Roy Jones Jr.

Roy Jones, Jr. (born January 16, 1969) is an American boxer. He was named "Fighter of the Decade" for the 1990s by the Boxing Writers Association of America. He is often regarded as being one of the best pound for pound fighters of all time.
As a professional he captured IBF championships in the middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight. He also won the WBA heavyweight title in his only fight in this weight class. He is also noted for holding the WBC, WBA, IBF, IBO, NBA, WBF, and IBA light heavyweight championships at the same time.Jones had already sparred with many professional boxers in the gyms including NABF champion Ronnie Essett, IBF world champion Lindell Holmes and all-time great Sugar Ray Leonard. Jones began as a professional on May 6, 1989, knocking out Ricky Randall in two rounds in Pensacola at the Bayfront Auditorium. For his next fight, he faced the more experienced Stephan Johnson in Atlantic City, and beat him by a knockout in round eight.
Jones built a record of 15-0 with 15 knockouts before stepping up in class, when he met former world welterweight champion Jorge Vaca in a Pay Per View fight on January 10, 1992. He knocked Vaca out in round one, to reach 16 knockout wins in a row. After one more knockout win, Jones went the distance for the first time, against future world champion Jorge Castro, winning a ten-round decision in front of a USA Network national audience.
Three more knockouts in a row followed, after which Jones was given his first opportunity to fight for a world title: on May 22, 1993, he beat future undisputed world middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins by unanimous decision in Washington D.C., to capture the IBF's vacant middleweight title. All three judges scored the fight 116-112. For his next fight, he fought another future world champion, Thulane "Sugar Boy" Malinga, in a non-title affair. Jones beat Malinga by a knockout in six. Jones finished the year with another non-title fight, beating Fermin Chirino by decision.
In 1994 Jones beat fringe contender Danny "Popeye" Garcia by a knockout in six in another non-title bout, then retained the world title against Thomas Tate in two rounds at Las Vegas on May 27. By this point in his career, Jones was considered one of boxing's top four "pound for pound" fighters. On November 18, he and IBF super middleweight champion James Toney, another member of the "pound for pound" contenders, met in an anticipated bout at Las Vegas Jones dropped Toney in round three, won virtually every round, and secured a unanimous decision to win the IBF super middleweight title. His impressive year in the ring was tainted when shortly after his fight with Tate, he was caught by police in the Bahamas and accused of carrying a gun at Nassau's airport.
In 1995, Jones defended his IBF super middleweight title successfully three times, knocking out Antoine Byrd in round one, former Lightweight and Junior Middleweight World Champion Vinny Pazienza in round six, and Tony Thornton in round two.On March 1, 2003, at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Roy Jones would defeat John Ruiz by a 12-round unanimous decision for the WBA heavyweight championship. Jones officially weighed in at 193 lb (88 kg) and Ruiz at 226 lb (103 kg). Jones became the first former middleweight title holder to win a heavyweight title in 106 years. Jones also became the first fighter to start his career as a jr. middleweight and win a heavyweight title. Jones decided to keep campaigning as a light heavyweight and eventually relinquished the WBA heavyweight title without ever defending it.