The Incredible Career of Roy Jones Jr.

So the once incredible Roy Jones Jr. has finally retired. I'm not a person that lives in the past and do not believe that anyone from the 1920s or 1930s were the greatest of all time. I'm not of a fixed view that only fighters of those eras can be great. I admit there were some stellar fighters from those days, yet I can also appreciate and celebrate modern fighters from this era.

There's not a great deal of video footage from the 1920s, 30s, 40s, 50s, etc., yet modern day fighters are held under a microscope of criticism. Look at current fan websites that bring up modern fighters and the fans will attack each other. Opposing fans will claim their favorite fighter from the 1970s would have destroyed the fan favorite from 2019. I know because I've been online and have be subjected to written abuse. It's not a pleasant experience to be attacked by passionate boxing fans. Some of the language is repugnant and extremely nasty. The modern day phrase for these people is "Keyboard Warriors.” This is my premier blog and I'm hoping that fans will read my blogs with an open mind. It's perfectly ok to have a different opinion to me, and it's fine to speak your opinion without the nastiness that is all too common on display.

Roy Jones' career is a rollercoaster of a career, from incredible highs to sickening lows. Roy was his own man throughout his career. These are my opinions, it doesn't mean I'm correct, my views may clash with your views. Take a journey with me as I dissect Roy’s career.

As an amateur Roy had a very respectable record. He boxed in the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. Jones advanced to the semi-final where he met future professional world champion Richie Woodhall. Roy beat Woodhall on points and progressed to the Olympic final. I remember these games because of Roy's sublime skillset. He looked set for Gold at lightmiddleweight. Yet, the judges awarded the Gold to Roy's South Korean opponent. The backlash from such a bizarre decision was an extreme low for Roy. Here was probably the best amateur, pound 4 pound, and he was denied his rightful glory. What happened after the decision was announced is for another blog. Jones was awarded the Val Barker trophy for the outstanding boxer of the Games, small compensation for not taking home the Gold Medal he rightly deserved. Not long after this travesty, amateur boxing moved to the computer scoring system. Again, this is for another blog.

Jones turned professional and soon moved through the ranks, he turned professional as a lightmiddleweight but moved to the Blue-ribboned Middleweight division. Roy beat some solid opponents on the way to fighting for the title. People like Ricky Stackhouse were blown away in a round. Ex-Champ Jorge Vaca also lost in a round.

On May 22 1993, Roy Jones outsped and outskilled future Hall of Fame champion Bernard Hopkins. From this point onwards Hopkins and Jones verbally sparred on a regular basis. Roy next moved through the underrated Sugar Boy Malinga (I had seen live Malinga dominate Nigel Benn and be denied the decision in their first bought.), and the excellent Thomas Tate.

Not staying long at middleweight Roy totally bamboozled James "Light-out" Toney. This is one of Roy's greatest wins at Super-middleweight. To have Hopkins, Toney, Malinga and Tate on my record would have been enough for me, but then again I'm not Roy Jones Junior......Who ever was? Byrd, Pazienza, Thornton, Sosa, Lucas, Brannon and the incredible Michael McCallum were several of the fighters that caused Roy's contemporaries in the UK problems. People like Nigel Benn, Michael Watson, Chris Eubank, Errol Christie, Stevie Collins, Robin Reid and Herol Graham had struggled and sometimes lost to these Jones' victims. Yet Roy seemed to be playing with them in the ring as he showcased his unmatched natural talents. Roy at this point in his career really was special. I'd seen England premier middleweights box a bunch of times i.e. Benn, Watson, Eubank, Pyatt, Collins, etc. I can speak first hand on how good these middleweights were, yet they still couldn't match Roy Jones. I remember Nigel Benn defended his world title and the interviewer said that Roy Jones was the No. 1 supermiddleweight. Benn, and I'm paraphrasing said something to the tune of, "If I have to take second place to Roy Jones, then that's ok in my book."

Roy next met a roadblock in the form of Montell Griffin. I'd been in LA and seen Montel beat the excellent Ray Lathon. Montell was an awkward and dangerous fighter and since Roy was now boxing at lightheavy (he beat Michael McCallum for the vacant WBC lightheavy title) I thought Montell was going to be naturally bigger and stronger than Roy. Did I think Roy would lose to Montell? No, but after sitting ringside watching Montell in LA, I was becoming a fan. I thought Roy would spoil his way to a points win. Montell proved to be so awkward and strong that Roy became frustrated. He knocked Griffin to the floor and sadly delivered a KO blow while Montel was taking a knee. Roy was disqualified and now his record was blemished.

How do you rectify such a blemish? You come out in the rematch and blast your opponent away in the very first round, yup Roy Jones was upset and Montell needed to pay the price.

Roy stayed at lightheavy and set out decimating an entire division. Next on Jones shopping list was the Hall of Fame champion Virgil Hill. Hill was excellent fighter, look up his fight resume, you'll be impressed. Jones hit Hill in the ribs, smashing his ribs and leaving this great champion writhing on the floor in agony. Had Jones stepped away from the sport at this point we'd be celebrating his talents. Jones decided to continue and beat other talented fighters like Lou Del Valle, Otis Grant, Richard Frazier, Reggie Johnson, David Telesco, Richard Hall, Eric Harding, Derrick Harmon and Julio Cesar Gonzalez.

