RJJ vs. Rodrigo Valdez

[laxpdx]

15 rounds?

[teeto]

Jones for me, on points.

[bodhi]

Never heard of that one before but that´s a great match-up.

Jones just entered his prime while I take that we take Valdez at his best. Personally I think very highly of Valdez. If Monzon hadn´t been around I think he would have been the man. He had great power, good speed and technique. A very good fighter.
Jones was faster but I think against a guy like Valdez his low-hands style defence spells trouble for him. The only two fighters who were anywehre near the class of Valdez he fought were Toney and Hopkins but neither fought in the same style or were at these stages in their career as good as Valdez.
I think Jones would use his hand and footspeed and his counterpunching to build a solid lead until Valdez get´s him out of there.

[red cobra]

Nobody that Jones ever fought were as good as prime Valdez...videos of him in his prime must be seen, and I mean by younger fans of Toney and Hopkins who don't know that much about Valdez. It's the same with Napoles..he had to be seen to be fully appreciated, instead of just going with written accounts of their fights.

[red cobra]

Of course I'd say that the vicious, catlike Valdez would have caught Jones delicate jaw and ended matters in the 7th or 8th.

[teeto]

Valdez is class, outright, the type of fighter i like to watch. Mixes that nice footwork of a not so exagerrated Casamayor with short hard punchers a bit like a Napoles for technique. But i picked Jones to beat him here. Just my opinion.

[natonic]

Very nice posts above. I'm glad to see the recognition for Valdez's skills. I was very, very impressed when I saw the contrast of technique/strategy used by Valdez against Monzon and Briscoe. The guy was very impressive as a boxer against Briscoe.
I think I recall a comparison on ESB of Valdez vs Kalambay and if I'm not mistaken, Kalambay got the nod. I disagree with that. Despite all that, and my admiration for Valdez (and general dislike for Jones), I think Jones would edge it over 12. Not a pretty or comfortable win by any means. It gets closer over 15.

[Stevie G]

Jones by very close decision. Probably split.

[PowerPuncher]

Jones UD, can't see him stopping Valdez but he would beat him to the punch all night, while his movement keeps him off balance especially given Valdez's often flatfooted style.

[bodhi]

Some of you guys are just forgetting this was not the Jones who fought at smw or lhw, this is a still inexperienced Jones. I just can´t see him not getting (T)KOed.

[PowerPuncher]

Originally Posted by bodhi

Some of you guys are just forgetting this was not the Jones who fought at smw or lhw, this is a still inexperienced Jones. I just can´t see him not getting (T)KOed.

This inexperienced Jones dominated Hopkins and would dominate Toney in the fight after he left 160lbs, both considered punchers at the time, Hopkins was a seek and destroy type with 16 KOs out of 22 wins, Hopkins-Jones was expected to be a brawl at the time as Jones was blowing everyone out

[Xplosive]

Jones by wide UD. Roy's style was all wrong for Valdez.

[redrooster]

if Jones with one hand can whip Hopkins 9-3 and render him ineffective, I can imagine Roy with two good hands speeding past Valdez on points. I'm talking prime Roy Jones here; six left hooks in 1 second, Roy Jones

I can remember the slower Monzon twice outboxing Valdez so Roy defintely wins this. I believe Roy can even drop him with his pin point accurate shots

[Mantequilla]

Valdez was a beast, but he had some clear limitations as well.Namely movers and cuties.

He had to go all out to beat a decently talented stylist like Rudy Robles and tended to lapse into a follow the man around the ring Tito'esque plod if he was fighting someone using a lot of safety first movement.Generally a slow starter as well.

You can be damn sure Jones would take this one in a safety first manner, give very little away and win a dull, lopsided decision.I think it's often forgotten what an intelligent, intuitive ring general jones was in his prime, he wasn't just the uber athlete with no deeper skills or knowledge of the game that he often gets portrayed as now.

IF Valdez does start to get through with his heavy combo's he has a good chance of a KO, but i wouldn't make it the probable outcome.

[Ezzard]

15 rounds, 160, same day weigh in, both have the benefit of the same nutrtiton...

I think Jones didn't have the experience to deal with Valdez. He's ahead on points until Valdez turns the lights out