Roy Jones Jr.

Roy Jones Jr.
File:Roy Jones Jr..jpg
Born	Roy Levesta Jones Jr. (1969-01-16) January 16, 1969 Pensacola, Florida, USA
Nationality	American
Other names	Junior
Statistics
Weight(s)	Light Heavyweight
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	55
Wins	51
Wins by KO	38
Losses	4
Draws	0
No contests	0

Roy Levesta Jones Jr. (born January 16, 1969) is an IBC Light Heavyweight Champion, a former four division boxing champion and pound for pound king from Pensacola, Florida. Standing in at 5'11, Jones was Ring Magazine's Fighter of the Year in 1994 and was voted the "Fighter of the Decade" in 1999 by the Boxing Writers Association of America. Jones was considered by many as one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world during his prime. Top Rank's Bob Arum said in a FOX interview: "Roy Jones Jr. is the best fighter or warrior on the planet, no one is even close." Jones's adviser and sometime manager is Pensacola lawyer Fred Levin. His longtime trainer is Alton Merkerson.

Amateur career

Roy Jones Jr. had a very successful career as an amateur boxer - he won the 1984 United States National Junior Olympics in the 119 lb. weight division, he won the 1986 United States National Golden Gloves in the 139 lb. weight division and he won the 1987 United States National Golden Gloves in the 156 lb. weight division. As an amateur, Jones 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. His participation there proved to be controversial when he lost a highly disputed 3-2 decision in the final. Jones lost 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 afterwards. One judge shortly thereafter admitted the decision was a mistake, and all three judges voting against Jones were eventually suspended. Most observers still believe the judges were either bribed or otherwise coerced to vote for the local fighter by Korean officials. However, the official IOC investigation concluding in 1997 found that 3 of the judges were wined and dined by Korean officials, but the IOC still officially stands by the decision. Jones was awarded the Val Barker trophy as the best stylistic boxer of the 1988 games. The incident, along with another highly disputed decision against American Michael Carbajal in the same games, led Olympic organizers to establish a new scoring system for Olympic boxing.

After the 2002 Winter Olympics scandal where the Olympic committee decided to award gold medals to both Russia's and Canada's figure skating teams after finding that the French judge had been bribed, Jones had hoped that the committee would re-open his case and award him a gold medal, but no such action was taken.

The Jones controversy still lingers for many sports fans. Some Korean fans claimed that USOC officials retaliated for the Jones decision at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics by disqualifying Korean skater Kim Dong-Sung from the men's 1500 meter short-track speed skating for an infraction known in the sport as crosstracking (illegally cutting off a competitor), even though International Skating Union officials, not the USOC, made the disqualification. This disqualification handed the gold to American Apolo Anton Ohno.

Professional career

Besides a stellar amateur career and a decade of diligent training, by the time he turned professional, Jones had already sparred with many professional boxers in the gyms including NABF champion Ronnie Essett, IBF world champion Lindell Holmes and all-time great 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, and beat him by a knockout in round eight. Jones built an impressive record of 15-0 with 15 knockouts before stepping up in class, when he met 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 knockout win, Jones went the distance for the first time, against future world champion Jorge Castro, who lost a 10-round decision to Jones in front of a USA Network national audience.

Three more knockouts in a row followed, after which Jones was given his first opportunity to fight for a world title: on May 22 of 1993, he beat future world champion Bernard Hopkins by unanimous decision in Washington D.C., to capture the IBF's vacant World Middleweight Title. All three judges scored the fight 116-112. For his next fight, he chose to fight another future world champion, Thulane "Sugar Boy" Malinga, in a non-title affair. Jones beat Malinga by a knockout in six. Jones finished the year with another non-title fight, beating Fermin Chirino by decision.

1994 was a very diverse year for Jones. He beat fringe contender Danny "Popeye" Garcia by a knockout in six in another non-title bout, then retained the world title against Thomas Tate in two rounds at Las Vegas on May 27. By this point in his career, Jones was considered to be in the extreme upper echelon of the sport, widely considered one of boxing's top four "pound for pound" fighters. On November 18, he and the IBF's World Super Middleweight Champion, James Toney, another member of the elite "pound for pound" contenders, met in an anticipated bout at Las Vegas. Jones was able to turn the highly anticipated fight into a mismatch. He was simply too fast, and dropped Toney in round three, won virtually every round, and won by a unanimous decision to win the IBF World Super Middleweight Title. His outstanding year in the ring was slightly tainted when shortly after his fight with Tate, he was caught by police in the Bahamas and accused of carrying a gun at Nassau's airport.

In 1995, Jones defended his IBF Super Middleweight title successfully three times, knocking out Antoine Byrd in round one, former Lightweight and Junior Middleweight World Champion Vinny Pazienza in round six, and Tony Thornton in round two.

