Roy Jones Jr says he and Mike Tyson would have beaten Joshua & Fury

By Boxing News - 07/31/2020 - Comments

By Allan Fox: Roy Jones Jr says he and Mike Tyson would have beaten Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury if they had fought them when they were younger. Jones (66-9, 47 KOs) only briefly fought at heavyweight in 2003, but he still feels that he had the skills to defeat Joshua (23-1, 21 KOs) and Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) had they fought him while he was in his prime.

The 51-year-old Jones and former IBF/WBA/WBC heavyweight champion Tyson (50-6, 44 KOs) are fighting an exhibition match on September 12 on pay-per-view. Fight sells for $49.99. Mike Tyson is now 54-years-old, but he still has the speed and power close to what he had earlier in his career.

What the gray-haired Tyson doesn’t possess is the youth and stamina that he once possessed, so it’s not likely that he would be able to hang with any of the top heavyweights from the current era.

Jones rates him and Mike Tyson above AJ and Fury

Roy casually dismissed the skills of Joshua and Fury, the two best British heavyweights, and he rates himself and ‘Iron’ Mike as above them. There are a lot of boxing fans that believe that a prime Tyson, not to be confused with ‘The Gypsy King Fury, would have beaten both of those fighters had they fought during his era.

 “Not right now. They are not as skilled as we were but they are in their primes, and we are not,” said Jones to Sky Sports News. “In our primes? We would probably have beaten them. You can never say, but I think we would probably have beaten them.

“Our skill level was deeper, at that time, than it is now,” said Jones.

 

Image: Roy Jones Jr says he and Mike Tyson would have beaten Joshua & Fury

Mike Tyson has the combination, speed, and the inside game that is well above the two British behemoths Fury and Joshua, but that’s not surprising. Mike is a lot shorter than AJ and Fury, and so it makes sense that he would be better inside fighter. But the hand speed, combination punching, and the power that Iron Mike has is something that Fury and Joshua don’t possess and never will.

It would have been interesting to see Tyson and Jones fight, Joshua and Fury if there was a way for them to meet in the same era. However, Jones Jr was never a heavyweight, and he had a chin problem that might have limited his success against those giant guys.

Roy talks strategy for beating Fury

Jones captured world titles at middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight. Not surprisingly, Jons ignored the cruiserweight division because there was never anyone worth fighting in that weight class.

“Joshua? I would have boxed, moved around, and made him move his feet to punch,” said Jones.

“[Fury and Deontay Wilder]? I would stay close to. Just like Tyson does – I would have stayed on their chest all night.”

Image: Roy Jones Jr says he and Mike Tyson would have beaten Joshua & Fury

Roy took a lot of shots from heavyweight John Ruiz in his victory over him in 2003, and it’s difficult to imagine him being able to take the same punches from Joshua. Fury’s power is about the same as John’s, so Roy likely would have little issues dealing with his shots.

It would be a different kettle of fish for Jones to take the massive punches from Joshua, and I think he would have used a different strategy against him. Jones’ movement was superb even at heavyweight, and he could have found a way to keep Joshua from hitting him cleanly in the fight. But it would have still been a tough task for Roy to take the massive punches that Joshua would hit him with at some point.

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In Mike Tyson’s case, he likely would have dealt with Fury and Joshua with ease in the same way he destroyed other massive heavyweights when he was in his prime. The big heavyweights never game Tyson problems.