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A short interview with Roy Jones, Jr. - March 6th, 2009

Spirit Mountain Casino - Grand Ronde, Oregon

Interview by Pretesia Hunt and Clinton Washington

Photo by Clinton Washington


The first time Roy Jones Jr was in the ring in the State of Oregon was in 2002 as the undisputed Light Heavyweight Champion of the World. On that occasion at the Rose Garden in Portland, Jones successfully defended his belt with a 6th round TKO over a game but ultimately outmatched opponent in Englishman Clinton Woods. Fast forward nearly 7 years later to witness Roy Jones, Jr. entering the ring again in Oregon, but on this occasion wearing the suit of the promoter.

Jones, Jr's fight promotions company, Square Ring Inc., in conjunction with Spirit Mountain Casino, put together a fight card of mostly Northwest fighters in a show entitled "Border War" which took place March 6th inside the Spirit Mountain Casino Events Center in front of sold out crowd 1744 strong. Before the show, the NW Fightscene crew had the opportunity to speak with Roy Jones, Jr on why the Pensacola, Florida native decided to hold a show in the Pacific Northwest, his chances in his upcoming bout against Omar Sheika, and his feelings about Mixed Martial Arts...


NW Fightscene: Why did you decide to hold a boxing event here in the Northwest?
Roy Jones, Jr.: Because when I came out here to the Northwest, when I fought out here, it was such a wonderful event. The people were so accepting to my presence here. The fight, I still hear people tell me things about.. people still say things about that particular fight wishing that they could have seen it. I said, you know what, I'll start promoting out here first and see if they are still interested. If they are still interested maybe I can do one or two more [fights here] before I retire. 

NWFS: So when are you looking at retiring?
RJ, Jr: I don't know. Probably 42 or 43.

NWFS: So that'll give you how many more years?
RJ, Jr: Maybe 2.

NWFS: Oh! You look like you might have about 3 or 4 more years in you.
RJ, Jr: I do look like that, don't I? [laughter]... Actually I'm feeling pretty good lately too, I'm feeling really good. So its all depending on how I feel.

NWFS: So you got the fight coming up with Omar Sheika. Give us a little bit on that.
RJ, Jr: Omar's a pretty strong guy, a pretty tough guy. But I think he's kind of out of his class. I think pretty much it's a B-Class fighter against an A-Class Fighter. I think he's a B-Class fighter... So knowing that, he's coming out to do what he can, he going to fight like I'm over my prime and its his chance to make it where we are both basically B-Class fighters but that's not the case.

[Ed Note: Roy Jones, Jr TKO'd Sheika in the 5th round in Pensacola

on March 21st in the main event of "March Badness"]

NWFS: And there's going to be MMA on the card too... 
RJ, JR.: Yes, we got huge fights on the undercard. We got Bobby Lashley... Then you got Roy Nelson against Jeff Monson. Two big guys, two really big guys. And we got some local guys as well, and I'm really looking forward to that. But what people don't understand is... [that] talk bad about MMA, because in Mixed Martial Arts a guy could come in two years and could be champion. But it's cool. That's just what the sport calls for. I mean it's just what it is. In my sport, boxing, you can't just come out of high school and sign an 80 million dollar contract like you can in the NBA. But that's just what the sports are. So you got to pay it for what it is...

For me, I got nothing but respect for a man who goes out and puts his life on the line or face another man straight up in anything. You know what I mean. We as adults wished that our kids learn that they were taught to go out if you get into a disagreement, if you get into a fight, a fistfight and if you win you win, and if you lose you lose, come home, and let that boy the next day move on. But now you got to be afraid because they don't do that no more. They're afraid to do that. So they go out and go grab guns or grab a knife and try to kill people, because they're afraid to fight and take a loss. So its like to me, a man that's got the guts to go out and face another man... should always be commendable.


Roy Jones, Jr. promotions company, Square Ring Inc., are scheduled to hold their 2nd boxing fight night at Spirit Mountain Casino in Grand Ronde, OR on June 12th.  Visit spiritmountain.com for more info.

Learn more about Jones, Jr at his website royjonesjr.com


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