98 Facts About Roy Jones Jr

Roy Jones Jr competed in boxing from 1989 to 2018, and held multiple world championships in four weight classes, including titles at middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight, and heavyweight, and is the only boxer in history to start his professional career at light middleweight and go on to win a heavyweight title.

Roy Jones Jr is ranked by BoxRec as the 29th greatest pound-for-pound fighter of all time.

Roy Jones Jr is a three-time winner of the Best Boxer ESPY Award.

Roy Jones Jr represented the United States at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games in the 156-pound weight class, being the youngest member of the US Olympic Boxing Team, where he won the silver medal.

Roy Jones Jr was awarded the Val Barker trophy as the best stylistic boxer of the 1988 games, which was only the third and to this day the last time in the competition's history when the award did not go to one of the gold medal winners.

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Roy Jones Jr began as a professional on May 6,1989, knocking out Ricky Randall in two rounds in Pensacola at the Bayfront Auditorium.

Roy Jones Jr knocked Vaca out in round one to reach 16 knockout wins in a row.

Roy Jones Jr made his first attempt at a world title on May 22,1993.

Roy Jones Jr beat future Undisputed middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins by unanimous decision in Washington, DC to capture the IBF middleweight championship.

Roy Jones Jr landed 206 of 594 punches and Hopkins connected on 153 of 670.

Roy Jones Jr claimed he had entered the bout with a broken right hand, but still managed to outpoint Hopkins and secure a unanimous decision win.

Roy Jones Jr reminded the world of this claim on his hit single "Ya'll Must've Forgot" later in his career.

Roy Jones Jr's next fight, he fought another future world champion, Thulane "Sugar Boy" Malinga, in a non-title affair.

Roy Jones Jr finished the year with another win, beating Fermin Chirino by decision.

In 1994, Roy Jones Jr beat Danny "Popeye" Garcia by knockout in six, then retained his IBF title against Thomas Tate in two rounds at Las Vegas on May 27.

On November 18,1994, Roy Jones Jr was set to face undefeated IBF super middleweight Champion James Toney, who was ranked highly in the "pound for pound" rankings.

Roy Jones Jr danced circles around Toney, utilizing his speed and athleticism to dictate the action, and landing quick combinations whenever Toney pressured him.

Roy Jones Jr scored a flash knockdown in the third round with a leaping left hook after goading Toney by imitating a fighting cock.

Roy Jones Jr landed 285 of 614 punches and Toney connected on 157 of 451.

In 1995, Roy Jones Jr defended his super middleweight title successfully multiple times.

Roy Jones Jr then beat Tony Thornton in round three by KO three months later.

In 1996, Roy Jones Jr maintained his winning ways, defeating Merqui Sosa by knockout in two and future world champion Eric Lucas in round 11.

Roy Jones Jr had played a basketball game in the morning and defended his boxing title in Jacksonville, Florida that evening.

Roy Jones Jr held a press conference in the ring just before his 3rd bout of the year, taking questions from a chair in the middle of the ring and defending his choice of Bryant Brannon as his opponent instead of Frankie Liles, his nemesis from the amateurs.

In November 1996 at Ice Palace, Tampa, Florida, Roy Jones Jr defeated 40-year-old former three-weight world champion Mike McCallum via a shutout decision before a crowd of 12,000, to win the vacant Interim WBC Light Heavyweight title.

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Roy Jones Jr scored a knockdown just before the bell at the end of round 10.

Roy Jones Jr landed 254 of 535 punches throughout the 12 rounds and McCallum connected on 209 of 651 Roy Jones Jr was upgraded to full champion by the WBC when former titlist Fabrice Tiozzo moved up to cruiserweight.

Roy Jones Jr sought an immediate rematch five months later at Foxwoods Resort, Connecticut, USA 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 out 2 minutes and 31 seconds in with a leaping left hand shot.

In 1998, Roy Jones Jr began by knocking out former light heavyweight and future cruiserweight champion Virgil Hill in four rounds with a huge right hand to the body that broke one of Hill's ribs.

Roy Jones Jr had to climb off the canvas for the first time in his career, as he was dropped in round eight, but continued to outbox Del Valle throughout the rest of the fight and gained a unanimous decision.

Roy Jones Jr retained the crown by knocking Grant out in ten rounds.

