Roy Jones Jr.


Roy Levesta Jones Jr. is an American professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in four weight classes, including middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight. As an amateur he represented the United States at the 1988 Summer Olympics, winning the light middleweight silver medal.
Jones is considered by many to be one of the greatest boxers of all time, pound for pound, and left his mark in the sport's history when he won the World Boxing Association heavyweight title in 2003, becoming the first and only boxer to win the heavyweight title starting his career as a junior middleweight, and the first former middleweight champion to win a heavyweight title in 106 years. From 1999 to 2002 he held the undisputed championship at light heavyweight.
As of February 2018, Jones holds the record for the most wins in unified light heavyweight title bouts in boxing history, with twelve. He is the only fighter in CompuBox history to have his opponent not land a single punch for an entire round. The Ring magazine named him the Fighter of the Year in 1994 and the World Boxing Hall of Fame named him the Fighter of the Year in 2003. He is also a three-time winner of the Best Boxer ESPY Award. The Boxing Writers Association of America and The Sporting News named him as the Fighter of the Decade for the 1990s.

Early life

Roy Jones Jr. was born to a family with a boxing tradition. His father, Roy Jones Sr., was a Vietnam war veteran who was awarded a Bronze Star for valor after he rescued another soldier. Jones Sr. was a middleweight boxer as well.

Amateur career

Jones won the 1984 United States National Junior Olympics in the weight division, the 1986 United States National Golden Gloves in the division, and the 1987 United States National Golden Gloves in the division. As an amateur, he ended his career with a 121–13 record.

Highlights

, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, May 9–10, 1986:
  • 1/2: Defeated Derrick Rolon by decision
  • Finals: Defeated Victor Levine by decision
Goodwill Box-offs, Caesars Tahoe, Lake Tahoe, Nevada, April 12, 1986:
  • Defeated Stanley Longstreet
Goodwill Games, Moscow, Soviet Union, July 5–20, 1986:
  • 1/4: Defeated Gordon Joyce by unanimous decision, 5–0
  • 1/2: Lost to Igor Ruzhnikov by majority decision, 1–4
National Golden Gloves, Knoxville, Tennessee, April 17–18, 1987:
  • 1/8: Defeated Anthony Daley
  • 1/4: Defeated George Calderon
  • 1/2: Defeated Donald Giron by decision
  • Finals: Defeated Ray McElroy by decision
Junior World Championships, Havana, Cuba, June 26, 1987:
  • 1/8: Lost to Andy Liebing by majority decision, 1–4
U.S. National Championships, Olympic Sports Center, Colorado Springs, Colorado, March 29, 1988:
National Golden Gloves, Omaha, Nebraska, May 16–20, 1988:
  • 1/4: Defeated Hiskia Swartz by walkover
  • 1/2: Lost to Gerald McClellan by split decision, 2–3
Olympic Trials, Concord Pavilion, Concord, California, July 5–10, 1988:
  • 1/4: Defeated James Crisp by unanimous decision, 5–0
  • 1/2: Defeated Ray McElroy by majority decision, 4–1
  • Finals: Defeated Frank Liles by split decision, 3–2
Olympic Box-offs, Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, Nevada, July 16, 1988:

Olympic results

Jones represented the United States at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games in the 156-pound weight class, being the youngest member of the U.S. Olympic Boxing Team, where he won the silver medal.
Jones did not lose a single round en route to the final. His quarterfinal match-up with Soviet boxer Yevgeni Zaytsev was the first U.S.–Soviet Olympic bout in 12 years. The final was met with controversy when Jones lost a 2–3 decision to South Korean fighter Park Si-Hun despite pummeling Park for three rounds, landing 86 punches to Park's 32. Reportedly, Park himself apologized to Jones afterward and the Italian referee Aldo Leoni, while raising Park's hand, told Jones that he was dumbstruck by the judges' decision, murmuring: "I can't believe they're doing this to you." One judge shortly thereafter admitted the decision was a mistake and all three judges voting against Jones were eventually suspended. Marv Albert, calling the bout on American television for NBC, reported that two judges from Communist countries, Hungary and the Soviet Union, scored the bout in favor of Jones, while those from Morocco and Uruguay favored Park. The fifth judge, from Uganda, scored the bout as a draw, leaving the outcome to be decided on other criteria.
An official IOC investigation ending in 1997 found that, although the offending judges had been wined and dined by South Korean organizers, there was no evidence of corruption in the boxing events in Seoul. Jones was awarded the Val Barker trophy as the best stylistic boxer of the 1988 games, which was only the third and to this day the last time in the competition's history when the award did not go to one of the gold medal winners. The Val Barker trophy is awarded by the AIBA, an organization not directly connected with the Olympic authorities. The incident led Olympic organizers to establish a new scoring system for Olympic boxing.
The U.S. Olympic Committee called for an investigation in 1996 after documents belonging to East Germany's Stasi secret police revealed reports of judges being paid to vote for South Korean boxers. East Germany ended the Seoul Olympics in second place on the medal table, ahead of the United States by one gold medal.
Jones and Park met face to face in May 2023, with the South Korean boxer giving his Olympic gold medal over to Jones as a gesture of justice over the controversy.

