Many months ago, Roy Jones Jr. said his last boxing match will take place in front of his hometown fans in Pensacola, Florida and he has delivered on that promise.
In the same arena Jones started his boxing career in 1989, the four-division world champion ended a legendary career with a wide unanimous decision win over journeyman Scott Sigmon (98-92, 98-92, 98-92) at the Pensacola Bay Center.
The fight was sluggish at times, with both men spending large portions of several rounds, but Jones got the upper hand on most of the exchanges the two would have. Sigmon looked exhausted after a couple of rounds, suffering a cut around his nose, but did not give up in trying to attack Jones? body. Sigmon was unsuccessful in dishing out any meaningful damage on Jones as the 49-year-old Jones spent several rounds laughing and playing with the crowd when there was no action in the ring.
As for Jones, this marks the end of a near 30-year career that saw him rise up to all-time great status by becoming the first middleweight to win a heavyweight world title in more than a century. But the retirement fight almost didn?t even happen as Jones admitted after the fight that he suffered a torn left biceps the week before the fight.
Although Jones said this would be his last fight, he said he would be open to one more fight: a match against UFC superstar Anderson Silva, who is facing a potential lengthy suspension by USADA due to a possible second failed drug test. The fight, as well as four other fights, were streamed on UFC Fight Pass in the first event on the streaming service to have boxing and MMA fights on the same card.
One of boxing's greatest pound-for-pound boxers, Jones won world titles at middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight and owns wins over the likes of Bernard Hopkins, James Toney, Vinny Pazienza, Mike McCallum, Montell Griffin, Virgil Hill, Lou Del Valle, Reggie Johnson, Eric Harding, John Ruiz, Antonio Tarver and Felix Trinidad. The win against Sigmon was for the vacant WBU cruiserweight title, which is mainly a minor world title unlike the four main governing bodies of boxing (WBO, WBA, WBC and IBF).
If this is truly the end of Jones' career, then he will walk out with one of the most decorated careers in the history of the sport and a likely guaranteed spot in the International Boxing Hall of Fame when he is eligible to enter in 2023.