| Junior Jones | |
| Nickname: | Poison |
| Weight: | |
| Height: | 5 ft 8 in[1] |
| Reach: | 71 in |
| Birth Date: | 19 December 1970 |
| Birth Place: | Brooklyn, New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Style: | Orthodox |
| Total: | 56 |
| Wins: | 50 |
| Ko: | 28 |
| Losses: | 6 |
Junior Jones (born December 20, 1970) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1989 to 2002. He held world championships in two weight classes, including the World Boxing Association (WBA) bantamweight title from 1993 to 1994 and the World Boxing Organization (WBO) super bantamweight title from 1996 to 1997. He also held the International Boxing Organization (IBO) featherweight title from 1999 to 2000.
As an amateur, Jones won the New York Golden Gloves tournament twice.[2]
Jones boxed professionally for thirteen years, holding notable wins over former world champions Orlando Canizales and Tracy Harris Patterson. Jones made his professional debut on June 8, 1989, scoring a first-round technical knockout against George Young. He won his first 32 professional boxing matches. Jones defeated Jorge Eliécer Julio to win the WBA bantamweight title on October 23, 1993. Jones made one successful defense, but lost his title after being stopped in eleven rounds by John Michael Johnson on April 22, 1994; they had previously fought on August 10, 1989, with Jones winning by unanimous decision (UD). More than two years later, on November 22, 1996, Jones scored his most significant victory by handing then-undefeated Mexican boxer Marco Antonio Barrera his first loss to win the WBO super bantamweight title, thus becoming a two-weight world champion.[3] A minor controversy arose at the end of their fight when Barrera's cornermen entered the ring after he had been knocked down in the fifth round. This forced the referee to disqualify Barrera rather than award a stoppage to Jones. In their rematch, which took place on April 18, 1997, Jones won a close UD to defend his title.
On December 19, 1997, Jones lost the title after being stopped in four rounds by 1988 Olympic gold medalist Kennedy McKinney.[4] In his next fight, on September 12, 1998, Jones was again stopped in the fourth round, this time by WBC super bantamweight champion Érik Morales. On April 10, 1999, Jones won the vacant IBO featherweight title with a late stoppage of Richard Evatt in the eleventh round.[5] In his first defense, on April 29, 2000, he lost the title to IBF featherweight champion Paul Ingle in an eleventh-round stoppage.[6] Jones won three matches in a row, before losing his final boxing match to Ivan Alvarez in 2002.[2]
| Result | Record | Opponent | Type | Round, time | Date | Location | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 56 | Loss | 50–6 | Ivan Alvarez | UD | 10 | Dec 6, 2002 | |||
| 55 | Win | 50–5 | Johnny Walker | UD | 10 | Aug 29, 2002 | |||
| 54 | Win | 49–5 | Mike Juárez | KO | 7 (12), | Oct 20, 2001 | |||
| 53 | Win | 48–5 | Manuel Sepeda | UD | 10 | Apr 19, 2001 | |||
| 52 | Loss | 47–5 | Paul Ingle | TKO | 11 (12), | Apr 29, 2000 | |||
| 51 | Win | 47–4 | Tracy Harris Patterson | MD | 10 | Nov 12, 1999 | |||
| 50 | Win | 46–4 | Richard Evatt | TKO | 11 (12), | Apr 10, 1999 | |||
| 49 | Win | 45–4 | Tom Johnson | UD | 12 | Feb 17, 1999 | |||
