Roy Jones, Jr.

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Statistics
Roy Jones, Jr.

Real name	Roy Levesta Jones, Jr.
Nickname(s)	Junior
Rated at	Light Heavyweight
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Reach	74 in (187.96 cm)
Nationality	American
Birth date	January 16, 1969 (1969-01-16) (age 39)
Birth place	Pensacola, Florida, USA
Stance	Orthodox, occasionally Southpaw
Boxing record
Total fights	56
Wins	52
Wins by KO	38
Losses	4
Draws	0
No contests	0

Men's Boxing
Olympic medal record
Silver	1988 Seoul Korea	Light-Middleweight

Roy Jones, Jr. (born January 16, 1969) is an American boxer. Jones was named "Fighter of the Decade" for the 1990s by the Boxing Writers Association of America.

As a professional he captured IBF championships in the middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight. He also won the WBA heavyweight title in his only fight in this weight class. He is also noted for holding the WBC, WBA, IBF, IBO, NBA, WBF, and IBA light heavyweight championships at the same time.

[edit] Amateur career

Jones had a very successful career as an amateur boxer - he won the 1984 United States National Junior Olympics in the 119 lb (54 kg) weight division, the 1986 United States National Golden Gloves in the 139 lb (63 kg) weight division and the 1987 United States National Golden Gloves in the 156 lb (71 kg) 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. Jones dominated his opponents, never losing a single round on route to the final. His participation in the final proved to be hugely 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. An 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.

[edit] Professional career

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 a 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, winning a ten-round decision 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, 1993, he beat future undisputed world middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins by unanimous decision in Washington D.C., to capture the IBF's vacant middleweight title. All three judges scored the fight 116-112. For his next fight, he fought 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.

In 1994 Jones 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 one of boxing's top four "pound for pound" fighters.^{[citation needed]} On November 18, he and IBF super middleweight champion James Toney, another member of the "pound for pound" contenders, met in an anticipated bout in Las Vegas. Jones dropped Toney in round three, won virtually every round, and secured a unanimous decision to win the IBF super middleweight title. His impressive year in the ring was 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 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 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. He also held a press conference in the ring just before the fight started where he would take questions whilst on his own on a chair in the middle of the ring.

1997 saw Jones suffer his first professional loss, against Montell Griffin, via disqualification. Jones was ahead on the scorecards and had Griffin on the canvas early in round nine. As Griffin was on the canvas, Jones hit him twice. Subsequently, Jones was disqualified and lost his title. Jones sought an immediate rematch and regained the world light heavyweight title easily, knocking Griffin down within the first 20 seconds of the fight, then ending the fight by knocking Griffin down again just over two minutes in.

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 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 had to climb off the canvas for the first time in his career, as he was dropped in round eight, but continued to outbox and punish Del Valle throughout the rest of the fight and gained a unanimous decision. Jones 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 police officer Rick Frazier. After this, many boxing critics^[who?] started to criticize Jones for fighting overmatched mandatories who few had ever heard of. Roy Jones continued a career of low PPV numbers. He was also criticized for never fighting Dariusz Michalczewski, an unbeaten Polish fighter who had been stripped of the WBA & IBF championship belts in 1997 without losing them in the ring. In Jones' 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 Jones easily beating the hard-punching David Telesco via a 12-round decision on January 15, at Radio City Music Hall to retain the light heavyweight world championship. Jones reportedly fractured his wrist a few weeks before this fight. He entered the ring 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.

A 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 at GNC and other nutritional supplement outlets. Jones was able to keep his titles and was not fined or suspended for the positive test by the IBF. The Commissioner of Indiana Boxing, Jacob Hall stated that Indiana did not have a law on drug testing and that an agreement was made with Jones to send his next two pre-fight drug tests to the Indiana commission. Both of those tests came back negative.^[1] Jones has not tested positive for illegal substances on any other occasion. Jones ended the year with a 10-round stoppage of undefeated Eric Harding in New Orleans.

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.^{[citation needed]} 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.

In 2002, Jones retained his title by knocking out Glen Kelly in seven rounds. Jones then defeated future world champion Clinton Woods by technical knockout.

[edit] Heavyweight Champion

On March 1, 2003, at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Roy Jones defeated John Ruiz by a 12-round unanimous decision for the WBA heavyweight championship. Jones officially weighed in at 193 lb (88 kg) and Ruiz at 226 lb (103 kg). 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. Jones decided to keep campaigning as a light heavyweight and eventually relinquished the WBA heavyweight title without ever defending it.

