Roy Jones Jr. is an American boxer who was named Fighter of the Decade for 1990's. He is well-recognized for his high caliber to perform in a boxing ring. He has acquired several world championship titles that include middleweight division, super middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight divisions. Junior becomes the only second light heavyweight champion who has won the heavyweight title.
Background
Roy Jones Jr. was born on January 16, 1969, in Pensacola, Florida, United States. His father, Roy Sr. was an ex-club fighter and mother, Carol was warm. Roy Jr. had revealed that his father, a retired aircraft engineer used to taunt and stare him with punches of boxing when he was a small child for almost 20 minutes. Many people had abused this behavior of his father. But, according to the Junior, the behavior of his father has a great impact on his life-long career success.
After the retirement, Roy Sr. ran his own gym (boxing) and trained most of the youths. But the fact is that he never was in mercy when he starts beating his son.
Education
Roy Jones Jr. was brutally grown up with a lot of sparring. He lived with a constant fear of verbal and physical violence from his father in his own house. This taught him how to grow up in the desire of a dawn in his life. He learned boxing and trained himself to reach the level of professional boxers from an amateur boxer.
Career
Earlier, Roy Jones Jr. was raised from the training of his father and later, Alton Merkerson trained him. In 1984, he won National Junior Olympics at such an early age which showed his character. In 1986, he became the first US National Golden Gloves winner in his weight division. In the following year, he won another Golden Gloves in the heavyweight class. The reign of Junior begins, and he showed his caliber in the Olympic championship in 1988.
Professional Career:
In 1989, Jones made debut as a professional boxer and knocked out Ricky Randall in just two rounds. After three years, he won his first WBC Continental Americas super middleweight championship title. In the following year, Roy Jones Jr. reached another milestone in his career with IBF middleweight title.
On 18 November 1994, Junior was set to fight against #1 ranked, James Toney. With head-to-head fight over the course of 12-rounds, Jones won the IBF super middleweight championship title. This fight was considered as one of the most dominant fights fought by anyone in the last 20 years said by The Ring magazine.
Jones defended super middleweight championship title multiple times in 1995. In the following year, he maintained his winning streaks by defeating Merqui Sosa and Eric Lucas. He also became the first athlete who has ever participated in two paid sports events in a single day.
In 1997, he faced his first professional loss against Montell Griffin through disqualification. But the era of Jones continued from the next season, and he attained WBC and WBA belts at the same time. In 1999, he had fought against Richard Frazier and Reggie Johnson, which he won successfully.
The year 2000 began with beating David Telesco and retained his light heavyweight title. In the following year, he continued his performance and released his first album, a rap CD to delight his fans. In the next year, he beat Clinton Woods and retained his position.
Heavyweight Championship:
With the win against John Ruiz, the winning streaks and won WBA heavyweight championship title. On 15 May 2004, he lost to Antonio Tarver when he entered to light heavyweight championship battle. His losing dilemma ended after three consecutive losses. In 2006, Jones defeated Prince Badi Ajamu to regain his winning streak and remained undefeated in the following year.
At the end of the year 2008, he lost to Joe Calzaghe and won the next season against Omar Sheika. But the end of the year 2009 led to lose the fight against his opponent Danny Green. With another three consecutive losses, he set the major win against Max Alexander on 10 December 2011.
His winning streaks again geared up and he won back-to-back matches till 16 August 2015. At the end of the same year, he lost to Enzo Maccarinelli but regained his position in the following year against Vyron Philips.
Now, Roy Jones Jr. has achieved all those feats which no one else has acquired before. He encourages other boxers and teaches how to fight with their opponents.
Religion
He was an orthodox because of the brutal childhood which he went through.
Personality
Roy Jones has a celebrity status and often appears on the stage of big events. However he is also known for being a bit introverted and enjoying spending time at more peacefull activities, like fishing and taking care of his farm in Florida.
Physical Characteristics:
Roy Jones Jr. is 5'11" tall with 74" reach. He weighted in from 160 to 175 pounds at his prime.