 2025

Arne K. Lang

History has Shortchanged Freddie Dawson, One of the Best Boxers of his Era

This reporter was rummaging around the internet last week when he stumbled on a story in the May 1950 issue of Ebony under the byline of Mike Jacobs. Boxing was then in the doldrums (isn’t it always?) and Jacobs, the most powerful promoter in boxing during the era of Joe Louis, was lassoed by the editors of the magazine to address the question of whether the over-representation of black boxers was killing the sport at the box office.

This hoary premise had been kicking around even before the heyday of Jack Johnson, bubbling forth whenever an important black-on-black fight played to a sea of empty seats as had happened the previous year when Chicago’s Comiskey Park hosted the world heavyweight title fight between Ezzard Charles and Jersey Joe Walcott.

Jacobs ridiculed the hypothesis – as one could have expected considering the publication in which the story ran – and singled out three “colored” boxers as the best of the current crop of active pugilists: Sugar Ray Robinson, Ike Williams, and Freddie Dawson.

Sugar Ray Robinson? A no-brainer. Skill-wise the greatest of the great. Even those that didn’t follow boxing, would have recognized his name. Ike Williams? Nowhere near as well-known as Robinson, but he was then the reigning lightweight champion, a man destined to go into the International Boxing Hall of Fame with the inaugural class of 1990.

And Freddie Dawson? If the name doesn’t ring a bell, dear reader, you are not alone. I confess that I too drew a blank. And that triggered a search to learn more about him.

Freddie Dawson had four fights with Ike Williams. All four were staged on Ike’s turf in Philadelphia. Were this not the case, the history books would likely show the series knotted 2-2. Late in his career, Dawson became greatly admired in Australia. But we are jumping ahead of ourselves.

Dawson was born in 1924 in Thomasville, Arkansas, an unincorporated town in the Arkansas Delta. Likely a descendent of slaves who worked in the cotton plantations, he grew up in the so-called Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago, the heart of Chicago’s Black Belt.

The first mention of him in the newspapers came in 1941 when he won Chicago’s Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) featherweight title. In those days, amateur boxing was big in the Windy City, the birthplace of the Golden Gloves. The Catholic Archdiocese, which ran gyms in every parish, and the Chicago Parks Department, were the major incubators.

In his amateur days, he was known as simply Fred Dawson. As a pro, his name often appeared as Freddy Dawson, although Freddie gradually became the more common spelling.

Dawson, who stood five-foot-six and was often described as stocky, made his pro debut on Feb. 1, 1943, at Marigold Gardens. Before the year was out, he had 16 fights under his belt, all in Chicago and all but two at Marigold. (Currently the site of an interdenominational Christian church, Marigold Gardens, on the city’s north side, was Chicago’s most active boxing and wrestling arena from the mid-1930s through the early-1950s. Joe Louis had three of his early fights there and Tony Zale was a fixture there as he climbed the ladder to the world middleweight title.)

The last of these 16 fights was fatal for Dawson’s opponent who collapsed heading back to his corner after the fight was stopped in the 10^th round and died that night at a local hospital from the effects of a brain injury.

Dawson left town after this incident and spent most of the next year in New Orleans where energetic promoter Louis Messina ran twice-weekly shows (Mondays for whites and Fridays for blacks) at the Coliseum, a major stop on boxing’s so-called Chitlin’ Circuit.

That same year, on Sept. 19, 1944, Dawson had his first encounter with Ike Williams. He was winning the fight when Ike knocked him out with a body punch in the fourth round.

The first and last meetings between Dawson and Ike Williams were spaced five years apart. In the interim, Freddie scored his two best wins, stopping Vic Patrick in the twelfth round at Sydney, NSW, and Bernard Docusen in the sixth round in Chicago.

The long-reigning lightweight champion of Australia, Patrick (49-3, 43 KOs) gave the crowd a thrill when he knocked Dawson down for a count of “six” in the penultimate 11^th round, but Dawson returned the favor twice in the final stanza, ending the contest with a punch so harsh that the poor Aussie needed five minutes before he was fit to leave the ring and would spend the night in the hospital as a precaution.

Dawson fought Bernard Docusen before 10,000-plus at Chicago Stadium on Feb. 4, 1949. An 8/5 favorite, Docusen lacked a hard punch, but the New Orleans cutie had suffered only three losses in 66 fights, had never been stopped, and had extended Sugar Ray Robinson the 15-round distance the previous year.

Dawson dismantled him. Docusen managed to get back on his feet after Dawson knocked him down in the sixth, but he was in no condition to continue and the referee waived the fight off. Dawson was then vacillating between the lightweight and welterweight divisions and reporters wondered whether it would be Robinson or Ike Williams when Dawson finally got his well-earned title shot.

Sugar Ray wasn’t in his future. Here are the results of his other matches with Ike Williams:

Dawson-Williams II (Jan. 28, 1946) – The consensus on press row was 7-2-1 or 7-3 for Dawson, but the match was ruled a draw. “[The judges and referee] evidently saw [Williams] land punches that nobody else did,” said the ringside reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Dawson-Williams III (Jan. 26, 1948) – Dawson lost a majority decision. The scores were 6-4, 5-4-1, and 4-4-2. The decision was booed. Ike Williams then held the lightweight title, but this was a non-title fight. (It was tough for an outsider to get a fair shake in Philadelphia, home to Ike Williams’ co-manager Frank “Blinky” Palermo who would go to prison for his duplicitous dealings as a fight facilitator.)

