Who is "Tire Iron" Jones?

I am "Tire Iron" Jones.

 

He who must not be named.

 

There used to be a bit of footage on the guy and he exists mostly based on sparring stories / memes I think he was only an amateur… he was really good but mostly “promising” based on what we know… he’s sort of like a less notable Cleveland Williams, famous for his physique etc his first name I forget but Liston said quote “that he hit like a tire iron” and folks sort of gave him the nickname after the fact on an older forum before my time I think Boxrec… Saddo? he might’ve been called Ray Jones? Nickname “Death Ray” Jones I can’t member he hit hard and was mostly unremarkable.

 

Best fighter Ton 4 Ton

 

Devoted follower of Saint Primo. Granted unusual boxing abilities as a result.

 

Jones! That was it. I always call him Johnson by mistake.

That guy had so much potential. Real mugger strength.

 

If Tire Iron Jones hadn’t existed, man would’ve created him.

Same thing goes for Harry “Crumb” Greb - who’s that you ask?

Do you have a millennium to spare…..?

 

I still can’t get my head around how he hid a tyre iron in his glove. I mean, a railway spike is one thing….he was obviously meaner than a junkyard dog…..

 

He got the better of a very young Ali at one point, either in sparring or an amateur match (accounts vary), which gives him some play around here. Sort of like Nick Wells in that respect. Probably the first true modern superheavyweight; 6'4" and 225 if memory serves. Vicious left hook "like getting hit with a tire iron," as Liston put it. Depending how much weight you give sparring stories, he had a lot of potential. There was an exhibition with Brian London that he won, which due to irregularities in the BBBofC, wasn't counted as a pro fight, but probably should have been. (A bit like that tournament Usyk, Hrgovic, etc. fought in our own era, except there's some suggestion that it wasn't originally intended as an exhibition.) Lots of unconfirmed fights out west in the same kind of local circuit that produced Cleveland Williams. Only I think Jones fought out of Colorado.

The homicide conviction really hit Jones at an awkward time. Lyle and Liston basically both said that the guy would've gone places, and both would know, since Liston used him as a sparring partner, and Lyle (allegedly) boxed him in the Colorado State Penitentiary. There's some talk every so often about how he may have met Jim Croce, but I think that's one of those boxing myths that just won't die. Jones did say that he worked as a line worker at one time before he boxed, and his family originally hailed from New Jersey, but those seem to be superficial coincidences. He did serve in the National Guard at roughly the right time, but it would've been in Colorado, and he was kicked out when the homicide indictment came down.

Kind of an Ibeabuchi-before-Ibeabuchi figure. At least when his accomplishments aren't being exaggerated as an ironic meme.

 

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I could have sworn that he was a mugger at some point. Maybe I have mixed up different stories from different boxers?

 

No, he was definitely a mugger. All the great heavyweights from that era were. It built old school strength.