Next came the Glen Kelly fight, I was living in Aspen, Colorado at this point, so far away from the hubs of boxing. I'd tried following boxing and had been to shows in Denver, but lived 200+ miles away. Getting too and from Denver from Aspen was a long dangerous drive over snowy passes. I'd been to Colorado Springs to see the USA championships courtesy of Ian Fried and Everlast Boxing. Shawn Porter stood out, yet I felt he needed to drop down from middleweight to welterweight. Thankfully he did this, check out Shawn's amateur wins, very impressive. Smitty from Denver asked me to join the Colorado Boxing Commision and I considered it, yet I couldn't justify the drive. I now sought my boxing via HBO, ESPN and Showtime. I believe the Glen Kelly fight was Roy’s last great performance at lightheavy. Roy confused and embarrassed this proud Australian fighter. The fight ended with Roy voluntarily moving to the ropes with his hands behind his back, and in a theatrical moved pounded out this ungainly position to knock Glen out.

I remember Roy giving an interview before he fought England's teak tough and future world champion Clinton Woods. To me he looked old and drained facially. In the ring, Roy was still Roy, yet I felt he had skipped a step. Was I imagining this or was my fear legit? Roy won in the 6th, my fears disproved.

Next, Roy moved up to heavyweight to take on the awkward heavyweight champion, John "The Quiet Man' Ruiz. I never felt Roy was a fully fledged true lightheavy, he often seemed undersized. I believed 100% in Roy, yet I couldn't see how he was going to beat Ruiz. We all have our favorites, mine were Mike Tyson, Michael Watson, Pat Barrett and Paul Hodkinson, yet Roy was something close to being a mythical unicorn for me. I had never seen anything like it. I remember being the guest of HBO and going to see Naseem Hamed a bunch of times and thinking, "There's no person at featherweight that can beat this man." I felt the same for Roy Jones and have only felt this twice before with Jones and Hamed (and maybe Tyson for two years). Yet surely Jones can't last with a heavyweight. Jones did survive and put on a boxing masterclass. It was not the most exciting of fights, those exciting fighters were Gatti, Ward, Benn, Julian Jackson et al. This was something else. This was one of the most unique moments in boxing. Look back at your mental Rolodex and think of a time where this achievement is trumped? I can't.

Imagine if Roy Jones had retired after the Ruiz win, where would he rank? He'd be mythical in 2019. We'd be lauding over Roy still today and quite rightly so. He'd reached his peak and it was a heck of a peak. YET, and in boxing there's always a YET, he continued. He moved back down to fight the excellent Antonio Tarver and barely sneaked past. Next came the unimaginable, Roy lost, not only did he lose he was ko'ed by one punch in the second round of a rematch with Tarver. Tarver had taunted Jones during the referees instructions, that must have been a tough pill to swallow.

Next up was the solid if unspectacular Glen Johnson. Surely Jones can't lose to this man. Sadly, Jones was lackluster and lost to one of those sickening kos where you wonder if he's ever going to gain consciousness.

Roy lost on points in his next match to his tormentor Antonio Tarver. He did manage to salvage a few wins, but quite clearly he wasn't the Roy Jones of old and he wasn't true world class anymore.
He moved up to cruiserweight and was again knocked cold by the tough Aussie Danny Green. How can he be losing rounds never mind matches to these boxers?

Roy signed to fight Bernard Hopkins. I had landed in Denver from New York having returned from a Lou Dibella Broadway Boxing Show in New York with my friend, Harold Lederman. I decided to see the fight at a local cinema. Thankfully Bernard didn't hurt Roy too much and Roy survived to hear the final bell.

Roy next took on world class cruiserweight Denis Lebedev in Russia. Once again Roy was spectacularly ko’ed. After this I gave up watching Roy, so missed him being embarrassed by the hard punching Enzo Maccarinelli.

When he FINALLY said he was hanging up his gloves with a hometown fight against Scott Sigmon, I did consider flying to Florida and witnessing the master exit the ring.  However, I'd sadly supported Roberto Duran's last ever fight against Hector Camacho. I wasn't going to support Roy being in the ring any longer.

To me and in my lifetime Roy Jones is the greatest fighter to ever step foot in the ring. This is not to take away from the two Sugar Rays, they were the greatest of their eras. The original Sugar Ray can't be compared either. Sadly, just like a shot Mike Tyson, Roy tarnished his legacy beyond repair. Missteps from fighters of bygone eras gets pushed under the carpet, yet today that's not possible. Every minute of Roy's career is immediately available online for anyone to watch.


Where would you put Roy Jones in the mythical greatest of all time? Do you still rate him highly or do you consider him a flawed maverick? Can you accept the incredible peak career highs and ignore the scary lows. I hated seeing an elite athlete lying unconscious on the floor for prolonged periods. Most champions box on for way too long, look at Ali, Tyson, Leonard, Robinson, Holyfield, etc rarely do they escape without embarrassing losses, yet how often do we see them lying unconscious without moving for many disturbing minutes? I am prepared to ignore the late career losses of Roy Jones. I still rate him the greatest I’ve seen.