Jirov vs. Jones?

Question

who would've won and how? if they would've fought in say the summer of 2002 for Jirov's IBF Cruiserweight title.

Answer 1

Being at cruiserweight, Roy Jones Jr. would have looked more impressing beating Jirov than he looked beating John Ruiz. I could see Jones weighin in on the lighter side of cruiserweight, like 178-182, using his superior speed quickness over a much slowly Jirov. I think Jones would have won the match by decision easily.

Answer 2

Definately Roy Jones Jr. He is way better than Jirov.

Answer 3

When Roy Jones Jr won a heavyweight title from Ruiz he was actually 199 lb wearing a full track suit, trainers etc. He was probably about 193 - 196 actual bodyweight - well within the cruiserweight limit of 200lb. Roy could have fought at cruiserweight and dominated the division for years after the Ruiz fight. But the big fights Jones wanted at heavyweight didn't happen and there was no money to be made or challenge in the cruiserweight division, so he moved back down to light heavy and was so drained physically from losing 20-25 lbs of muscle that this contributed to his losses to Tarver and Glen Johnson. Rather than having to struggle to make the cruiserweight limit (like Haye) Jones would have made the limit easily and could have come in anywhere between 175 and 200 lb.

To answer your question, Jones would have easily beaten Jirov at cruiserweight. Jirov lost his title to James Toney before moving up to heavyweight where he  lost to Joe Mesi  and Michael Moorer. Jirov is still fighting at heavyweight but isn't really a contender now and his next fight is in Russia against an as yet unnamed opponent on 6th May.

Answer 4

He weighed in at 190 lbs for the Heavyweight fight with Ruiz and I'm thinking he looked great as well.  Its a shame that we are hypothesising of what could have been instead of what should have been.  He had a great legacy but it could have been better.  How many fighters could he have fought and put in his resume to earn the title as perhaps one of the finest pound for pound fighters of all time.