[edit] Jones vs. Tarver I & II

On November 8, 2003, Jones recovered his old belt by beating Antonio Tarver. Jones won by majority decision, the judges giving him 117-111,116-112 and 114-114.

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. Jones had won the first round, but in the second, as Jones tried a combination, he was caught by a big counter-hook left from Tarver. Jones got on his feet by the count, but for the first time in his career was ruled unable to continue by referee Jay Nady.

[edit] Glen Johnson

On September 25, 2004, Jones attempted to win the IBF light heavyweight title from Glen Johnson in a match in Memphis, Tennessee. Johnson knocked out Jones 49 seconds into the ninth round. Jones lay on the canvas for three minutes after being counted out. 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] Jones vs Tarver III

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, 2005 at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, Florida, which aired on HBO PPV. For only the second time in his career, Jones was considered an underdog going into the fight. Tarver won by unanimous decision (117-111, 116-112, 116-112). In the post fight interview, Jones stated that he was still one of the best fighters in the world, and the fight was a warm-up for more fights to come.

[edit] Fallout with HBO

After the loss in the third Tarver bout, Jones 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.

[edit] Comeback Trail

[edit] Back to winning ways

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.

Jones then reached an agreement to fight Prince Badi Ajamu on July 29, 2006, at the Qwest Arena in Boise, Idaho. Jones defeated Ajamu by a unanimous decision.

Jones fought the then undefeated up-and-comer, Anthony Hanshaw, on July 14, 2007, at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi, Mississippi. Jones won the bout by unanimous decision and winning the IBC light heavyweight title.

In the Fall of 2007 Jones was initiated as a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity at the Tau-Psi chapter for his involvement in several philanthropic events, and later, recruitment events.

[edit] Felix Trinidad

On January 19, 2008, Jones faced five-time world champion Felix Trinidad at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The fight took place at a catchweight of 170 lbs. Jones had a noticeable size and speed advantage, and in round seven, a short right hand to the temple dropped Trinidad to his knees. Jones fired a combination in the tenth round to send Trinidad down for the second time in the fight. In the end, it was clearly Jones' night. He won 117-109 on one scorecard and 116-110 on the two others.

[edit] Joe Calzaghe

After Joe Calzaghe's split-decision points victory over Bernard Hopkins, Jones expressed his interest in fighting Calzaghe but Frank Warren was guarded over his intentions, saying no decision would be made regarding Calzaghe's future until the fighter had taken a well deserved holiday [1]. A few hours later on Sunday 20th, Joe Calzaghe told the media that his next fight would likely be a November 15th bout with either Roy Jones Jr. or Kelly Pavlik. Jones has expressed his desire to fight Calzaghe, but no official statements have been made yet [2].

