Junior Jones (born December 20, 1970) is an American former

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...

who competed from 1989 to 2002. He held world championships in two

weight classes Weight classes are divisions of competition used to match competitors against others of their own size. Weight classes are used in a variety of sports including Rowing (sport), rowing, Weightlifting#Weightlifting sports, weight lifting, and especi ...

, including the

World Boxing Association The World Boxing Association (WBA), formerly known as the National Boxing Association (NBA), is an international professional boxing organization based in Panama. The WBA awards its world championship title at the professional level. Founded ...

(WBA)

bantamweight Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports and weightlifting. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In mixed martial arts, MMA, bantamweight is . The name for the class ...

title from 1993 to 1994 and the

World Boxing Organization The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxing ...

(WBO)

super bantamweight Super bantamweight, also known as junior featherweight, is a boxing weight classes, weight class in professional boxing, contested from and up to . There were attempts by boxing promoters in the 1920s to establish this weight class, but few sanct ...

title from 1996 to 1997. He also held the

International Boxing Organization The International Boxing Organization (IBO) is a US based corporation that sanctions professional boxing matches and awards world and regional championships. It is an independent organization not recognized by the "big four" governing bodies ...

(IBO)

featherweight Featherweight is a weight class in the combat sports of boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and Greco-Roman wrestling. Boxing Professional boxing History A featherweight boxer weighs in at a limit of . In the early days of the division, ...

title from 1999 to 2000, which is a minor world title.

Amateur career

As an

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

, Jones won the

New York Golden Gloves The New York Golden Gloves is an amateur boxing tournament. It has long been considered by many boxing aficionados as one of the most elite Golden Gloves titles, along with the Chicago Golden Gloves. Named for the small golden Boxing glove, gloves ...

tournament twice, winning the finals at Madison Square Garden in New York, New York.Jones, Michael J (May 2013)
"Junior Jones; "Barrera is a sore loser..Naz didn't want to fight me""
Live Fight. Retrieved December 24, 2016.

Professional career

Jones made his professional debut on June 8, 1989, scoring a first-round

technical knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

against George Young. He won his first 32 professional boxing matches. Jones defeated Jorge Eliécer Julio to win the WBA

title on October 23, 1993. Jones made one successful defense, but lost his title after being stopped in eleven rounds by John Michael Johnson on April 22, 1994; Jones had previously defeated Johnson by

unanimous decision A unanimous decision (UD) is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and other sports involving striking and submission in which all three judges agree on which fighte ...

(UD) on August 10, 1989. More than two years later, on November 22, 1996, Jones scored his most significant victory by handing then-undefeated Mexican boxer

Marco Antonio Barrera Marco Antonio Barrera Tapia (born January 17, 1974) is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1989 to 2011. He held multiple triple champion, world championships in three weight classes between 1995 and 2007, from super bantamwei ...

his first loss to win the

WBO The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxin ...

title, thus becoming a two-weight world champion. A controversy arose at the end of their fight when Barrera's cornermen entered the ring after he had been knocked down in the fifth round. This forced the referee to disqualify Barrera rather than award a TKO to Jones. In their rematch, which took place on April 18, 1997, Jones won a close UD to defend his title. On December 19, 1997, Jones lost the title after being stopped in four rounds by 1988 Olympic gold medalist Kennedy McKinney. In his next fight, on September 12, 1998, Jones was again stopped in the fourth round, this time by WBC super bantamweight champion

Érik Morales Erik Isaac Morales Elvira (born September 1, 1976) is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2012. He is the first Mexico-born boxer in history to win world championships in four weight classes, ranging from super bantam ...

. On April 10, 1999, Jones won the vacant IBO

title with a late stoppage of Richard Evatt in the eleventh round. In his first defense, on April 29, 2000, he lost the title to IBF featherweight champion Paul Ingle in an eleventh-round stoppage. Jones won three matches in a row, before losing his final boxing match to Ivan Alvarez in 2002. He was inducted into the Atlantic City Boxing Hall of Fame in 2025.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Junior 1970 births Living people Boxers from Brooklyn World boxing champions World bantamweight boxing champions World super-bantamweight boxing champions World Boxing Association champions World Boxing Organization champions International Boxing Organization champions American male boxers Featherweight boxers Super-featherweight boxers 20th-century American sportsmen