Career from 1996 to 2002

In 1996, Jones maintained his winning ways, defeating Merqui Sosa by a knockout in two, future world champion Eric Lucas in round 11, Bryant Brannon in round three, and former multiple world champion and eventual hall of famer Mike McCallum, by a decision in twelve rounds to become a member of boxing's exclusive group of world champions in three weight divisions by winning the vacant WBC World Light Heavyweight Championship. When he boxed Lucas, he became the first athlete to participate in paid basketball and boxing events on the same day. He had played a game in Alabama in the morning and defended his title in his hometown that evening.

1997 began with more controversy for Jones after he suffered his first professional loss against Montell Griffin, via disqualification. Jones was well ahead on the scorecards and had Griffin on the canvas early in round nine. As Griffin hit the canvas, Jones hit him twice, causing a disqualification. Subsequently, Roy lost all of his World Light Heavyweight belts, even though many observers testified that the punches were not hard enough or placed well enough to knock out a fighter the caliber of Griffin. Jones petitioned for an immediate rematch and regained the world light heavyweight title easily by knocking out Griffin in the first round. During the second knock down, Griffin made several attempts to stand, but continuously fell flat. Jones then signed a lucrative contract with HBO, to have all of his fights telecast on the HBO Boxing TV show. He also had a cameo role in the film Devil's Advocate and Matrix 3.

In 1998, Jones began by knocking out former light heavyweight and future cruiserweight champion Virgil Hill in four rounds in a non-title bout at Biloxi, Mississippi with a sharp right hook to the body. He followed that with a win against the WBA's world Light Heavyweight champion, Puerto Rico's Lou Del Valle, by a decision in 12 on July 18, to unify the WBC and WBA belts. Jones out classed Del Valle thoughout the fight, but then Roy had to climb off the canvas for the first time in his career, as he was dropped in round eight. Jones continued to outbox and punish Del Valle throughout the rest of the fight and gained a unanimous decision. Roy then followed with a defense against Otis Grant. He retained the crown in which he knocked Grant out in ten rounds.

Jones began 1999 by knocking out New York City cop Rick Frazier in a mismatch. After this, many boxing critics started to criticize Jones for fighting grossly overmatched mandatories who few had ever heard of. Roy Jones continued a career of low PPV numbers. Many fight fans were so convinced that Roy would beat any opponent that few would pay to watch. Roy was also criticized for never fighting [[Dariusz ]Michalczewski], an unbeaten German fighter who had been stripped of a pair of championship belts without losing in the ring. Roy made efforts to bring the fight to the U.S., but Michalczewski would not comply. In Jones' only other fight that year, on June 5, he beat the IBF's world champion, Reggie Johnson, by an lop-sided 12-round decision to add that belt to the WBC and WBA belts he already owned in the division. Good or bad Roy hunted belts.

2000 began with a bang for Jones, as he easily beat the hard punching David Telesco via a 12-round decision to retain the world championship, on January 15, the Radio City Music Hall held it's first boxing show ever. Jones' fighting ability grew observers everywhere. Jones entered the ring that surrounded by the famous group of dancers, The Rockettes. Jones provided a devestating KO for the crowd. His next fight was also a first-time boxing event for a venue, as he traveled to Indianapolis and retained his title with an 11-round TKO over Richard Hall(current Light Heavyweight Champion) at the Conseco Fieldhouse. The post-fight drug test showed Jones and Hall both tested positive for androstenedione, which is a banned substance by the IBF. Androstenedione is a natural steroid hormone that was commonly available over the counter as a supplement until 2004 when the FDA made the over the counter sale of androstenedione illegal. Jones admitted to taking the product "ripped fuel" which was sold in GNC and every nutritional supplement outlet. Jones was able to keep his title and was not fined or suspended for the positive test. All of Jones' other post-fight drug tests before and after this fight came back clean. He ended the year by stopping Eric Harding in the 10th round of a one sided fight, once again successfully retaining the title.

In 2001, Jones released Round One, The Album, a rap CD, his most noticeable song on it being Y'all Must've Forgot, probably referring to the fact that some critics who used to point him out as the world's best fighter pound-for-pound were now criticizing his quality of opposition. That year, he retained the title against Derrick Harmon by a knockout in ten, and against future world champion Julio César González of Mexico by a 12-round unanimous decision. There was strong talk of Jones facing Félix "Tito" Trinidad in a super-fight, but that possibility was soon forgotten after Trinidad was defeated in devastating fashion by Hopkins.

