Roy Jones Jr. finished his boxing career with a record of 66-10 and is highly touted as one of the best light heavyweights to have ever laced up the gloves.
Roy Jones Jr., a four-division champion and twelve-time unified light heavyweight title fight contender.
Many believe moving to cruiserweight was bad for Jones Jr.’s career, as half of his losses occurred in the higher division.
Jones Jr. holds wins over Felix Trinidad, James Toney, and Bernard Hopkins (who later got the better of him), and has been in the ring with other great fighters such as Joe Calzaghe, Antonio Tarver and Enzo Maccarinelli. Jones Jr. has picked James Toney as his toughest opponent.
Jones Jr. has since detailed the biggest regret of his career was not resting after his first fight with Antonio Tarver in 2003.
Despite the caliber of these opponents, there is one other opponent of particular interest on Jones Jr.’s resume, not due to his boxing ability, but his profession.
Roy Jones Jr. knocks out NYPD officer in the second round
In 1999, Roy Jones Jr., then 38-1, defended his WBC light-heavyweight world title against 18-3-1 Richard Frazier.
Frazier had an outstanding amateur record of 124-5, whilst also serving as an NYPD police officer.
The fight saw Jones Jr. drop Frazier in the very first round, but the police officer somehow managed to survive to the bell.
Frazier fought a tentative fight, failing to throw much of anything in the second round, in which he was dropped for a second time.
The referee called a halt to the contest after this knockdown, though even Jones Jr. thought it was stopped early, stating after the fight: “I’m sorry that the fight got stopped early but what was I to do? I’m not the guy that makes the fights I have to go out and do what I have to do.”
The fight would be the last of Frazier’s boxing career, whilst Jones Jr. would go on to unify the belts in his next fight against Reggie Johnson.
The night Roy Jones Jr. knocked out an opponent with hands behind his back
Jones Jr., then 45-1, faced 28-0-1 Glen Kelly in 2002, in a defence of Jones Jr.’s light-heavyweight titles.
The fight made it to the seventh round, where Jones Jr., who fought Mike Tyson in a 2020 exhibition bout, landed the most famous knockout punch of his career.
Jones Jr. was backed to the ropes by Kelly and was seen putting both hands behind his back, dodging Kelly’s jab before throwing a big right-hand counter, sending Kelly to the canvas.
The fight was waved off, awarding Jones Jr. the victory.
Jones Jr. is now a pundit and coach, famously training Chris Eubank Jr. for a while. Jones Jr. has also offered to train Anthony Joshua following his defeat to Daniel Dubois.