Dawson-Williams IV (Dec. 5, 1949) – This would be Freddie Dawson’s only crack at a world title and he came up short. Ike Williams retained the belt, winning a unanimous decision. The fight was close – 8-7, 8-7, 9-6 – but there was no controversy.

Dawson made three more trips to Australia before his career was finished. On the first of these trips, he knocked out Jack Hassen, successor to Vic Patrick as the lightweight champion of Australia. A 1953 article in the Sydney Sunday Herald bore witness to the esteem in which Dawson was held by boxing fans in Australia: “None of our boxers could withstand his devastating attacks which not only knocked them out but also knocked years off their careers,” said the author. “It is doubtful whether any Australian boxer in any division could have beaten Dawson.”

Dawson had his final fights in the Land Down Under, finishing his career with a record of 103-14-4 while answering the bell for 962 rounds. Following what became his final fight, he had an eye operation in Sydney that was reportedly so intricate that it required a two-week hospital stay. He injured the eye again in Manila while sparring in preparation for a match with the welterweight champion of the Philippines, a match that had to be aborted because of the injury. Dawson then disappeared, by which we mean that he disappeared from the pages of the newspaper archives that allow us to construct these kinds of stories.

What about Freddie Dawson the man? A 1944 story about him said he was an outstanding all-around athlete, “a champion in all athletic undertakings – basketball, baseball, track and even jitterbugging.” A story in a Sydney paper as he was preparing to meet Vic Patrick informs us that he had two young children, ages 2 and 1, owned his own home in Chicago, and drove a two-year-old Cadillac. But beyond these flimsy snippets, Dawson the man remains elusive.

What we learned, however, is that he was one of the most underrated boxers to come down the pike in any era, a borderline Hall of Famer who ought not have fallen through the cracks. Inside the ring, this guy was one tough hombre.

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Ringside at the Fontainebleau where Mikaela Mayer Won her Rematch with Sandy Ryan

Published

5 days ago

March 30, 2025

Arne K. Lang

Ringside-at-the-Fontainebleau-where-Mikaela-Mayer-won-her-Rematch-with-Sandy-Ryan

LAS VEGAS, NV — The first meeting between Mikaela Mayer and Sandy Ryan last September at Madison Square Garden was punctuated with drama before the first punch was thrown. When the smoke cleared, Mayer had become a world-title-holder in a second weight class, taking away Ryan’s WBO welterweight belt via a majority decision in a fan-friendly fight.

The rematch tonight at the Fontainebleau in Las Vegas was another fan-friendly fight. There were furious exchanges in several rounds and the crowd awarded both gladiators a standing ovation at the finish.

Mayer dominated the first half of the fight and held on to win by a unanimous decision. But Sandy Ryan came on strong beginning in round seven, and although Mayer was the deserving winner, the scores favoring her (98-92 and 97-93 twice) fail to reflect the competitiveness of the match-up. This is the best rivalry in women’s boxing aside from Taylor-Serrano.

Mayer, 34, improved to 21-2 (5). Up next, she hopes, in a unification fight with Lauren Price who outclassed Natasha Jonas earlier this month and currently holds the other meaningful pieces of the 147-pound puzzle. Sandy Ryan, 31, the pride of Derby, England, falls to 7-3-1.

Co-Feature

In his first defense of his WBO world welterweight title (acquired with a brutal knockout of Giovani Santillan after the title was vacated by Terence Crawford), Atlanta’s Brian Norman Jr knocked out Puerto Rico’s Derrieck Cuevas in the third round. A three-punch combination climaxed by a short left hook sent Cuevas staggering into a corner post. He got to his feet before referee Thomas Taylor started the count, but Taylor looked in Cuevas’s eyes and didn’t like what he saw and brought the bout to a halt.

The stoppage, which struck some as premature, came with one second remaining in the third stanza.

A second-generation prizefighter (his father was a fringe contender at super middleweight), the 24-year-old Norman (27-0, 21 KOs) is currently boxing’s youngest male title-holder. It was only the second pro loss for Cuevas (27-2-1) whose lone previous defeat had come early in his career in a 6-rounder he lost by split decision.

Other Bouts

In a career-best performance, 27-year-old Brooklyn featherweight Bruce “Shu Shu” Carrington (15-0, 9 KOs) blasted out Jose Enrique Vivas (23-4) in the third round.

Carrington, who was named the Most Outstanding Boxer at the 2019 U.S. Olympic Trials despite being the lowest-seeded boxer in his weight class, decked Vivas with a right-left combination near the end of the second round. Vivas barely survived the round and was on a short leash when the third stanza began. After 53 seconds of round three, referee Raul Caiz Jr had seen enough and waived it off. Vivas hadn’t previously been stopped.