In 2002, Jones retained his title by knocking out Glenn Kelly in seven, Jones unbelievably, dodged Kelly's punches while holding his hands behind his back, allowed Kelly to throw shots (though they were weak shots), Roy ducked and mimicked one of his fighting game cocks, then unleashing a tremendous right hand that knocked Kelly out. Kelly layed on the canvas for the count of ten. Jones then defeated [[Clinton Woods](Current Champion) by KO in six.

Jones moves to heavyweight to fight for WBA title

On March 1, 2003 at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Roy Jones would defeat John Ruiz by a 12-round unanimous decision for the WBA heavyweight championship. Jones officially weighed in at 193lbs. and Ruiz at 226lbs. Jones became the first former middleweight title holder to win a heavyweight title in 106 years. Jones also became the first fighter to start his career as a jr. middleweight and win a heavyweight title. This fight was the biggest in Jones' career and placed him as an all-time great in boxing history. After this fight, Jones explored the possibility of fights with Evander Holyfield, Corrie Sanders, Mike Tyson, and Lennox Lewis at heavyweight but none of these matches would come to fruition.

Jones vs. Tarver I & II

Jones decided he wanted to keep campaigning as a light heavyweight and eventually relinquished the WBA heavyweight title. On November 8, 2003, Jones recovered his old belt with a 12-round majority decision over Antonio Tarver. This was a very close fight with Jones looking sluggish and tired throughout. Tarver was able to catch him on the ropes repeatedly but Jones maintained composure, particularly during the championship rounds of the fight. Jones had lost over 20 lbs in a few short weeks before the fight to meet the weight minimum which he claimed caused him to get tired quickly during the fight.

On May 15, 2004, Jones faced a rematch with Tarver. Jones was heavily favored to win, but Tarver scored a KO at 1:41 of the second round, sending shock waves throughout the boxing world. Jones had easily won the first round, but in the second, as Jones tried a combination, he was caught by a big over-hand left from Tarver. Jones beat the count, but was ruled unable to continue by referee Jay Nady.

Comeback attempt against Johnson

On 25 September 2004 Jones attempted to win the IBF light heavyweight title from Glencoffe Johnson in a match in Memphis, Tennessee. Johnson knocked out Jones at 49 seconds into the ninth round. Jones laid on the canvas for three minutes, a shocking sight to see for those who had seen Jones dominate the competition for ten years. Johnson was ahead on all three judges’ scorecards at the time of the knockout (77-75, 77-75, 78-74) and had landed 118 punches to Jones’s 75. Jones used the ring's canvas that night as a billboard for his upcoming rap CD, which came out on November 1.

Rubber Match against Tarver

After almost a year away from the ring, focusing on training and working as an analyst for HBO Boxing, Jones scheduled a third fight with Antonio Tarver, based on pride and for his fans. Most say that he was still not physically ready. Roy fought knowing that had been just KO'd and was not in the best of shape (training and age), but on October 1 at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, Florida, which aired on HBO PPV. For the first time in his career, Jones was considered an underdog going into the fight. Although he showed flashes of confidence in the 4th and 5th rounds of the fight and seemed to be able to hit Tarver at will, however Jones was tentative to press the action and spent more time posturing than fighting, as if afraid of being knocked out for the third straight time. In the end, Tarver won by unanimous decision (117-111, 116-112, 116-112). In the post fight interview, Roy Jones stated that he was still one of the best fighters in the world, but admitted that Tarver is the one fighter who can beat him.

Fallout with HBO

After the loss, Jones quickly resumed his duties as commentator for HBO Championship Boxing, calling the Floyd Mayweather Jr-Sharmba Mitchell fight on November 19, 2005, and the Jermain Taylor-Bernard Hopkins rematch on December 3, 2005. His return to the network was short lived, as Jones was fired from his ringside analyst role by HBO in January 2006 due to his reported lack of commitment to attending production meetings for the network.

Later fights

On December 23, 2005, it was announced that Jones would face Bernard Hopkins on March 11, 2006 in a rematch 11 years in the making. However, due to monetary issues, this fight did not take place.

Roy Jones Jr. then reached an agreement to fight the solid fighter, Prince Badi Ajamu on July 29, 2006 at the Qwest Arena in Boise, Idaho. This fight was Jones' last chance to propel himself into top contender status and he needed a dominant performance to capitalize on that opportunity. While many believed Jones' best days were behind him, Jones produced a brilliant perormance against a game but over matched opponent. Jones has since approached Joe Calzaghe, Jermain Taylor, Felix Trinidad, Antonio Tarver and many others.

