Don’t call it a comeback.
Boxing legend Roy Jones Jr. says he has no intentions of making a permanent comeback, even though he has a bout on the books against former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis at Gamebred Boxing 4.
Jones, 50, will compete for the first time professionally since 2018 at Fiserv Forum in Pettis’ home city of Milwaukee on April 1. The event streams on UFC Fight Pass pay-per-view.
Prior to the offer, Jones considered himself done with competition, he revealed to reporters including MMA Junkie at a virtual pre-fight news conference Wednesday. However, he made a one-time exception to check a long-sought-after item off his athletic bucket list.
Before Conor McGregor fought Floyd Mayweather, Jones advocated for a fight against then-UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva. Despite being years past his prime, Jones thinks the showdown vs. Pettis suffices in a lot of ways.
“When I was still at where I thought was pretty good, I wanted to fight Anderson Silva, but it just kept getting pushed to the side, pushed to the side, pushed to the side. It never happened,” Jones said. “So I was kind of dead on all of it. I was through with boxing. I was like, ‘Nah, I’m done. I shouldn’t fight no more. I’m 54 years old.’ Then they said, ‘You know, one of the greatest ever at 155 said he’d come up in weight to fight you and you don’t have to come lower than 200.’ It sounded kind of intriguing.”
The opportunity fell into his lap. It was too good to pass up, Jones especially considering the amount of respect he has for the individuals involved: promoters Jorge Masvidal and Dean Toole, as well as who he considers to be a combat sports legend, his opponent, Pettis.
“I was like, ‘Wow, (Pettis is) very innovative in what he’s done, too, because he’s done things in the MMA (cage) that no one else will do,’” Jones said. “For me to get the opportunity to face someone who has that same type of creative mind in their own respective sport, like I have in boxing, I was like, ‘Wait a minute. Should you say no to this?’ I’m like, ‘I want to say no, but it’s Dean (Toole). It’s Gamebred. It’s Milwaukee. Have you ever fought in Milwaukee before? No.’ The pros, I guess, outweighed the nos. So here we are.”
In 2020, Jones competed in an exhibition boxing fight against fellow all-time great Mike Tyson and fought to a draw. Gamebred Boxing 4 will be his first professional fight in almost five years. But just because Jones opened the door for a few one-offs, he wants boxing fans to know that is not a sign of things to come. These were exceptions rather than the rule.
“No, no, and no,” Jones said, of a full-on comeback. “The only reason I’m doing this is Anthony wanted to try to change and cross over into this sport. With him and Masvidal and everybody that’s involved. They all made it such a good situation where it’s a win-win for everybody. It’s a good situation. It’s pay-per-view. It’s something I want to do, which is have a crossover fight with a good name in MMA. I’m the first one who came up with that idea. I didn’t get paid for it, but I came up with the idea. Floyd and Conor got to get paid for it. But at this point in my career, I still wanted to do it, because sh*t, I wanted to do it.
“Here’s a perfect opportunity, a guy who’s also a legend at what he did. Yeah, he’s a smaller weight class, but he’s up to 205 pounds when they told him about it. So he’s big enough. He knows how to handle himself and I know he’s going to go hard with boxing because he’s one of the greats. If I was going to go play a one-on-one basketball game with Michael Jordan, I would get the best basketball coaches around that I can get because I’m playing a GOAT. I know it’s what it is and he’s going to be ready for it. But I’m not planning to do it again, no.”