Many fans would consider Roy Jones Jr. to be one of the greatest fighters of all time, as the American fighter helped to define an era of boxing.
There are countless great performances from the legend, including Jones Jr. beating James Toney and Bernard Hopkins.
With his last professional fight coming against former UFC star Anthony Pettis in 2023, Jones Jr. competed across five decades.
As a champion in four weight divisions, Jones Jr. has held belts from middleweight to heavyweight. Competing just once in the highest weight class, Jones Jr. said only one fighter could have tempted him to defend his title.
Roy Jones Jr. became heavyweight champion in 2003
Jones Jr. was a unified light heavyweight champion from 1998 to 2002, before he bypassed the cruiserweight division to compete at heavyweight.
In March 2003, Jones Jr. fought in Las Vegas to challenge John Ruiz for the WBA World Heavyweight title.
The challenger weighed in at 193 lbs for what would be his only outing in the weight class. As for Ruiz, he hit the scales at 226 lbs. The champion had a 38-4-1 record going into the bout, as well as a win over Evander Holyfield.
In a convincing performance, Jones Jr. was able to earn a unanimous decision victory to become a heavyweight world champion.
His next outing would see Jones Jr. return to light heavyweight. However, there was one heavyweight legend Jones Jr. wanted to fight.
Roy Jones Jr. wanted to defend his heavyweight title against Mike Tyson
On a 2020 episode of the Joe Rogan Experience, Jones Jr. spoke about his exhibition match with Mike Tyson.
While speaking on the non-professional bout, Jones Jr. said that Tyson was the only opponent he wanted to face as a professional at heavyweight.
“He’s the only other person I would have fought as a heavyweight,” Jones Jr. said. “He was the youngest heavyweight champion ever. And, to be honest, I was probably the lightest. Only junior middleweight to ever go on to win a heavyweight title.”
Jones Jr. went on to say that size didn’t really matter to Tyson, thanks to his knockout power.
When Jones Jr. won his heavyweight title, Tyson had just come off his knockout win over Clifford Etienne a month earlier.