Дөрвөн жингийн дэлхийн аварга Рой Жонс мэргэжлийн боксын замналдаа тулалдсан хамгийн хүчтэй өрсөлдөгчөөр Жэймс Тониг онцоллоо.
1989 оноос 2023 он хүртэл үргэлжилсэн арвин баялаг замналдаа 76 тулаан хийж, 20 орчим дэлхийн аваргатай рингэнд гарсан Рой Жонс Жэймс Тониг хамгийн шилдэг хамгаалалттай боксчин байсан хэмээн тодорхойлжээ. Тэрээр Жэймс Тониг цохилт авахад маш хэцүү, уян хатан хөдөлгөөн болон мөрний хамгаалалтын техникээрээ бусдаас ялгардаг байсныг онцолсон байна.
Жонс болон Тони нарын тулаан 1994 оны арваннэгдүгээр сард болж, Рой Жонс шүүгчдийн санал нэгтэй шийдвэрээр ялалт байгуулан IBF холбооны супер дунд жингийн аваргын бүсийг эзэмшсэн юм. Энэхүү ялалт нь Жэймс Тонигийн мэргэжлийн замнал дахь анхны хожигдол болсон билээ.
Жэймс Тони нь дунд, хагас хүнд болон хүнд жингийн ангилалд амжилттай тулалдаж байсан бөгөөд нийт 92 тулаанаас 77 ялалт байгуулжээ. Тэрээр сүүлийн тулаанаа 2017 оны тавдугаар сард хийж, Майк Шеппардыг техникийн нокаутаар буулган авснаар зодог тайлсан юм.
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Roy Jones Jr has revealed which of his past opponents he deems to be the greatest of the lot.
Jones competed 76 times throughout his illustrious professional career, which began back in 1989 and went all the way up until 2023.
His peak is considered to have been throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, with Jones becoming a four division world champion at middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight and even heavyweight.
In total, Jones shared the ring with nearly 20 current, former or future world champions, but one man stood out when he was asked who was the best fighter he ever faced.
Speaking to The Ring, he gave that honour to three-weight world champion James Toney.
“James Toney probably had the best defence 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 land 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 had moved up in weight to 168lbs when he faced Toney in November 1994, claiming a unanimous decision win to secure the IBF super middleweight title and hand ‘Lights Out’ the first loss of his professional career.
Toney also ruled at middleweight and cruiserweight, and had also become WBA heavyweight champion with a win over John Ruiz in 2005, only for the result to be changed to a no contest after he failed a drugs test.
In the end, Toney finished with 77 wins from his 92 professional fights, with his last outing coming back in May 2017 when he earned a stoppage victory over Mike Sheppard.