Jones most recently fought Anthony Hanshaw on July 14 2007, at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi, Mississippi, at a catch weight of 175Ibs. Jones Jr. won the bout by decision after knocking down Hanshaw in the 11th round and winning the IBC Light Heavyweight Title. According to Roy, he is now looking at a 170lb match up against Felix Trinidad. He has stated that he doesn't want to fight Trinidad in 2008, and wants to fight him before the end of 2007. He then went on to say if Trinidad doesn't want to fight him in 2007, then he will look at other opponents because he doesn't have much time.

Boxing style

Roy Jones Jr. uses a unique and inimitable style of boxing that relies heavily on his natural athletic abilities and ring generalship. Fighting out of an unorthodox stance with his left hand down low, Roy Jones Jr. uses his quick reflexes and footwork to control the distance between his opponent thus allowing him throw right hand and left hook leads while staying just out of reach of his opponent.

The Jab

Unlike most boxers, Roy Jones Jr. does not use the jab except occasionally as a range finder. The notable exception was his fight with John Ruiz. In that fight, Roy Jones Jr. brought out a stiff jab that prevented Ruiz from getting close and bloodied his nose in the process. Since his move back to light heavyweight, the jab has once again become a dormant tool, instead relying on lead left hooks and straight rights.

Offense

Roy Jones Jr. has knockout power in both hands and has managed to keep his power as he moved up in weight. Leading with power shots, Roy Jones Jr. often improvises his attacks landing punches in bunches from unlikely angles and surprising his opponents with unorthodox moves and combinations. His combination of lightning speed and power has caused former heavyweight champion George Foreman to remark that Jones "hits like a heavyweight and moves like a lightweight."

Having started his professional career as a knockout artist, Roy Jones Jr. has shown a reluctance to finishing off his opponents since the tragic injury of his friend Gerald McClellan. Jones Jr. has admitted to carrying his opponents so that they could finish the fight without injury and has also cited brittle hands as a reason for why he does not press for a knockout anymore.

Ring generalship

Possessing great footwork and mobility, Roy Jones Jr. usually dominates his opponents with his ring generalship. His handspeed and power often intimidates his opponents to the point where they are reluctant to throw any punches because they are afraid of being hit by Jones's lightning fast counters. This often results in rounds where his opponents throw less than 20 punches with connected punches in the single digits.

Roy Jones Jr. has developed a habit of moving himself to the ropes where he will cover up and counter his opponents. His reflexes allow him to defend most attacks but this habit has gotten him in trouble as in the Tarver fights.

Defense

Having a sharp boxing mind, Roy Jones Jr. possesses the ability to often anticipate his opponents techniques. This combined with his quick reflexes and fast footwork has allowed Roy Jones Jr. to remain elusive and hard to hit throughout most of his career. In 1995, during an IBF Super Middleweight title bout against Vinny Pazienza, Jones became the first boxer in the history of Compubox to finish a round without getting hit by his opponent. This unprecedented feat came during the fourth round of Jones's dominant display. Between rounds, Pazienza can be heard lamenting to his trainer that "I can't do anything against him. Nothing."

This changed after the Ruiz fight when Roy Jones Jr. had to lose the 18 pounds of muscle he had put on to move back down to light heavyweight. The loss of muscle caused a loss of footspeed and dulled his reflexes enough to allow him to be hit by his opponents. Jones began his professional career as a Light-Middleweight, eventually campaigning as far as Heavyweight. Some experts believe that Jones's "Yo-Yo" dieting has taken an huge toll on his physical abilities, causing him to age prematurely. While it is not uncommon for boxers to move up in weight, often at the expense of punching power and reflexes, it is extremely rare for them to return to a lower weight class, let alone successfully.

Showboating

Showboating has become a large part of Roy Jones Jr.'s fighting style in the latter part of his career. Using everything from the bolo punch to the shoe shine, Roy Jones Jr. has used every trick in the book to entertain both the audience and himself. One of his most memorable moments of showboating ended with the spectacular knockout of Glenn Kelly. Imitating one of his fighting cocks, Roy Jones Jr. moved to the ropes where he put his hands behind his back and baited Kelly with his open chin. When Kelly swung at him, Roy Jones Jr. moved to the right and hit Kelly with a blinding fast counter that put Kelly on the canvas and ended the fight.

Music career

Roy started his rap carrer in 2001 with his succesful album called 'Round One: The Album', with the most noticeable song being 'Y'all Must've Forgot'.In late 2004, Jones Jr. released a rap album. The album was named Body Head Bangerz: Volume One and it featured some of the big names of rap: B.G., Juvenile, Bun B of UGK, Petey Pablo, Lil' Flip, and Mike Jones. and it was announced that Roy Jones Jr. was working on a Volume Two album due to be released early 2008

External links

• Roy Jones Jr. Fight-by-Fight Career Record
• FightFan.com: Jones-Ajamu Ringside Recap & Photo Gallery

• Boxing Record