At home with Roy Jones, Jr.: the hard-knock life of a heavyweight boxing champ

Jet, August 4, 2003 by Melody K. Hoffman

Jones, named the Boxing Writers Association of America's Fighter of the Decade for the '90s, pulled off a show stopping-performance and went toe-to-toe with WBA title-holder John Ruiz for 12 rounds. After displaying smarts and bringing out his lightening fast guns, Jones won the bout by a unanimous decision. Just like that he became the first former middleweight champion since 1897 to capture a share of the heavyweight title.

"Roy fight any damn body. Roy don't give a damn," Jones said in his familiar third-person tone.

Though there were doubts about Jones' jump to the big leagues, there wasn't any room for Jones' confidence to soar, he says. He felt there was little he needed to prove, but the "baddest" man in boxing has continued to blaze his amazing trail that began when he turned pro in 1989.

"I'm the unbeaten one. When somebody beats me, then I'll look to change something. On paper [Ruiz] had advantage, but he really didn't. I was stronger, I was the harder puncher. I was a little bit smaller, but height don't mean nothing to me. I got the bigger heart, I got the advantage. I'm the bigger man on the inside. I was the dog with the bigger bite, he's the dog with the bigger bark. When it come down to it, that bark ain't nothing if you can't bite hard," Jones said with his trademark brash swagger--and his word is his bond.

Jones declared he's staying in the heavyweight division, but his next opponent is a question on boxing fans' inquiring minds.

"A lot of people want to see a Mike Tyson fight, which is a difficult fight, but a fun fight for me. It'll be fun because Tyson is so dangerous; I'd like to see how it feels to be hit by the great Mike Tyson. I love stuff like that. I love when I'm not supposed to be able to do something."

Risk-taking is embedded in the fierce arena of boxing. Fighting a heavyweight boxer, Jones said, was risking his life and his dazzling career because it takes just one punch to end them both. But for the people Jones adores in life, he said he wouldn't think twice about taking a fight that would put them in a better situation.

But simply, how much money would it take for Jones to be in the ring with 6-foot-5 heavyweight champ Lennox Lewis or Iron Mike?

"Here's how my risk weighing goes: If there's enough money there for my kids not to have to wake up and get out of the bed if they don't want to for the rest of their lives, I'll sacrifice mine. I'll take that risk," explained Jones.

Because Jones is a fighter, he says, people forget he's a lover. Too many times people confuse his personality inside of the ring and outside the ropes.

"In the ring, I'm a monster. I'm not evil. I'm God's monster, but I'm a monster. Often people judge you by what you say or what you do. So, people who go to war to kill to defend this country, does that make them evil? No, it doesn't. So a lot of times people want to associate fighting with being evil. Why am I evil? You ain't evil because you fight.

"To me, when I go out there, I'm not the same Mr. Nice Guy. Leave your kids and children at home. What I do, I do because that's what God blessed me to do. If a man doesn't have something in life worth dying for, it ain't worth living."