Roy Jones Jr began 1999 by knocking out the WBC number one ranked contender at the time, Rick Frazier.

On June 5 of that year, Roy Jones Jr beat IBF champion Reggie Johnson by a lopsided 12-round decision to become the undisputed light heavyweight champion, as well as the first to unify the WBA, WBC, and IBF titles at that weight since Michael Spinks in 1983.

Roy Jones Jr dropped Johnson in the first round and hard in the third round, but backed off and allowed Reggie to finish the fight.

Year 2000 began with Roy Jones Jr easily beating the hard-punching David Telesco via a 12-round decision on January 15, at Radio City Music Hall to retain his titles.

Roy Jones Jr entered the ring surrounded by the famous group of dancers, The Rockettes.

Roy Jones Jr's next fight was a first time boxing event for a venue, as he traveled to Indianapolis and retained his title with an 11-round technical knockout over Richard Hall at the Conseco Fieldhouse.

Roy Jones Jr ended 2000 with a 10-round stoppage of undefeated Eric Harding in New Orleans.

Roy Jones Jr knocked Gonzalez down in rounds one, five and twelve and earned a $1.

Roy Jones Jr landed 192 of 375 punches whilst Gonzalez connected on a very low 91 of 609.

In 2002, Roy Jones Jr retained his title by knocking out Australian boxer Glen Kelly in seven rounds via knockout.

Roy Jones Jr landed 124 of 249 punches and Kelly connected on 42 of 171.

Roy Jones Jr performed a song from his CD during his ring entrance.

Roy Jones Jr landed 140 of 300 punches and Woods connected on 39 of 166.

Roy Jones Jr became the first former middleweight title holder to win a Heavyweight title in 106 years.

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Roy Jones Jr became the first fighter to start his career as a light middleweight and win a heavyweight title, and the second reigning light heavyweight champion after Michael Spinks in 1985 to move up in weight and claim a major heavyweight championship in his first fight in the division.

Roy Jones Jr chose to return to the light heavyweight division and on November 8,2003 he defeated Antonio Tarver to retain the IBO and The Ring Light Heavyweight Championships, win Tarver's WBC title, and win the vacant WBA title.

Roy Jones Jr appeared a lot weaker after coming back down to the light heavyweight division, losing the muscle he gained for the heavyweight fight seemed to have taken a toll on his aging body and his cat-like reflexes appeared diminished.

Roy Jones Jr was heavily favored to win, but Tarver knocked him down at 1:31 of the second round.

Roy Jones Jr had won the first round, but in the second, as Roy Jones Jr tried a combination, he was caught by a big counter left hook from Tarver.

Roy Jones Jr got on his feet by the count, but for the first time in his career was ruled unable to continue by referee Jay Nady.

On September 25,2004, Roy Jones Jr attempted to win the IBF light heavyweight title from Glen Johnson in a match in Memphis, Tennessee.

Roy Jones Jr lay on the canvas for three minutes after being counted out.

Roy Jones Jr returned as a guest analyst for several bouts in 2010, and HBO brought him back the next year as their analyst for Boxing After Dark.

Roy Jones Jr took on Prince Badi Ajamu on July 29,2006, at the Qwest Arena in Boise, Idaho.

Roy Jones Jr defeated Ajamu by a unanimous decision, winning the WBO NABO light heavyweight title.

Roy Jones Jr won the bout by unanimous decision to claim the vacant International Boxing Council light heavyweight title.

On January 19,2008, Roy Jones Jr faced former three-weight world champion Felix Trinidad at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Roy Jones Jr had a noticeable size and speed advantage, and in round seven, a short right hand to the temple dropped Trinidad to his knees.

Roy Jones Jr fired a combination in the tenth round to send Trinidad down once more.

Jones' corner, who had never seen Roy cut before, didn't know how to properly handle the situation and blood covered the left side of his face.

Ultimately, Roy Jones Jr lost by unanimous decision, winning only one round on the 3 official judges cards.

Roy Jones Jr defeated Sheika via fifth-round technical knockout to claim the vacant WBO NABO light heavyweight title.

Roy Jones Jr landed 249 of 500 punches while Lacy connected on 104 of 429.

Roy Jones Jr was ahead on all three judges scorecards at the time of stoppage.

