Roy Jones Jr. (born
January 16, 1969), in Pensacola, Florida. He received the light middleweight
silver medal at the '88 Olympics (though it is believed he should
have won gold). Jones went on to win champion titles in three divisions,
becoming the first meddleweight champ to win the heavyweight title
in more than a century. He has also done sports commentary and
acting work.
Roy Jones Jr. took to boxing at a young age. He
proved to be a teenage phenomena in the ring, winning the 1984 U.S.
National Junior Olympics in his weight division. In 1986, Jones picked
up his first U.S. National Golden Gloves win in one weight class,
and scored another Golden Gloves victory the following year in a heavier
weight class. As an amateur, he ended his career with a 121-13 record.
Jones
represented the United States at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games, where
he won the silver medal. He dominated his opponents, never losing
a single round en route to the final. His participation in the final
was met with controversy when he lost a 3-2 decision to South Korean
fighter Park Si-Hun despite pummeling Park for three rounds, landing
86 punches to Park's 32. Allegedly, Park himself apologized to Jones
afterward and the referee told Jones that he was dumbstruck by the
judges decision. One judge shortly thereafter admitted the decision
was a mistake and all three judges voting against Jones were eventually
suspended. An official IOC investigation ending in 1997 found that
three of the judges had been wined and dined by South Korean officials.
This led to calls for Jones to be awarded a gold medal, but the IOC
still officially stands by the decision, despite the allegations.
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 incident led Olympic organizers to
establish a new scoring system for Olympic boxing.
Professional
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 fights, 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.
Roy Jones vs Bernard 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 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. While working for HBO as an analyst
for Bernard Hopkins' title defense against Simon Brown, Jones would
admit on air that he was 16 pounds heavier than Hopkins on fight night,
weighing 180 to Hopkins' 163.