Roy Jones Jnr has thrust himself into training following the tragic loss of his son, Deandre.
Jones has been working with 19-year-old hopeful Tony Curtis Jnr and last week navigated the 11-1 (3 KOs) junior bantamweight to a decision win over Tanzania’s Charles Tondo in Bournemouth, England.
Jones, one of boxing’s all-time greats, has been called on to advise and coach numerous contenders and prospects in recent years, including Jared Anderson and Chris Eubank Jnr.
“Life’s always good,” the perennially positive Jones told BoxingScene. “I’m always enjoying life. If I could teach boxing, I’m always a happy camper. I love teaching boxing. That’s what I do for a passion. That’s what God gave me. I just love it. I think it’s great. If something comes along, good, here I go.”
Curtis lost his 2022 pro debut via decision in Mexico when he was just 16, and then he boxed mostly in Dubai. Last weekend in Bournemouth was his first fight in the UK.
“Tony Curtis is a project I started on about three years ago, when he was 16,” Jones explained.
“He turned pro in Mexico. Everybody raved about it. You know, ‘Oh, that was wrong. You shouldn’t have did this, you shouldn’t have did that.’ [It’s the] best thing that could have happened to the kid. The kid had a pro style since he’d been about 12 years old, so I wasn’t going to take him backwards and make him try to adjust to the amateur way when the goal is to turn him pro and become a world champion. So I pushed him on, let him go forward. He turned pro. They didn’t give him the decision on his debut, but I still thought he won his debut, although the kid was much bigger than him.
“People criticized a lot, but they don’t understand what they're looking at. This kid is a guy who has talent to become a multi-division world champion.”
Curtis is tall and rangy for the weight, but Tondo gave him plenty to think about last week. The Tanzanian forced the fight, but he couldn’t turn his aggression into points on the scorecards.
Jones, who was in the corner on Saturday at the Bournemouth International Centre, believes he has a special talent to work with.
“He’s not just another boxer who’s just trying to box,” said Jones. “I saw that and recognized it early on, and I love the development that I’m seeing in him. And I just can’t wait to see him move forward now.”
Talent is not a word Jones uses liberally. It is not, based on his own workload as a kid and growing up, one that he appreciates being used with regard to his fighting prowess – the implication being that talent is God-given, whereas Jones believes he worked for everything.
“That is not a word that I enjoy at all, because it’s very hard to find people with the talent to do things like he’s capable of doing,” Jones explained. “So I don’t push ‘talent’ around easy, because not many guys have the talent or the IQ. He had the talent and the IQ. That’s the big thing. I take talent [for my own career] to a degree, too. I don’t disrespect talent, but it ain’t all talent like people try to say. People say, ‘Oh, you’re the best, most talented fighter ever.’ ‘No, it’s not that, bro.’
“I went through the work of developing my skill to make sure I could do anything necessary in that ring to beat you when the time came. And that’s what this kid does. He goes, he works hard on his craft. He is talented, but he works hard on his craft so that he knows what to put in the toolbox and what to pull out of the toolbox when the time comes. Most guys don’t develop a toolbox. I have fighters that have more talent than him, but they don’t develop like him because they won’t devote themselves to developing a toolbox.”
And being in the gym, working with a fighter such as Curtis, allows Jones to focus on his passion.
“I love the sport to be doing this, but I can be honest with you and tell you the truth about this, too: If I was cherry-picking [fighters to work with], he’d be one of the ones I would cherry-pick.”
Tris Dixon covered his first amateur boxing fight in 1996. The former editor of Boxing News, he has written for a number of international publications and newspapers, including GQ and Men’s Health, and is a board member for the Ringside Charitable Trust and the Ring of Brotherhood. He has been a broadcaster for TNT Sports and hosts the popular “Boxing Life Stories” podcast. Dixon is a British Boxing Hall of Famer, an International Boxing Hall of Fame elector, is on The Ring ratings panel and is the author of five boxing books, including “Damage: The Untold Story of Brain Trauma in Boxing” (shortlisted for the William Hill Sportsbook of the Year), “Warrior: A Champion’s Search for His Identity” (shortlisted for the Sunday Times International Sportsbook of the Year) and “The Road to Nowhere: A Journey Through Boxing’s Wastelands.” You can reach him @trisdixon on X and Instagram.
