Roy Levesta Jones Jr.(born January 16, 1969) is an American Professional boxer, boxing
commentator, boxing trainer, rapper, and actor who holds dual American
and Russian citizenship. He is a former six time, four weight world
champion, having held titles at middleweight, super middleweight,
light heavyweight, and heavyweight, and is the only boxer in history
to start his professional career as a light middleweight and go on
to win a heavyweight title. As an amateur he represented the United
States at the 1988 Summer Olympics, winning a silver medal in the
light middleweight division.
Jones, who is considered by many
to be one of the best boxers of all time, pound for pound, left his
mark in the sport’s history when he won the WBA heavyweight title
in 2003, becoming the first former middleweight champion to win a
heavyweight title in 106 years. He also became the undisputed light
heavyweight champion in 1999, by unifying the WBA, WBC, and IBF titles.
During his prime, Jones was known for possessing exceptional hand
speed, athleticism, movement and reflexes.
The Boxing Writers
Association of America (BWAA) named Jones as the Fighter of the Decade
for the 1990s. He was also named Fighter of the year for 2003 by the
World Boxing Hall of Fame, and is a three time winner of the Best
Boxer ESPY Award (1996, 2000, and 2003).
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.
Super Middleweight title
Roy Jones vs James 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”
ranking. 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 (46%) and Toney connected on 157 of
451 (35%). Jones was ahead on all three judges scorecards (117-110,
119-108, & 118-109). The fight generated 300,000 pay-per-view
buys.
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 CombuBox 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 two by KO three months later.