Roy Jones Jr is unmistakably one of the greatest fighters of the last three decades.
After walking away from the 1988 Olympic games in Seoul with a silver medal, Jones entered the professional ranks and would embark on an exceptional professional career which saw him win world titles across four weight classes.
The bulk of his success came during the 1990s where he would rack up victories against the likes of Mike McCallum and Bernard Hopkins to name a few.
Less than six months after defending his unified light-heavyweight titles against Clinton Woods, Jones moved up to heavyweight to dethrone WBA champion John Ruiz via unanimous decision in March 2003.
After coming up against an abundance of generational greats, including Hopkins and Joe Calzaghe, the 56-year-old gave a surprising answer when asked who was the best fighter he ever came up against.
Speaking to The Ring Magazine, Jones didn’t hesitate to name James Toney as his greatest ever opponent, where he claims his former rival ‘had everything.’
“James Toney probably had the best defense of all of them. You couldn’t hit him flush; he was so elusive, the hip movement and the shoulder roll made it very difficult to hit him with a clean shot.
He had all the tools, he was hard to hit, he could knock you out at any time. He would be right there in your face and you still couldn’t hit him flush.”
Jones defeated Toney via unanimous decision in November 1994 to capture the IBF super-middleweight title, having already won the IBF crown at 160lbs.
It was a dominant performance from Jones, with all three of the judges scoring it widely in favour of him after outclassing ‘Lights Out’ at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