Cleveland welterweight Tiger Johnson, a Tokyo Olympian, scored a fifth-round stoppage over San Antonio’s Kendo Castaneda. Johnson assumed control in the fourth round and sent Castaneda to his knees twice with body punches in the next frame. The second knockdown terminated the match. The official time was 2:00 of round five.

Johnson advanced to 15-0 (7 KOs). Castenada declined to 21-9.

Las Vegas junior welterweight Emiliano Vargas (13-0, 11 KOs) blasted out Stockton, California’s Giovanni Gonzalez in the second round. Vargas brought the bout to a sudden conclusion with a sweeping left hook that knocked Gonzalez out cold. The end came at the 2:00 minute mark of round two.

Gonzalez brought a 20-7-2 record which was misleading as 18 of his fights were in Tijuana where fights are frequently prearranged. However, he wasn’t afraid to trade with Vargas and paid the price.

Emiliano Vargas, with his matinee idol good looks and his boxing pedigree – he is the son of former U.S. Olympian and two-weight world title-holder “Ferocious” Fernando Vargas – is highly marketable and has the potential to be a cross-over star.

Eighteen-year-old Newark bantamweight Emmanuel “Manny” Chance, one of Top Rank’s newest signees, won his pro debut with a four-round decision over So Cal’s Miguel Guzman. Chance won all four rounds on all three cards, but this was no runaway. He left a lot of room for improvement.

There was a long intermission before the co-main and again before the main event, but the tedium was assuaged by a moving video tribute to George Foreman.

Photos credit: Al Applerose

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William Zepeda Edges Past Tevin Farmer in Cancun; Improves to 34-0

Published

5 days ago

March 29, 2025

David A. Avila

William Zepeda Edges Past Tevin Farmer in Cancun; Improves to 34-0

No surprise, once again William Zepeda eked out a win over the clever and resilient Tevin Farmer to remain undefeated and retain a regional lightweight title on Saturday.

There were no knockdowns in this rematch.

The Mexican punching machine Zepeda (33-0, 17 KOs) once more sought to overwhelm Farmer (33-8-1, 9 KOs) with a deluge of blows. This rematch by Golden Boy Promotions took place in the famous beach resort area of Cancun, Mexico.

It was a mere four months ago that both first clashed in Saudi Arabia with their vastly difference styles. This time the tropical setting served as the background which suited Zepeda and his lawnmower assaults. The Mexican fans were pleased.

Nothing changed in their second meeting.

Zepeda revved up the body assault and Farmer moved around casually to his right while fending off the Mexican fighter’s attacks. By the fourth round Zepeda was able to cut off Farmer’s escape routes and targeted the body with punishing shots.

The blows came in bunches.

In the fifth round Zepeda blasted away at Farmer who looked frantic for an escape. The body assault continued with the Mexican fighter pouring it on and Farmer seeming to look ready to quit. When the round ended, he waved off his corner’s appeals to stop.

Zepeda continued to dominate the next few rounds and then Farmer began rallying. At first, he cleverly smothered Zepeda’s body attacks and then began moving and hitting sporadically. It forced the Mexican fighter to pause and figure out the strategy.

Farmer, a Philadelphia fighter, showed resiliency especially when it was revealed he had suffered a hand injury.

During the last three rounds Farmer dug down deep and found ways to score and not get hit. It was Boxing 101 and the Philly fighter made it work.

But too many rounds had been put in the bank by Zepeda. Despite the late rally by Farmer one judge saw it 114-114, but two others scored it 116-112 and 115-113 for Zepeda who retains his interim lightweight title and place at the top of the WBC rankings.

“I knew he was a difficult fighter. This time he was even more difficult,” said Zepeda.

Farmer was downtrodden about another loss but realistic about the outcome and starting slow.

“But I dominated the last rounds,” said Farmer.

Zepeda shrugged at the similar outcome as their first encounter.

“I’m glad we both put on a great show,” said Zepeda.

Female Flyweight Battle

Costa Rica’s Yokasta Valle edged past Texas fighter Marlen Esparza to win their showdown at flyweight by split decision after 10 rounds.

Valle moved up two weight divisions to meet Esparza who was slightly above the weight limit. Both showed off their contrasting styles and world class talent.

Esparza, a former unified flyweight world titlist, stayed in the pocket and was largely successful with well-placed jabs and left hooks. She repeatedly caught Valle in-between her flurries.

The current minimumweight world titlist changed tactics and found more success in the second half of the fight. She forced Esparza to make the first moves and that forced changes that benefited her style.

Neither fighter could take over the fight.

After 10 rounds one judge saw Esparza the winner 96-94, but two others saw Valle the winner 97-93 twice.

Will Valle move up and challenge the current undisputed flyweight world champion Gabriela Fundora? That’s the question.

Valle currently holds the WBC minimumweight world title.

Puerto Rico vs Mexico

Oscar Collazo (12-0, 9 KOs), the WBO, WBA minimumweight titlist, knocked out Mexico’s Edwin Cano (13-3-1, 4 KOs) with a flurry of body shots at 1:12 of the fifth round.

Collazo dominated with a relentless body attack the Mexican fighter could not defend. It was the Puerto Rican fighter’s fifth consecutive title defense.

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