Background and career
Roy Levesta Jones Jr. (born January 16, 1969) is an American former professional boxer that competed from 1989 to 2018, and again in 2023. He held multiple world championships in four weight classes, including middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight. As an amateur he represented the United States at the 1988 Summer Olympics, winning the light middleweight silver medal. Jones is considered by many to be one of the greatest boxers of all time, pound for pound, and left his mark in the sport's history when he won the World Boxing Association (WBA) heavyweight title in 2003, becoming the first and only boxer to win the heavyweight title starting his career as a junior middleweight. This also made him the second of only two former middleweight champions to win a heavyweight title, 106 years after Bob Fitzsimmons accomplished that feat.
He is also one of only two heavyweight champions to have begun his career below middleweight, the other being former welterweight Tommy Burns, who won the title 97 years prior, thus being the second-lightest boxer to eventually become heavyweight champion. From 1999 to 2002, he held the undisputed championship at light heavyweight. As of June 2026, Jones holds the record for the most wins in unified light-heavyweight title bouts in boxing history, with twelve. He is the first fighter in CompuBox history to have his opponent not land a single punch for an entire round. The Ring magazine named him the Fighter of the Year in 1994 and the World Boxing Hall of Fame named him the Fighter of the Year in 2003. He is also a three-time winner of the Best Boxer ESPY Award (1996, 2000 and 2003). The Boxing Writers Association of America and The Sporting News named him as the Fighter of the Decade for the 1990s.
Roy Jones Jr. was born to a family with a boxing tradition. His father, Roy Jones Sr., was a Vietnam war veteran who was awarded a Bronze Star for valor after he rescued another soldier. Jones Sr. was a middleweight boxer as well.
Amateur career Jones won the 1984 United States National Junior Olympics in the 119 lb (54 kg) weight division, the 1986 United States National Golden Gloves in the 139 lb (63 kg) division, and the 1987 United States National Golden Gloves in the 156 lb (71 kg) division. As an amateur, he ended his career with a 121–13 record.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth, in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
