Roy Jones Jr was named the Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year in 1994 and few fans would disagree.
The only man to kick off his pro campaign at super-welterweight and go on to win a heavyweight title, Jones is in the history books as a dominating force in the ring. So, who does he think the best of the current crop is?
Speaking in an interview with All The Smoke Fight, Jones paid Naoya Inoue his dues but said his ranking in the pound-for-pound list suffered because of a lack of opposition.
Inoue is 27-0 with 24 knockouts – an incredible achievement for the lower weight classes – and regularly captivates Japanese audiences with his thrilling style. He has held titles in four divisions.
Jones believes Terence Crawford remains as number one simply due to his dominant victory over Errol Spence Jr, but believes skill-for-skill ‘The Japanese Monster’ should probably take it.
Crawford became four-belt champion at 147 with that win over Spence, the first male fighter to achieve all the belts in two different weight classes. Inoue followed shortly after before Oleksandr Usyk joined the club.
Inoue is next out against TJ Doheny on September 3 in Japan to defend his undisputed super-bantamweight title.‘Bud’ is up first, making his super-welterweight debut against WBA Champion Israil Madrimov on August 3 in an attempt to become a four-division world champion.
