Paul "Silky" Jones (born 19 November 1966 in

Sheffield, England Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its southe ...

) is a former World Boxing Champion, nicknamed “Silky” for his quickness and defensive prowess. He has a combined professional record of 31-12-1 (11 KOs) in the

welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term ''welterweight'' was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify th ...

light-middleweight Light middleweight, also known as junior middleweight or super welterweight,PeBoxRec/ref> is a weight class in boxing but also may include other combat sports. Boxing The light middleweight division (also known as junior middleweight in the Intern ...

middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have beg ...

, and

super middleweight Super middleweight, or light cruiserweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing In professional boxing, super middleweight is contested between the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions, in which boxers can weigh between 160 pounds ( ...

divisions. He defeated rugged American

Verno Phillips Verno Jeremias Phillips (born November 29, 1969) is a Belizean former professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 2008. He is a three-time junior middleweight world champion, having held the WBO title from 1993 to 1995, and the IBF title twic ...

for the Light Middleweight World Championship on 22 November 1995. Phillips would go on to achieve World Championship status three more times.

Early years

Jones turned pro in 1986, winning his first professional bout against Paul Gillings. Jones then participated in 4 more fights before moving to

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

in order to gain experience, where he achieved 3 winning bouts including a 3rd-round KO against Tony Collier. Paul then returned to the UK and participated in 8 more fights before winning his first title against Jason Rowe. On 14 April 1995, Jones won the World Boxing Organization (WBO)'s Intercontinental title against Damien Denny, earning him the "KO of the year award". This then placed Jones as number 2 in the WBO rankings. Jones defended the title twice, remaining undefeated for more than 3 years.

Capturing the Light Middleweight title

In 1995, Jones had a chance to compete for the championship. He entered the fight as the underdog but surprised the boxing world by winning the match. He won the WBO Light Middleweight title with a majority decision win over

, who later became the IBF Light Middleweight Champion. With the win, Jones became the first British-born Light Middleweight World Champion. Jones joined close friend and boxer

Naseem Hamed Naseem Hamed (Arabic: نسيم حميد; born 12 February 1974), nicknamed Prince Naseem and Naz, is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2002.Davies, Gareth A (8 June 2015)"Prince Naseem Hamed: 'I always thought they w ...

as Sheffield's second world champion at the time. Hamed, who was also ringside for the fight, said, "Silkys' done the business tonight what a fight I knew he would win but not so easily". The plan was for Jones to defend his WBO title against Bronco Banyon McKart of Bob Arum's Top Rank promotions. Both parties had a verbal agreement for the bout to be staged either in the UK or America but it did not materialize. However, Jones did go on to win the WBC Super Middle Weight International World Title. Jones' last fight was a points decision over the future

EBU The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; , UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations in countries within the European Broadcasting Area (EBA) or who are member states of the Council of Europe, members of the ...

–EE Super Middleweight champion

Kreshnik Qato Kreshnik Nick Qato (born 13 August 1978) is an Albanian former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2014. He held multiple regional titles at super-middleweight, including the WBA Inter-Continental title in 2004 and the European Externa ...

. Jones retired in 2002 with a record of 31-12-1.

WBO controversy

In late 2014, it came to light via social media that Jones had never received his actual title belt from 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 ...

. Some boxing fans began a trending campaign on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

with the hashtag #GetSilkyHisBelt. Jones was finally awarded his belt in Doncaster at an event staged by former trainer Ian Allcock and John Sheppard on 10 July 2015. After 20 years of fighting against the WBO and

British Boxing Board of Control The British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) is the governing body of professional boxing in the United Kingdom. History The British Boxing Board of Control was formed in 1929 from the old National Sporting Club and is headquartered in Cardiff. ...

, the belt arrived in England.fightnetwork.com/news/58242:paul-silky-jones-crowned-world-champ-after-20-year-wait/
/ref>

Junior middleweight

Championships and accomplishments

:*WBO Light Middleweight Championship :*WBO Inter-Continental Light Middleweight Championship :* 1995 World Boxing Organization Fighter of the Year :* 1995 World Boxing Organization KO of the year. *

World Boxing Council The World Boxing Council (WBC) is an international professional boxing organization. It is among the four major organizations which sanction professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), International Boxing Federation ...

:*WBC International Super Middleweight Championship *

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

:*Commonwealth Middleweight Championship *World records set in 2011- first ever boxer to commentate on a live boxing fight via YouTube.

References

External links

Career boxing record

Paul johns
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Paul 1966 births English male boxers Living people World Boxing Organization champions Welterweight boxers Boxers from Sheffield People educated at King Ecgbert School