[edit] Professional boxing record

52 Wins (38 knockouts, 14 decisions), 4 Losses (2 knockouts, 1 decision, 1 disqualification), 0 Draws^[2]
Res.	Opponent	Type	Rd., Time	Date	Location	Notes
Win	Felix Trinidad	Decision (unan.)	12	2008-01-19	New York, NY
Win	Anthony Hanshaw	Decision (unan.)	12	2007-07-14	Biloxi, MS	Won IBC Light Heavyweight title.
Win	Prince Badi Ajamu	Decision (unan.)	12	2006-07-29	Boise, ID	Won NABO Light Heavyweight title.
Loss	Antonio Tarver	Decision (unan.)	12	2005-10-01	Tampa, FL	Bout was for the IBO and vacant NBA Light Heavyweight titles.
Loss	Glen Johnson	KO	9 (12), 0:48	2004-09-25	Memphis, TN	Lost IBF Light Heavyweight title.
Loss	Antonio Tarver	TKO	2 (12), 1:41	2004-05-15	Las Vegas, NV	Lost IBA/IBO/NBA/WBA/WBC/WBF Light Heavyweight titles.
Win	Antonio Tarver	Decision (maj.)	12	2003-11-08	Las Vegas, NV	Regained IBO/WBC Light Heavyweight titles.
Win	John Ruiz	Decision (unan.)	12	2003-03-01	Las Vegas, NV	Won WBA Heavyweight title, which he later vacated on 2004-02-24.
Win	Clinton Woods	TKO	6 (12), 1:29	2002-09-07	Portland, OR	Retained IBA/IBF/IBO/NBA/WBA/WBC/WBF Light Heavyweight titles.
Win	Glen Kelly	KO	12	2002-02-02	Miami, FL	Retained IBA/IBF/IBO/NBA/WBA/WBC/WBF Light Heavyweight titles.
Win	Julio César González	Decision (unan.)	12	2001-07-28	Los Angeles, CA	Retained IBF/IBO/NBA/WBA/WBC titles and won WBF and vacant IBA Light Heavyweight titles.
Win	Derrick Harmon	TKO	11 (12), 0:00	2001-02-24	Tampa, FL	Retained IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC titles and won NBA Light Heavyweight title.
Win	Eric Harding	TKO	10 (12), 3:00	2000-09-09	New Orleans, LA	Retained IBF/WBA/WBC titles and won IBO Light Heavyweight title.
Win	Richard Hall	TKO	11 (12), 1:41	2000-05-13	Indianapolis, IN	Retained IBF/WBA/WBC Light Heavyweight titles.
Win	David Telesco	Decision (unan.)	12	2000-01-15	New York City, NY	Retained IBF/WBA/WBC Light Heavyweight titles.
Win	Reggie Johnson	Decision (unan.)	12	1999-06-05	Biloxi, MS	Retained WBA/WBC titles and won IBF Light Heavyweight title.
Win	Richard Frazier	TKO	2 (12), 2:59	1999-01-09	Pensacola, FL	Retained WBA/WBC Light Heavyweight titles.
Win	Otis Grant	TKO	10 (12), 1:18	1998-11-14	Mashantucket, CT	Retained WBA/WBC Light Heavyweight titles.
Win	Lou Del Valle	Decision (unan.)	12	1998-07-18	New York City, NY	Retained WBC and won WBA Light Heavyweight title.
Win	Virgil Hill	KO	4 (12), 1:10	1998-04-25	Biloxi, MS
Win	Montell Griffin	KO	1 (12), 2:31	1997-08-07	Mashantucket, CT	Won WBC Light Heavyweight title.
Loss	Montell Griffin	Disqualification	9 (12), 2:27	1997-03-21	Atlantic City, NJ	Lost WBC Light Heavyweight title. Jones was disqualified for hitting Griffin while he was down.
Win	Mike McCallum	Decision (unan.)	12	1996-11-22	Tampa, FL	Won vacant WBC Light Heavyweight title.
Win	Bryant Brannon	TKO	2 (12), 2:23	1996-10-04	New York City, NY	Retained IBF Super Middleweight title, which he later relinquished in order to move up to Light Heavyweight.
Win	Eric Lucas	TKO	12 (12), 0:00	1996-06-15	Jacksonville, FL	Retained IBF Super Middleweight title.
Win	Merqui Sosa	TKO	2 (12), 2:36	1996-01-12	New York City, NY
Win	Tony Thornton	TKO	3 (12), 0:45	1995-09-30	Pensacola, FL	Retained IBF Super Middleweight title.
Win	Vinny Pazienza	TKO	6 (12), 2:58	1995-06-24	Atlantic City, NJ	Retained IBF Super Middleweight title.
Win	Antoine Byrd	TKO	1 (12), 2:06	1995-03-18	Pensacola, FL	Retained IBF Super Middleweight title.
Win	James Toney	Decision (unan.)	12	1994-11-18	Las Vegas, NV	Won IBF Super Middleweight title.
Win	Thomas Tate	TKO	2 (12), 0:30	1994-05-27	Las Vegas, NV	Retained IBF Middleweight title, which he later vacated in order to move up to Super Middleweight.
Win	Danny Garcia	KO	6 (10), 2:59	1994-03-22	Pensacola, FL
Win	Fermin Chirino	Decision (unan.)	10	1993-11-30	Pensacola, FL
Win	Thulani Malinga	KO	6 (10), 1:57	1993-08-14	Bay St. Louis, MS
Win	Bernard Hopkins	Decision (unan.)	12	1993-05-22	Washington, D.C.	Won vacant IBF Middleweight title.
Win	Glenn Wolfe	TKO	1 (10), 2:23	1993-02-13	Las Vegas, NV	Jones vacated the WBC Continental Americas Super Middleweight title in order to drop to Middleweight.
Win	Percy Harris	TKO	4 (12), 3:00	1992-12-05	Atlantic City, NJ	Won vacant WBC Continental Americas Super Middleweight title.
Win	Glenn Thomas	TKO	8 (10), 3:00	1992-08-18	Pensacola, FL
Win	Jorge Castro	Decision (unan.)	10	1992-06-30	Pensacola, FL
Win	Art Serwano	KO	1 (10), 1:40	1992-04-03	Reno, NV
Win	Jorge Vaca	TKO	1 (10), 1:45	1992-01-10	New York City, NY
Win	Lester Yarbrough	KO	8	1991-08-31	Pensacola, FL
Win	Kevin Daigle	TKO	2	1991-08-03	Pensacola, FL
Win	Eddie Evans	TKO	3	1991-04-13	Pensacola, FL
Win	Ricky Stackhouse	KO	1 (10), 0:46	1991-01-31	Pensacola, FL
Win	Reggie Miller	TKO	5	1990-11-08	Pensacola, FL
Win	Rollin Williams	KO	4, 2:56	1990-09-25	Pensacola, FL
Win	Tony Waddles	KO	1, 2:02	1990-07-14	Pensacola, FL
Win	Ron Johnson	KO	2 (10), 2:28	1990-05-11	Pensacola, FL
Win	Knox Brown	TKO	3 (10), 2:20	1990-03-28	Pensacola, FL
Win	Billy Mitchem	TKO	2 (8), 2:57	1990-02-28	Pensacola, FL
Win	Joe Edens	KO	2 (8)	1990-01-08	Mobile, AL
Win	David McCluskey	TKO	3 (8), 2:00	1989-11-30	Pensacola, FL
Win	Ron Amundsen	TKO	7 (8)	1989-09-03	Pensacola, FL
Win	Stephan Johnson	TKO	8 (8), 2:04	1989-06-11	Atlantic City, NJ
Win	Mitul Shah	TKO	2 (8), 2:46	1989-05-06	Pensacola, FL

