I remember Jones from the NY golden gloves and watched his career progress He was big, slow and could not punch TO HARD, he was a boring, JAB AND LEAN TYPE fighter. i was surprised to see him get title fight vs Larry Holmes I think the draw against Pedro Lovell should have been indicative to how far he would go but for me it was a day in the 28th st. gym when he was sparring with stocky 5'8 middleweight Tom"the Bomb" Bethea, there was a little feud going on between the 2, and they started trading and Tom the Bomb just went at him and no one stopped it... It could not believe seemed like it went on for 10 minutes strait and Jones caught quite a pasting against the ropes and no one stopped it. Tom Bethea was a rugged guy, very quiet and polite guy but he was plagued by scar tissue, still he scored a few European upsets and even upset Nino Bevenuti only to lose the rematch but the size difference 5"8 165lbs to 6"5 260lbs and the fact that it was a set-up or payback of sorts stuck in my head.
Cool story Bummy ... nice post ... Even thought he was undefeated Holmes sure gave him a terrible beating, didn't he ?
I will credit him for being a decent boxer for a big slob. Rightfully he won't be remembered as anything more than a guy who was somehow given a title shot over other contenders ahead of him in the long line. On hindsight fighting Holmes may not have been such a great decision after all as it brought an abrupt end to his boxing career.
I don't think he could have made too many other decisions moving forward or upwards without the same result....he was not top level
Someone posted footage of his fight with Holmes on here a few years back. Despite not having the prettiest physique, Jones appeared to be a guy who had some degree of boxing skill and didn't look too bad for the first few rounds. The film prompted me to check out his boxing record and I found that he actually fought a few half way decent opponents.. I'm guessing Jones was probably better than guys like James Tillis and Leon Spinks but not quite as good as Witherspoon and Berbick. Perhaps with more discipline to training minus his eye injury against Holmes, he might have gone further? Who knows? Of course the 80's was the decade of " coulda beens" and " might haves".
I agree with Mr. Magoo. I think Leroy Jones was better than some here have made him out to be. I think I read somewhere that Larry Holmes thumbed Jones in the eye during their fight. If so, you can't really blame him for his performance against Holmes. Mind you, I am not saying that if Jones had not been thumbed, the results would have been different. I am just saying that his performance might have been affected.
Your contributions to the forum are incredible. Great story. Only ever seen him against Holmes. :good
holmes always picked easy people to defend this title against so there should be no suprised that he fought Leroy Jones
Talented boxer who never really dedicated himself to his craft, could have been a very good heavyweight had he bothered to train.
