Roy Jones Jr.

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Roy Jones Jr.

Real name	Roy Levesta Jones Jr.
Nickname	Junior
Weight	Light Heavyweight
Nationality	American
Birth date	January 16, 1969
Birth place	Pensacola, Florida, USA
Style	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	54
Wins	50
Wins by KO	38
Losses	4
Draws	0
No contests	0

Roy Levesta Jones Jr. (born January 17, 1969) is a former Middleweight, Super Middleweight, Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight boxing champion from Pensacola, Florida. 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 career. 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.

1 Amateur career
2 Professional career
3 Boxing Style
4 Other interests
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] 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, and 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 1800 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. Similar allegations were raised at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, when American gymnast Paul Hamm won the gold in the men's all around over Korean Yang Tae-Young, from whom the judges incorrectly docked one tenth of a point, which would have made Yang the champion. The two judges who made the scoring mistake against Yang, none of whom were American, were all suspended.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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. He suffered his first professional loss by way of Montell Griffin, losing his World Light Heavyweight belt in the process. But the loss was also filled with controversy, because Jones had dropped Griffin with a series of hard and fast, head and body punches in round nine, and then hit him again twice on the head as Griffin was down on the canvas on his knees, leading to Jones' disqualification. They had an immediate rematch, and on August 21, Jones regained the world light heavyweight title by knocking out Griffin in the first round. By then, Jones had signed a lucrative contract with HBO, to have all his fights telecast on the HBO Boxing TV show.

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. In the fight with Del Valle, he had to climb off the canvas for the first time in his career, as he was dropped in round eight. Then followed a defense against Otis Grant. He retained the crown in that fight by a knockout in ten.

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 also drew criticism for never fighting Dariusz Michalczewski, an unbeaten Polish fighter who had been stripped of a pair of championship belts without losing in the ring. In his only other fight that year, on June 5, he beat the IBF's world champion, Reggie Johnson, by a lop-sided 12-round decision to add that belt to the WBC and WBA belts he already owned in the division.

2000 began with a bang for Jones, as he beat the hard punching David Telesco via a 12-round decision to retain the world championship, on January 15, in what was the Radio City Music Hall's first boxing show ever. Jones entered the ring that night surrounded by the famous group of dancers, The Rockettes. 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 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 available over the counter as a supplement up to 2004 when the FDA made the sell of androstenedione illegal. Jones admitted to taking the product "ripped fuel" which contained androstenedione. 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, once again successfully retaining the title.

In 2001, Jones released 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 by Hopkins.

In 2002, Jones retained his title by knocking out Glenn Kelly in seven, famously dodging Kelly's punches while holding his hands behind his back, mimicking one of his fighting game cocks, and then unleashing a furious right hand that knocked out Kelly. He then defeated Commonwealth of Nations champion of England Clinton Woods by a knockout in six. Few in the US had ever heard of Woods before his fight with Roy Jones.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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, to his credit, fought bravely during the championship rounds of the fight. It was speculated that Jones lost over 20 lbs in a few short weeks before the fight to meet the weight minimum that caused him to get tired quickly.

On May 15, 2004, Jones faced a rematch with Antonio Tarver. Despite the fact that Jones was heavily favoured to win, Tarver knocked him out at 1:41 of the second round. This, Jones' first unquestionable loss, sent shock waves through the boxing world. Jones had won the first round, but in the second, as he was in a corner, was caught by a big over-hand left by Tarver and knocked out. He tried to get up, and did so with much effort, but was barely able to beat the count of ten and was deemed unable to continue by referee Jay Nady.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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 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, 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 easily won a unanimous decision.

[edit] Fallout With HBO

After the loss, Jones quickly resumed his duties as color 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.

[edit] 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.

In late April 2006, it was reported that Roy Jones Jr. had reached an agreement to fight the relatively unknown, but 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. Jones won the fight by unanimous decision 119-106 Jones.

His record currently stands at 50 wins, 4 losses, with 38 wins by knockout.

[edit] 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 orthodox 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Offense

Roy Jones Jr. has knockout power in both hands and has managed to keep his power as he moves 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.

[edit] 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 moviing 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.

[edit] 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. He was the first boxer in the history of Compubox to finish a round without getting hit by his opponent.

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 speed and dulled his reflexes enough to allow him to be hit by his opponents.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Other interests

Acting - Matrix Reloaded, Enter the Matrix, The Devil's Advocate.
Basketball - Played at times for the Jacksonville Barracudas of the USBL. On one memorable occasion, Jones played for the Barracudas and fought to defend his IBF super middleweight title on the same night.
Rapping -. He has also formed a rap group: Body Head Bangerz. The group is also comprised of rappers, Choppa and Magic. He received a lot of interest when he worked with rapper Mike Jones in their underground hit, "Knockn' Niggas Out." In 2002, Roy Jones Jr. released an album, titled "Round One: The Album."
Cockfighting - Roy Jones Jr. loves to train his own roosters to compete in big cockfight derbys around Louisiana and Florida.
Women's Football - He is the silent owner of the Pensacola Power, a semi-pro women's football team located in Pensacola, FL

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Boxing Record

Preceded by Michael Carbajal	Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year 1994	Succeeded by Oscar de la Hoya
Preceded by Vacated by James Toney	IBF Middleweight Champion 1993–1994	Succeeded by Vacancy filled by Bernard Hopkins
Preceded by James Toney	IBF Super Middleweight Champion 1994–1997	Succeeded by Vacancy filled by Charles Brewer
Preceded by Vacated by Fabrice Tiozzo	WBC Light Heavyweight Champion 1996–1997	Succeeded by Montell Griffin
Preceded by Montell Griffin	WBC Light Heavyweight Champion 1997–2002	Succeeded by Vacancy filled by Antonio Tarver
Preceded by Lou Del Valle	WBA Light Heavyweight Champion 1998–2002	Succeeded by Vacancy filled by Bruno Girard
Preceded by Reggie Johnson	IBF Light Heavyweight Champion 1999–2002	Succeeded by Vacancy filled by Antonio Tarver
Preceded by Antonio Tarver	WBC Light Heavyweight Champion 2003–2004	Succeeded by Antonio Tarver
Preceded by John Ruiz	WBA Heavyweight Champion 2003–2004	Succeeded by Vacancy filled by John Ruiz

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