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 middleweight 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 phenomenon 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.