A Few of Roy Jones Jr.’s Most Important Fights

Mike Tyson is a larger than life character, which is why everyone in the United States’ knows who Iron Mike is. That’s not the case for Roy Jones Jr. Even though Jones Jr. is one of the very best boxers to ever walk into a ring, most don’t know Roy as well as they know Mike. This article will help older boxing fans remember and newer boxing fans discover the greatness of Roy Jones Jr.

Jones Jr. vs Felix Trinidad

Jones and Trinidad weren’t in their primes when they fought on January 19, 2008. Even though Felix had just 2 losses on his record, he hadn’t stepped into a ring in more than two years. Jones hadn’t had a signature bout in at least 3 years. Although many decry the match as one between two great fighters with diminishing skills, both warriors did enter the ring to decide who was better. Superman dominated Felix for an easy unanimous decision.

Roy Takes on Bernard Hopkins

Most consider this Roy’s most important victory. The fight happened on May 22, 1993. Bernard Hopkins, the middleweight champion, had won 22 consecutive fights. Jones Jr. was undefeated with a 21-0 record. No only did Superman prevail over Hopkins, whom many consider one of the greatest fighters of all time, but he beat Bernard while Bernard was in his prime. He also claims to have stopped Hopkins with a broken right hand.

Superman versus John Ruiz

Roy Jones Jr. won the heavyweight title over John Ruiz on May 1, 2003. It was one of the very best fights of Superman’s career. Ruiz outweighed Roy by 43 pounds. Many don’t consider John Ruiz one of the great heavyweights. Maybe, he isn’t. But at the time, he was the WBA Champion and he had skills. Roy made him look silly in the ring on his way to a unanimous decision.

The fight is important because it was the first in 106 years where a middleweight had gone all the way up to heavyweight to win atitle. Also, Jones Jr. versus Ruiz clocked 602,000 pay per view buys, the most in Roy Jones Jr.’s career.

Jones Fights Antonio Tarver Twice

We’ll put both Antonio Tarver fights on the list. The first ended in a controversial majority decision. Most thought Tarver beat Roy. That fight happened on Nov. 8, 2003. One of the problems Roy faced is that he went down from heavyweight to light heavyweight.

When fighters go down in weight, they often do it by losing muscle. Muscle has a lot to do with speed and in the first Tarver fight,it showed that Superman was more like Superboy.

Tarver didn’t let the second fight go to the scorecards. In the first round, Roy looked faster than he had in the previous fight. But it was a mirage. Antonio used the first round to gauge what Roy might try to do. In the second round, the challenger pounced. After Roy threw aright hand, Antonio countered with a massive left hook.

The punch sent Jones Jr. to the canvas. Although he beat the count, referee Jay Nady saw that Jones couldn’t go on. Nady ended the fight.

The second Antonio Tarver bout took the shine off Superman’s cape. Roy was never the same since. When he steps into the ring against Mike Tyson on Nov. 28, Roy Jones Jr. will try to show the world that he maintains some of the skills that made him one of the most feared boxers in history.

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