Whatever happened to Leroy Jones? Two times NY golden gloves, challenged Holmes for the title and then disappeared. He had one fight after Holmes and retired with an eye injury but then what happened. He died in 2010 at aged 60 but no one seems to know anything of his life after boxing. He may not have been the greatest but he achieved more in the sport than 99% of professionals.
Good question, that guy was a big heavyweight. I think he outweighed Holmes by 50lbs when they fought. I believe after the Holmes fight he retired due to a detached retina. He fought out out like Ron Lyle if I remember correctly. A bit of a Buster Mathis type of fighter, a really big guy who was quite light on his feet despite his size, but not much of a puncher.
I've wondered this too over the years. I've never heard a "where are they now" or really any update on Leroy Jones after he retired. Edit: seems he passed away in 2010, but not sure what he did before that and after his boxing career.
He looked pretty skilled on film to me, though I’ve only seen limited footage. Not sure what he did after boxing but seemed to keep a low profile which most of the time is a good thing.
Good amateur fighter but got absolutely crushed by Duane Bobick in one round with a left hook, right uppercut, left hook, right uppercut combo that left him face down for the longer than the full count.
His post-boxing life seems a real mystery. Leroy was a big man — 6-foot-5 and between the 220s and 270s — who won a couple of NY Golden Gloves titles (no easy feat) and made the 1972 Olympic trials, losing to Duane Bobick (as did Larry Holmes). Jones’ most notable win was over a not-yet-there Mike Weaver (or maybe he was … Mike ran hot and cold, beating better than Leroy and losing to worse) who was 14-7 for the NABF title. Mike reeled off five straight wins including stoppages of Stan Ward and Bernardo Mercado to get his title fight with Holmes after the Jones loss. A draw with Pedro “Spider Rico” Lovell and wins over some usual suspects like Cookie Wallace, Jody Ballard and Dino Dennis put Leroy in line for his title chance vs. Holmes. After that, he fought once more (stopping useful journeyman Jeff Shelburg in two) before retiring. (Interestingly, it was the last fight for both.) From there, he seems to have vanished. RIP, big guy.
He was already heavy when he fought Holmes. However, being diabetic myself, I can tell you its a distinct possibility.
Specially considering this was the time when NABF and USBA was akin to national titles elsewhere. Getting a world title shot meant you were special back then.
Absolutely. As evidence, that NABF title was vacant because a guy named George Foreman had just given it up.
Weaver fought a very tentative fight against him. He was certainly faster and busier than Weaver but Weaver just followed him around the ring pawing at him mostly.