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In December 2009, Roy Jones was set to face Australian boxer Danny Green in Sydney, Australia.

Roy Jones Jr won a 10-round unanimous decision against Max Alexander on December 10,2011, in Atlanta, snapping a three-match losing streak, and winning the Universal Boxing Organisation Intercontinental cruiserweight championship.

Roy Jones Jr rarely pressed over the first seven rounds, but put together several combinations in the eighth and 10th rounds to beat Alexander.

Roy Jones Jr negotiated his deal with 12 Knockout Promotions, the fight's promoter, he was assured that Kostecki would not start serving his sentence until after the fight.

Many believed due to Roy Jones Jr being lined up to challenge then-WBC cruiserweight champion Krzysztof Wlodarczyk, he was given the decision.

On December 21,2013, Roy Jones Jr defeated Zine Eddine Benmakhlouf by unanimous decision for the vacant WBU cruiserweight title at the Dynamo Palace of Sports in Krylatskoye in Moscow, Russia.

Roy Jones Jr, fighting at the Kipsala International Exhibition Centre in Latvia, defeated Courtney Fry via RTD in the 5th round on July 26,2014.

Roy Jones Jr was ahead on all three judges scorecards by the end of the fourth round,.

On September 26,2014, Roy Jones Jr defeated Hany Atiyo via 1st-round KO after 75 seconds.

On October 28,2015, it was announced that Roy Jones Jr would be fighting former WBO cruiserweight champion Enzo Maccarinelli, 35, who had a career record of 40 wins and 7 losses, for the WBA 'super' world cruiserweight title.

On March 20,2016, Roy Jones Jr fought in Phoenix, Arizona at the Celebrity Theatre against 33-year-old MMA fighter Vyron Phillips, who had won the right to fight him after having been selected through a vote on Facebook.

Roy Jones Jr last fought in Pensacola in March 2015, when he knocked out Paul Vasquez in the first round.

On December 30,2017, Roy Jones Jr announced that he would return to the Bay Center in Pensacola, Florida to headline the Island Fights 46 on February 8,2018.

Roy Jones Jr had previously headlined Island Fights, which is a show that included both boxing and MMA bouts.

Roy Jones Jr announced Scott Sigmon as his opponent for the 10 round bout.

Roy Jones Jr ended his boxing career defeating Sigmon via a one-sided 10 round unanimous decision, winning the vacant World Boxing Union cruiserweight title in the process.

Roy Jones Jr started off the better boxer landed upper cuts and hooks and remained in control throughout the fight.

Roy Jones Jr landed an uppercut in round 5 which knocked Sigmon's mouthpiece out.

Roy Jones Jr was able to counter most of the shots Sigmon threw.

Roy Jones Jr called for a boxing match against 42-year-old former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva.

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Roy Jones Jr offered direction to numerous youths and steered many of them away from trouble.

Roy Jones Jr stated that he often visited Russia for business activity, and a passport would avoid inconvenient rides.

Roy Jones Jr was known for his unique and unorthodox fighting style that defied many of boxing's oldest traditions.

Roy Jones Jr's style relied heavily on his great hand speed, quickness, reflexes, ring IQ and knockout power which were often the deciding factors in most of his fights during his prime.

Roy Jones Jr had such hand speed that he could often throw hooks in rapid succession.

Roy Jones Jr was nicknamed "Captain Hook", because he would deliver four or five hooks in a row from different angles.

Roy Jones Jr used his cat-like reflexes to bob and weave, slip and counter his opponent.

Roy Jones Jr was a master at this sort of style, and used this to his advantage by sticking his chin out to bait his opponents into hitting him, only to pull back and counter the off-balance opponent with his own punches.

Roy Jones Jr rarely led with the jab and instead was known for leading with leaping left hooks or the right cross.

Immediately after his second fight with Montell Griffin, former heavyweight champion George Foreman remarked that Roy Jones Jr did not need a jab to setup his punches due to his extraordinary quickness and that he is probably the only boxer in history he could say that about.

Roy Jones Jr is said to have integrated cockfighting into his boxing style, often using exaggerated feints to catch his opponents off-balance.

Roy Jones Jr started his rap music career in 2001 with his album, titled Round One: The Album and the debut single, "Y'All Must've Forgot".

In 2004, Roy Jones Jr formed a group, Body Head Bangerz and released an album.