Friday, November 7, 2008

Jones-Calzaghe

I'm going with the upset: Roy Jones, Jr, by a narrow decision. I don't think Calzaghe hits hard enough to scare Jones, nor do I think Calzaghe will be able to out-quick him the way he did Hopkins for much of the fight. I do think Jones will be precise enough with his punches to make Calzaghe hesitate before wading into range, and I think he'll be able to do so for 12 rounds. Hopkins himself offered a pretty good rundown of Jones' advantages in an interview with Dan Rafael:
Roy can handle the volume of punches," Hopkins said of Calzaghe's output. "He has the ability to neutralize it. Roy's not going to stop it, but he will neutralize it to the point where Joe will fight using a different tactic and see what else he can do.

"I think I exposed to the world that Joe throws a lot of punches -- you can't take that away from him -- but are the punches he throws effective? Does he connect enough to get points? He throws a lot of punches, but not effective punches. That's where Roy beats him by a landslide."

Hopkins said he thinks Jones is a better puncher than Calzaghe, and only a "tad" slower.

"Roy is fast, and Roy can hurt you," Hopkins said. "Once that happens, Joe will realize he will have to give Roy Jones respect. It's not how many punches you throw, it's how hard you hit.

"That's the difference in the end.

"I think Roy Jones wins by unanimous decision. I think he busts Joe up. Roy is two times faster than me, and I had Joe's face busted up. Last time I saw, Roy Jones is faster than Bernard Hopkins. I look for Roy to pot-shot Joe. Roy knows this guy very well. Roy ain't a fool. He's a smart man. He knows who to pick on as far as what they can do and what they can't do. Joe's not a big puncher who can hurt him, so Roy is going to take a lot more chances than he ever took. He saw me fight Joe from ringside. I'm not the biggest puncher in the world, and I put [Calzaghe] on his a-- [in the first round]. Roy knows something. I gave him something to realize about Joe. I think Roy, at the end, with his speed and all-around athleticism, you will start seeing the difference between him and Joe in the middle rounds.
Just stay off the ropes, Roy!

2 comments:

JohneyB said...

Man am i looking forward to this fight.. should be a good one too... because you know Roy Jones Jr isn't lacking any confidence...guy says what he feels: http://blogs.msg.com/gameon/2008/11/05/-calzaghe-and-jones-jr-set-for-big-bout-saturday/

pc said...

Yeah it could be a great fight. Jones sounds great, and I think he's got the perfect style to neutralize a lot of what Calzaghe does well. Maybe it's wishful thinking, but I think Jones could win this one if not by blowout, than decisively.