Professional career

Early career

On turning professional, he had already sparred with many professional boxers, including NABF Champion Ronnie Essett, IBF Champion Lindell Holmes and Sugar Ray Leonard. Jones began as a professional on May 6, 1989, knocking out Ricky Randall in two rounds in Pensacola at the Bayfront Auditorium. For his next fight, he faced the more experienced Stephan Johnson in Atlantic City, beating him by a knockout in round eight.
Jones built a record of 15–0 with 15 knockouts before stepping up in class to meet former World Welterweight Champion Jorge Vaca in a Pay Per View fight on January 10, 1992. He knocked Vaca out in round one to reach 16 knockout wins in a row. After one more KO, Jones went the distance for the first time against future world champion Jorge Castro, winning a 10-round decision in front of a USA Network national audience.

Middleweight champion

Jones vs. Hopkins

Jones made his first attempt at a world title on May 22, 1993. He beat future Undisputed middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins by unanimous decision in Washington, D.C., to capture the IBF middleweight championship. Jones was ahead on all three judges' scorecards. Jones landed 206 of 594 punches and Hopkins connected on 153 of 670. Jones claimed he had entered the bout with a broken right hand, but still managed to outpoint Hopkins and secure a unanimous decision win. Jones reminded the world of this claim on his hit single "Ya'll Must've Forgot" later in his career.
For his next fight, he fought another future world champion, Thulane "Sugar Boy" Malinga, in a non-title affair. Jones beat Malinga by knockout in six rounds. Jones finished the year with another win, beating Fermin Chirino by decision. In 1994, Jones beat Danny "Popeye" Garcia by knockout in six, then retained his IBF title against Thomas Tate in two rounds at Las Vegas on May 27.

Super middleweight champion

Jones vs. Toney

On November 18, 1994, Jones was set to face undefeated IBF super middleweight Champion James Toney, who was ranked highly in the "pound for pound" rankings. Toney was undefeated after 46 bouts and was rated the best in the world at 168 lbs. Billed as "The Uncivil War", Toney vs. Jones was heavily hyped and on PPV. Jones, for the first time in his career, was the underdog.
Over the course of the 12-round unanimous decision, Jones demonstrated his greatness. He danced circles around Toney, utilizing his speed and athleticism to dictate the action, and landing quick combinations whenever Toney pressured him. Jones scored a flash knockdown in the third round with a leaping left hook after goading Toney by imitating a fighting cock. Ring magazine called Jones' performance the most dominant of any big fight in 20 years. Jones landed 285 of 614 punches and Toney connected on 157 of 451. Jones was ahead on all three judges' scorecards. The fight generated 300,000 pay-per-view buys.

Miscellaneous defenses

In 1995, Jones defended his super middleweight title successfully multiple times. He began the year by knocking out IBF #1 Antoine Byrd in round one. This was the first time a championship fight took place at Pensacola. In a fight billed as 'The Devil & Mr Jones', he faced former IBF lightweight Champion Vinny Pazienza and defeated him in round six, after knocking down Pazienza three times. In the fourth round, Jones became the first fighter in CompuBox history to go an entire round without being hit by his opponent. Pazienza was credited with throwing five punches and landing zero. Pazienza was guaranteed $1.35 million, while Jones, who worked off percentages of the gate and the pay-per-view revenue, was guaranteed at least $2 million. Jones then beat Tony Thornton in round three by KO three months later.
In 1996, Jones maintained his winning ways, defeating Merqui Sosa by knockout in two and future world champion Eric Lucas in round 11. When he boxed Lucas, he became the first athlete to participate in two paid sports events on the same day. He had played a basketball game in the morning and defended his boxing title in Jacksonville, Florida that evening. He also held a press conference in the ring just before his 3rd bout of the year, taking questions from a chair in the middle of the ring and defending his choice of Bryant Brannon as his opponent instead of Frankie Liles, his nemesis from the amateurs. He then defeated Bryant Brannon in a round two TKO.