Against a backdrop of battle-scarred mountains and Far East mysticism, Roy Jones Jr. first burst upon the world following a shockingly controversial defeat in the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Until then, he was just the best amateur junior middleweight in the world, a 156-pound kid from Pensacola, Florida with great deal of promise but a limited recognition factor.

Jones was Ring magazine’s “Fighter of the Year” in 1994 and was voted the “Fighter of the Decade” in the 1990’s by the Boxing Writers Association of America. He’s the former IBF middleweight champion, IBF super middleweight world champion and former undisputed light heavyweight champion. He made 11 successful defenses in unifying the 175-pound division before moving up to heavyweight to fight John Ruiz. On March 1, 2002, Jones became the first former middleweight champion to win the world heavyweight crown in over 100 years.

His only loss during the ‘90’s came stunningly and surprisingly. Jones was victimized by a controversial late hit in a WBC light heavyweight defense against Montell Griffin on March 21, 1997 in Atlantic City. Leading on all three scorecards and already having floored Griffin twice, Jones was anxious to finish him and had him in trouble near the end of the ninth round. Two glancing shots to an exhausted, kneeling Griffin as the bell sounded disqualified Jones.

Jones’ character and sense of fair play triggered the following response to his lawyer/advisor Fred Levin after the fight. “Get me the rematch. Do it now. I want it to be my next fight. Give him anything he wants. I don’t care what it costs.”

Revenge was swift and devastating when Jones regained his WBC belt with a first round thrashing of Griffin, decking him twice before mercifully ending it at the 2:31 mark.

On May 6, 1989, fighting before a hometown crowd in Pensacola, Jones stopped one Ricky Randall in the second round. This time when he stepped from the ring, instead of a trophy, they handed him a check. "I loved fighting," he remembers with a grin, "I just figured it was time I started getting paid to do it."

Quickly his record grew: four wins in 1989, seven in 1990, four more in 1991, and another five in 1992. Only one of his 20 victories went the distance. All but four of the wins came in Pensacola, a fact hammered by a small army of critics. Ignoring the cries for him to fight tougher opponents in larger arenas, Jones steadily honed the skills that would make him the most feared fighter in the world.

"I know where I am going and no one is going to hurry my getting there before I am ready," he told a small circle of friends. On the night of May 22, 1993, Jones began his assault of sitting world champions. By then he had tested his blurring combinations, the dazzling jab and the brilliant footwork against such as Jorge Vaca (49-8-1), Jorge Castro (71-3-2) and Glenn Thomas (24-0) and knew he was ready.

His opening target was Bernard Hopkins, who boasted (often) of a 22- 1 record. They met in Washington, D.C. The prize was the vacant IBF middleweight championship. When the last shot had been fired, all three judges voted for Jones.

Once out of the starting blocks, Jones moved quickly. A blurring left hook kayoed top contender Thomas Tate in the second round of his first middleweight defense on May 27, 1994 before Jones’ signature fight came against favored, unbeaten super middleweight champion James Toney on Nov. 18, 1994.

In a sensational display, Jones tormented Toney with a dominating performance that featured a taunting move by Jones that Toney tried to mimic, only to have the challenger land a solid blow that sent the champion reeling against the ropes in the third round. Jones got credit for a knockdown and went on to sweep all three judges scores to claim another title.

Ever looking upward, Jones scored a 12-round unanimous decision over Mike McCallum to win the interim WBC light heavyweight championship. Before he was done sowing havoc among the 175-pounders, Jones put the division tidily under one flag (WBC, WBA and IBF). In his wake, he left 13 challengers bent and bloodied.

On March 1, 2003, Jones left his mark firmly in boxing history by becoming the first middleweight to win the heavyweight championship since Bob Fitzsimmons turned the trick in 1897. Giving away almost 30 pounds to John Ruiz, Jones earned $10 million to score a remarkable easy 12-round decision. He won eight rounds on one scorecard, nine on a second and an amazing ten on the third.

"I know what people are going to say, but there is nothing wrong with John Ruiz," said Jones. "Like a lot of other guys I fought, he was just slower than me. And I kind of out thought him."

"What's next?" a visitor asked the 34-year-old ruler of all the WBA heavyweights. "I'll think of something," said Jones with a wide grin.

Following the celebratory win over Ruiz, Antonio Tarver was seated, along with the media, in the post-fight press conference. “I want my shot at history, Roy.” Roy eventually had heard enough and on November 8, 2003 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Jones met the unified light heavyweight champion, Antonio Tarver. Jones won a 12 round majority decision. It was Jones’ first fight at light heavyweight since beating Ruiz. He had to drop over twenty-five pounds to make the weight and looked physically drained. Jones had to dig down deep, arguably the deepest in his career, to rally during the last two rounds to win.

The Jones-Tarver rematch took place on May 15, 2004, again at Mandalay Bay. The action was just starting to warm up when Tarver scored a knockdown midway through the second round. He got up just after the referee reached the count of 10 and waved the fight over. After the fight, Roy said, “There ain’t no excuses on my part. I come out and do what I do. Guys always get up to fight Roy Jones. It happens like that. I’m a warrior and I’m going to fight. It happens to the best of us.”

Surprisingly, Jones returned to the ring almost immediately. Not for a tune-up fight, but to fight for a world title. Because that is the only thing Roy Jones knows what to do, fight for world titles. He fought Glen Johnson for the IBF light heavyweight title on September 25, 2004 in Memphis. For only the third time in fifty-two fights, the bout finished in Jones’ opponent’s favor.

Thinking of new ways to astonish his legions of followers had never been a problem for this superb athlete."

A proven motion picture and television talent, Jones has had parts in The Sentinel, Living Single, Watcher, In Living Color, Married With Children, Dateline, Arliss, The Wayan Brothers and such films as The Devil's Advocate, New Jersey Turnpikes and the final two films of The Matrix trilogy.

Roy Jones, Jr. has signed some of the world’s top amateurs to promotional contracts so he may pass along his unparalleled knowledge he has gained through fifteen years of professional boxing.

But that doesn’t mean he is through in the ring. He still has a score to settle with Antonio Tarver, and on Otcober 1st, there will be “No Excuses.”