| 48 | Loss | 44–4 | Érik Morales | TKO | 4 (12), | Sep 12, 1998 | |||
| 47 | Loss | 44–3 | Kennedy McKinney | TKO | 4 (12), | Dec 19, 1997 | |||
| 46 | Win | 44–2 | Marco Antonio Barrera | UD | 12 | Apr 18, 1997 | |||
| 45 | Win | 43–2 | Marco Antonio Barrera | DQ | 5 (12), | Nov 22, 1996 | |||
| 44 | Win | 42–2 | Tommy Parks | TKO | 5 (10), | Sep 10, 1996 | |||
| 43 | Win | 41–2 | Wilson Santos | UD | 10 | Aug 20, 1996 | |||
| 42 | Win | 40–2 | Orlando Canizales | 12 | Mar 23, 1996 | ||||
| 41 | Win | 39–2 | Armando Navarro | TKO | 1 (10), | Jan 12, 1996 | |||
| 40 | Win | 38–2 | Alberto Rendon | UD | 10 | Dec 2, 1995 | |||
| 39 | Win | 37–2 | Tomas Valdez | TKO | 2 | Oct 6, 1995 | |||
| 38 | Win | 36–2 | Jesus Chavez | KO | 3 | Sep 9, 1995 | |||
| 37 | Win | 35–2 | Shawn Wilkins | 10 | May 19, 1995 | ||||
| 36 | Win | 34–2 | Nelson Ramon Medina | UD | 10 | Mar 11, 1995 | |||
| 35 | Loss | 33–2 | Darryl Pinckney | TKO | 3 (10) | Oct 22, 1994 | |||
| 34 | Win | 33–1 | Orlando Fernandez | UD | 10 | Jun 12, 1994 | |||
| 33 | Loss | 32–1 | John Michael Johnson | TKO | 11 (12), | Apr 22, 1994 | |||
| 32 | Win | 32–0 | Elvis Álvarez | UD | 12 | Jan 8, 1994 | |||
| 31 | Win | 31–0 | Jorge Eliécer Julio | UD | 12 | Oct 23, 1993 | |||
| 30 | Win | 30–0 | Francisco Alvarez | TKO | 12 (12), | Aug 10, 1993 | |||
| 29 | Win | 29–0 | Francisco Gomez | TKO | 2 (10), | Jun 24, 1993 | |||
| 28 | Win | 28–0 | Juan Pablo Salazar | KO | 4 (12), | Mar 6, 1993 | |||
| 27 | Win | 27–0 | Felizardo Carrasco | TKO | 2 (10), | Jan 15, 1993 | |||
| 26 | Win | 26–0 | Jose Quirino | KO | 3 (12), | Nov 13, 1992 | |||
| 25 | Win | 25–0 | Eddie Rangel | TKO | 7 (12), | Sep 17, 1992 | |||
| 24 | Win | 24–0 | Max Gomez | UD | 10 | Aug 20, 1992 | |||
| 23 | Win | 23–0 | Arturo Nava | TKO | 1 (10), | Jun 23, 1992 | |||
| 22 | Win | 22–0 | Diego Avila | TKO | 5 (10), | Mar 6, 1992 | |||
| 21 | Win | 21–0 | Dadoy Andujar | TKO | 9 (12), | Dec 12, 1991 | |||
| 20 | Win | 20–0 | Rolando Bohol | UD | 10 | Oct 24, 1991 | |||
| 19 | Win | 19–0 | Ramon Solis | TKO | 2 (10), | Aug 15, 1991 | |||
| 18 | Win | 18–0 | Alejandro Sanabria | TKO | 7 (10), | Jun 13, 1991 | |||
| 17 | Win | 17–0 | Jose Luis Vegagil | UD | 10 | May 2, 1991 | |||
| 16 | Win | 16–0 | Juan Carazo | 10 | Mar 1, 1991 | ||||
| 15 | Win | 15–0 | Marcos Claudio | TKO | 2 (8), | Jan 20, 1991 | |||
| 14 | Win | 14–0 | Claudemir Carvalho Dias | TKO | 2 (8) | Dec 13, 1990 | |||
| 13 | Win | 13–0 | Felix Marti | TKO | 6 (8), | Oct 18, 1990 | |||
| 12 | Win | 12–0 | Adan Aviles | KO | 1, | Sep 27, 1990 | |||
| 11 | Win | 11–0 | Anthony Barela | UD | 8 | Aug 5, 1990 | |||
| 10 | Win | 10–0 | Angel Gonzalez | TKO | 2, | Jun 24, 1990 | |||
| 9 | Win | 9–0 | Guadalupe Barajas | KO | 1 (8) | May 18, 1990 | |||
| 8 | Win | 8–0 | Fermin Rodriguez | KO | 4 | Mar 30, 1990 | |||
| 7 | Win | 7–0 | Angel Gonzalez | UD | 6 | Feb 20, 1990 | |||
| 6 | Win | 6–0 | Carlos Reyna | TKO | 2 (6), | Jan 12, 1990 | |||
| 5 | Win | 5–0 | Ruben Nevarez | TKO | 5 | Nov 16, 1989 | |||
| 4 | Win | 4–0 | Charlie Montana | 2 | Sep 14, 1989 | ||||
| 3 | Win | 3–0 | John Michael Johnson | 4 | Aug 10, 1989 | ||||
| 2 | Win | 2–0 | Quincy Pratt | 4 | Jun 23, 1989 | ||||
| 1 | Win | 1–0 | George Young | 1 | Jun 8, 1989 |