Roy Jones

Roy Levesta Jones Jr. (p. The first boxer in the history of boxing to become the world middleweight champion, and then managed to win the title in the second middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight. Also known for his acting and musical activities.

There are many interesting facts in the biography of Roy Jones, which we will talk about in this article.

So, here is a short biography of Roy Jones Jr.

Roy Jones biography

Roy Jones was born on January 16, 1969 in the American city of Pensacola (Florida). He was raised and raised in the family of a professional boxer, Roy Jones, and his wife, Carol, who did a household job.

In the past, Jones Sr. fought in Vietnam. An interesting fact is that he was awarded the Bronze Star for saving a soldier.

Childhood and youth

Unlike a calm and well-balanced mother, Roy's father was a very demanding, strict and tough person.

The head of the family put serious pressure on his son, often mocking him. He wanted to make him a fearless boxer, so he never treated him kindly.

Roy Jones Sr. believed that only such a treatment of the boy could make him a real champion.

The man ran his own boxing gym, where he taught children and teenagers. He did his best to expand the program and help as many children as possible. However, in relation to his son, he was merciless, bringing the child to the brink of exhaustion, attacking and shouting at him in front of other fighters.

Jones Jr. constantly feared verbal and physical abuse from a parent. Over time, he confesses the following: “I have spent my entire life in my father's cage. I could never be 100% who I am until I left him. But because of him, nothing bothers me. I will never face something stronger and more difficult than what I already have. "

It is worth noting that Jones Sr. forced his son to watch cockfights, during which the birds tortured themselves to blood. Thus, he tried to "temper" the child and raise him to be a fearless man.

As a result, the father was able to achieve his goal, making a real champion out of the teenager, which the whole world soon learned about.

Boxing

Roy Jones Jr. began boxing seriously at the age of 10. He devoted a lot of time to this sport, listening to his father's instructions.

At the age of 11, Roy managed to win the Golden Gloves tournament. It is worth noting that he became the champion of these competitions for the next 4 years.

In 1984 Roy Jones won the Junior Olympics in America.

After that, the boxer participated in the Olympics in South Korea. He won the silver medal, losing in the final on points to Pak Sihun.

Roy's first opponent in the professional ring was Ricky Randall. Throughout the fight, Jones dominated his opponent, knocking him down twice. As a result, the judge was forced to stop the fight ahead of schedule.

In 1993 a fight was organized for the title of the world champion in middleweight according to the "IBF" version. Roy Jones and Bernard Hopkins met in the ring.

Roy had an advantage over Hopkins for all 12 rounds. He was faster than him and more accurate in strikes. As a consequence, all the judges unconditionally awarded the victory to Jones.

The following year, Roy defeated the undefeated James Toney to become the IBF Super Middleweight Champion.

In 1996, Jones moved to light heavyweight. His opponent was Mike McCallum.

The boxer very carefully boxed with McCallum, looking for his weaknesses. As a result, he was able to win his next victory, gaining even more fame.

In the summer of 1998, the WBC and WBA light heavyweight unification bout with Lou Del Valle was organized. Roy again significantly surpassed his opponent in speed and accuracy of strikes, having managed to defeat him on points.

Since then, Roy Jones has been stronger than boxers like Richard Hall, Eric Harding, Derrick Harmon, Glenn Kelly, Clinton Woods and Julio Cesara Gonzalez.

In 2003, Roy competed in the heavyweight division by going into the ring against WBA world champion John Ruiz. He managed to defeat Ruiz, after which he returned to light heavyweight.

In the same year, Jones's sports biography was replenished with a duel with the WBC light heavyweight champion Antonio Tarver. Both opponents perfectly boxed with each other, but the judges gave the victory to the same Roy Jones.

After that, the boxers met again in the ring, where Tarver had already won. He knocked out Roy in the second round.

Later, a third sparring was held between them, as a result of which Tarver won a second unanimous decision over Jones.

Roy then boxed with Felix Trinidad, Omar Sheik, Jeff Lacey, Joe Calzaghe, Bernard Hopkins and Denis Lebedev. He won over the first three athletes, while he was defeated from Calzaghe, Hopkins and Lebedev.

During the biography of 2014-2015. Jones played 6 sparring matches, all of which ended with Roy's early wins. In 2016, he entered the ring twice and was twice stronger than opponents.

In 2017, Jones confronted Bobby Gunn. The winner of this meeting became the WBF World Champion.

Roy had a noticeable advantage over Gunn throughout the fight. As a result, in the 8th round the latter decided to stop the fight.

Music and cinema

In 2001, Jones recorded his debut rap album, Round One: The Album. After 4 years, he formed the rap group Body Head Bangerz, which later recorded a collection of songs called Body Head Bangerz, Vol. 1".

After that, Roy presented several singles, some of which were video clips.

Over the years of his biography, Jones has appeared in dozens of films, playing minor characters. He has appeared in films such as The Matrix. Reboot "," Universal Soldier-4 "," Take a hit, baby! " and others.

Personal life

Almost nothing is known about the boxer's personal life. Jones is married to a girl named Natalie.

As of today, the couple had three sons - DeAndre, DeSchon and Roy.

Not so long ago, Roy and his wife visited Yakutsk. There the couple took a dog sled ride, and also experienced the "Russian winter" from their own experience.

In the fall of 2015, Jones received Russian citizenship.