Roy Jones Jr: the former middleweight champion who won a heavyweight title | Ultimate Boxing Reunion

Why fans still care

ROY JONES JR won world titles from middleweight to heavyweight, and through the 1990s many judged him the best fighter in the world. He was named Fighter of the Decade, according to the International Boxing Hall of Fame. World Boxing News names speed and evasion as his greatest assets.

His win over John Ruiz in 2003 made him the first former middleweight champion to win a heavyweight title since Bob Fitzsimmons in 1897.

Early life

He was born in Pensacola, Florida, on 16 January 1969. His father, Roy Jones Sr, a former club fighter, taught him to box, according to Gale’s Contemporary Black Biography.

As an amateur he won the National Junior Olympic title in 1984 and the Golden Gloves in 1986 and 1987, World Boxing News records. It puts his amateur record at 121 wins from 134 bouts.

The early fights

At the 1988 Olympics in Seoul he boxed at light middleweight and reached the final, where he lost 3 to 2 to South Korea’s Park Si-hun. The decision was widely condemned, and he took silver. He was also given the Val Barker Trophy as the outstanding boxer of the Games. In 2023 Park gave him his own gold medal as a personal gift. The official result has not changed.

He turned professional in 1989 and won his debut by knockout in round 2.

Career chapters

1. 1988Olympic silver in Seoul and the Val Barker Trophy
2. 1989Turns professional
3. 1993Beats Bernard Hopkins, Who’s Who number 9 for the vacant IBF middleweight title
4. 1994Beats James Toney for the IBF super middleweight title
5. 1995Stops Vinny Pazienza, Who’s Who number 15 in round 6
6. 1996Plays a professional basketball game and defends his title on the same day
7. 1997Loses to Montell Griffin on a disqualification, then knocks him out in round 1
8. 1998Knocks out Virgil Hill with a body shot
9. 2003Beats John Ruiz for the WBA heavyweight title, then beats Antonio Tarver back at light heavyweight
10. 2004Loses to Tarver and Glen Johnson
11. 2008Beats Félix Trinidad, Who’s Who number 6, then loses to Joe Calzaghe
12. 2009Loses to Danny Green, Who’s Who number 11 in Sydney
13. 2018Retires after beating Scott Sigmon in Pensacola
14. 2020Boxes an exhibition with Mike Tyson, Who’s Who number 34
15. 2022Inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame
16. 2023Last professional fight, against Anthony Pettis

Bernard Hopkins 22 May 1993

On 22 May 1993 at RFK Stadium in Washington DC he beat Bernard Hopkins, Who’s Who number 9 for the vacant IBF middleweight title. All three judges scored it 116 to 112.

James Toney 18 November 1994

On 18 November 1994 at the MGM Grand he moved up to super middleweight to fight the unbeaten James Toney for the IBF title. A left hook put Toney down in round 3, and the referee, Richard Steele, gave him a standing eight count. Jones won on the cards 119 to 108, 118 to 109 and 117 to 110. Boxing News called it a “virtuoso drubbing”.

Vinny Pazienza 24 June 1995

On 24 June 1995 at the Convention Center in Atlantic City he put Vinny Pazienza, Who’s Who number 15 down three times in round 6, and the referee stopped it at 2:58.

Basketball and boxing on one day 15 June 1996

On 15 June 1996 he played a professional basketball game for the Jacksonville Barracudas and defended his IBF title against Éric Lucas the same night. “Don’t take what I’m doing as a stunt. I don’t create stunts,” he told reporters beforehand.

Montell Griffin, twice 1997

On 21 March 1997 he lost for the first time as a professional. He was ahead on two of the three cards against Montell Griffin, but in round 9 he hit Griffin after Griffin had taken a knee, and he was disqualified. On 7 August 1997 at Foxwoods he put Griffin down with a left hook and knocked him out in round 1.

Virgil Hill 25 April 1998

On 25 April 1998 at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi he ended the fight with Virgil Hill with one shot to the body in round 4. It was Hill’s first loss by knockout, and The Ring named it Knockout of the Year.

John Ruiz 1 March 2003

On 1 March 2003 in Las Vegas he moved up to heavyweight and beat John Ruiz on a unanimous decision over 12 rounds for the WBA title. At the weigh in he was 193 pounds and Ruiz 226. “He’s just a little slower than me, and I kind of outthought him,” Jones said afterwards.

Antonio Tarver 2003 and 2004

On 8 November 2003 he went back down to light heavyweight and beat Antonio Tarver on a majority decision, 117 to 111, 116 to 112 and 114 to 114. In the rematch on 15 May 2004 Tarver stopped him at 1:41 of round 2. Later that year he was stopped by Glen Johnson, and he lost a third fight with Tarver.

The later fights 2008 to 2023

On 19 January 2008 at Madison Square Garden he beat Félix Trinidad, Who’s Who number 6 on a unanimous decision at a catchweight of 170 pounds, putting him down in rounds 7 and 10. On 8 November 2008 he lost to the unbeaten Joe Calzaghe on a unanimous decision, 118 to 109 on all three cards, despite putting Calzaghe down in round 1.

On 2 December 2009 at Acer Arena in Sydney, fighting for the IBO cruiserweight title, he was stopped by Danny Green, Who’s Who number 11 at 2:02 of round 1. He fought on at cruiserweight and retired after beating Scott Sigmon on 8 February 2018. On 28 November 2020 at the Staples Center he boxed eight two minute exhibition rounds with Mike Tyson, Who’s Who number 34, scored unofficially as a draw. His last professional fight was on 1 April 2023 in Milwaukee, a majority decision loss to Anthony Pettis.

Style, technique and the corner

How he fought

Speed and evasion were his greatest assets, World Boxing News says. Bernard Hopkins, Who’s Who number 9 described the young Jones as “speed, reflexes, unorthodox”. The left hook put Toney down and finished Griffin, and a single body shot ended the Hill fight. In his own words, “when you get in the ring you’ve got to be first.”

The name

He has always boxed as Roy Jones Jr.

Training

His father, Roy Jones Sr, was his first teacher. Alton Merkerson, the Olympic team coach, later became his trainer and was in his corner for Calzaghe in 2008.

The corner

He trains fighters himself now, including the welterweight Mohamed Mimoune, whom he has worked with since 2021.

Stories people still tell

1. Seoul, 1988.

   He lost the Olympic final on a split decision that was widely condemned, and he was named the outstanding boxer of the Games. Nearly 35 years later, in 2023, Park Si-hun gave him the gold medal.

2. Two jobs in one day.

   In June 1996 he played a professional basketball game and defended his world title on the same day.

3. A middleweight at heavyweight.

   He started as a middleweight champion and won a heavyweight title nearly ten years later, the first to do it since 1897.

Legacy

He won world titles in four divisions, middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight, and finished with 66 wins from 76 fights, 47 by knockout. He was named Fighter of the Decade for the 1990s, according to the International Boxing Hall of Fame, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame on 12 June 2022. He has said that Muhammad Ali, Who’s Who number 33 gave him a road map, and Terence Crawford calls Jones his favourite fighter of all time.