Leroy Jones; A Forgotten Big Man

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Over the years a very good heavyweight contender from the late 1970’s and early 1980’s has been all but forgotten. Big Leroy Jones lost only one fight in his professional career and that was to the great Larry Holmes.

Leroy was a two-time New York Golden Gloves champion who turned professional in 1973. A naturally big man, Leroy weighed 228 for his pro debut. He would go on to weigh 240 or more for future battles. Nevertheless he was light on his feet and a very smooth boxer. Many compared his style to former contender Buster Mathis Sr. Jones would reel off seventeen straight wins including victories over Larry Frazier (twice), Rico Brooks, Big Jim Gilmore (twice) and Jody Ballard. In 1976 he fought a ten round draw with another highly touted prospect, Pedro Lovell.

Leroy bounced back to put together a seven fight win streak that would carry him to a shot at the world’s championship. He defeated rugged Dino Denis and won the North American Boxing Federation heavyweight title with a twelve round decision over future world titleholder Mike Weaver.

On March 31,1980 Jones met Larry Holmes at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas for the World Boxing Council’s version of the heavyweight title. Larry dominated the action against the 254-pound Jones. The fight was stopped at 2:56 of round eight with Holmes retaining his title. Leroy was well behind on all three cards at the time of the stoppage. Jones also suffered a detached retina that would force him to retire for two years. Leroy came back in 1982 weighing 275 pounds but he halted Jeff Shelburg in two rounds. That was Leroy’s last fight.

Jones ended up with a very formidable record of 25-1-1. He won thirteen contests via the kayo route. He was among the top ten heavyweights in the world for over a three-year period.

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Jim Amato
Jim is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA) and is also a member of the International Boxing Research Organization (IBRO), which was once directed by Hall Of Famer Ralph Citro, Boxing notables Hank Kaplan and Harold Lederman are among IBRO's members. Jim is on the Publicity Committee for the American Association for the Improvement of Boxing (AAIB) that was co-founded by Steve Acunto and the late Rocky Marciano. He is a member of the Ohio State Former Boxers and Associates and the Trumbull County of Ohio Legends Of Leather, past President the late Sal Marino.Jim is also a former member of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR).

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