Hall of Fame inductee Roy Jones Jr has spoken out and revealed the greatest fighter that he has ever witnessed.
The Florida-native had an outstanding professional boxing career of his own, winning world titles across four weight divisions during his formidable prime.
The bulk of Jones’ success came during the 1990s where he became a world title holder at middleweight, super-middleweight and light-heavyweight, racking up victories over the likes of James Toney, Mike McCallum and Bernard Hopkins.
Perhaps the best victory of his career came in March of 2003 when he made the move up to heavyweight, defeating countryman and WBA world champion John Ruiz via unanimous decision in their Las Vegas clash.
Since hanging up the gloves, Jones has become one of the most respected voices in the sport, regularly offering his opinion on a wide range of subjects.
With that in mind, he once revealed in a resurfaced interview who the ‘best fighter that he ever saw’ is, paying homage to legendary Mexican featherweight champion Salvador Sanchez.
“The best fighter I ever saw? Honestly? Skill wise, was a guy by the name of Salvador Sanchez.”
Sanchez captured the WBC world featherweight title with a victory over Danny Lopez in February of 1980 and would go on to make nine successful defences of his crown within a two year period.
Just days on from his final world title defence against Ghana’s two-weight world champion Azumah Nelson, Sanchez was tragically killed in a car accident in Mexico at just 23-years-old.
Whilst his life was cut short in harrowing circumstances, Sanchez was considered to be one of the greatest featherweights of his generation and was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1991.
