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Roy Jones Jr faced many elite level operators during his career but believes one man in particular stood out from the rest.
Prior to the beginning of his professional career, Jones dominated the amateur ranks which culminated in him capturing a Light-Middleweight Silver Medal at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea.
He would go on to have a great deal of success during his time as a professional, winning world titles across four weight classes including the WBA world heavyweight title which he claimed with a career-best win over John Ruiz back in 2003.
At the peak of his powers during the 1990s, Jones crossed paths with a number of world class fighters, including the likes of James Toney, Mike McCallum and Bernard Hopkins to name just several.
In a feature with The Ring Magazine, Jones didn’t hesitate to name Toney as the greatest fighter he ever faced as he claims his countryman had ‘all the tools’.
“He had all the tools, he was hard to hit, he could knock you out at any time. He would be right there in your face and you still couldn’t hit him flush.”
Jones got the best of Toney when their paths crossed at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in November 1994, defeating ‘Lights Out’ via unanimous decision to capture the IBF world super-middleweight champion and become a two-division world champion.
Toney would go on to reclaim world honours just under a decade later when he outpointed Russia’s Vassiliy Jirov in April 2003 to claim the IBF world cruiserweight title.