[edit] Music career

See also: Body Head Bangerz

Roy Jones, Jr.
Birth name	Roy Lavesta Jones, Jr.
Born	January 16, 1969 (1969-01-16) (age 39)
Origin	Pensacola, Florida, U.S.
Genre(s)	Hip hop
Occupation(s)	Boxer, rapper, actor
Years active	2001 – present
Label(s)	Body Head Entertainment

Jones started his rap music career in 2001 with his successful album, titled Round One: The Album and the debut single, "You all Must've Forgot". In 2004, Jones formed a group - Body Head Bangerz and released an album. The album, Body Head Bangerz: Volume One, featured B.G., Juvenile, Bun B of UGK, Petey Pablo, Lil' Flip, and Mike Jones among others. It was also announced that Jones was working on a Volume Two album due to be released early 2008^{[citation needed]}.

Quinton "Rampage" Jackson used Body Head's song "Can't Be Touched" at UFC 75.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Album

Album information
Round One: The Album Released: February 26, 2002 Label: Body Head Entertainment Last RIAA Certification: None Singles: "Y'all Must've Forgot", "And Still"

[edit] Body Head Bangerz

Album information
Body Head Bangerz: Volume One Released: October 26, 2004 Label: Body Head Entertainment Last RIAA Certification: None Singles: "Can't Be Touched", "I Smoke, I Drank (Remix)"

[edit] Solo singles

2001: "Y'all Must've Forgot"
2001: "And Still"

[edit] Featured singles

2004: "I Smoke, I Drank" (Body Head Bangerz featuring YoungBloodZ)
2004: "Can't Be Touched" (Body Head Bangerz featuring Trouble Tha Truth)

[edit] Filmography

The Devil's Advocate (1997) - uncredited
New Jersey Turnpikes (1999) - unknown
The Wayans Brothers, Rope-a-Dope (1999) - himself
The Matrix Reloaded (2003) - Captain Ballard
Enter The Matrix (2003) - Captain Ballard

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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– March 21, 1997	Succeeded by Montell Griffin
Preceded by Montell Griffin	WBC Light Heavyweight Champion August 07, 1997–2002	Succeeded by Vacancy filled by Antonio Tarver
Preceded by Lou Del Valle	WBA Light Heavyweight Champion 1998–2002 Elevated to super champion Dec 12, 2001	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 John Ruiz	WBA Heavyweight Champion 2003–Feb 20, 2004	Succeeded by John Ruiz Interim champ elavated
Preceded by Antonio Tarver	WBC Light Heavyweight Champion Nov 08, 2003 – May 15, 2004	Succeeded by Antonio Tarver
Preceded by Himself Title reinstated	WBA Light Heavyweight Super Champion Nov 08, 2003 – May 15, 2004	Succeeded by Antonio Tarver

v • d • e Body Head Bangerz

Roy Jones, Jr. · Magic · Choppa

Albums	Body Head Bangerz: Volume One

Singles	"I Smoke, I Drank" · "Can't Be Touched"

Related articles	Body Head Entertainment

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