Roy Jones Jr.: Power Ranking His 10 Best Wins

It's not best to look back on a boxer's 10 greatest victories until they are retired from the sport.

Unfortunately for Roy Jones Jr., the least memorable moments for boxing fans—or at least we hope so—have come in the final stretch of his career, and it's not over yet.

Knockout losses suffered at the hands of Antonio Tarver, Glen Johnson, Danny Green and Dennis Lebedev make his greatest years and performances missed more than ever, but he did have many, which undoubtedly made him the greatest fighter of the 1990's.

These are Jones' 10 best wins, spanning 15 years of his 22-year career.

No. 10: UD12 Reggie Johnson (June 5, 1999)

This is the one fight that could or could not be included on a Roy Jones' "greatest wins" list, and there are many that could take its place.

Johnson had proven himself against some very good fighters, including Antonio Tarver, Jorge Fernando Castro and James Toney. He didn't defeat any of them, but they were all split-decision losses.

What made this fight stand out from all the rest though were the incredible punch stats that resemble that of Floyd Mayweather vs. Arturo Gatti. Through 12 rounds, Jones out-boxed and out-landed Reggie Johnson, 273-49; that's 22 punches a round for Jones and four for Johnson.

Johnson, who held the IBF light heavyweight title at the time, lost his title to Jones. Jones then became the WBC, WBA and IBF light heavyweight champion.

No. 9: UD12 Felix Trinidad (Jan. 19, 2008)

Jones is 5-7 in his last 12 bouts, and this is the only victory on this list that was claimed during that seven-year time frame from 2004 to 2011. It is also his best win in the last seven years and one he should've left the sport on.

Felix Trinidad had been one of Puerto Rico's greatest fighters in the 1990's, and he was one of the best welterweights, defeating fighters such as Oscar De La Hoya, Fernando Vargas and William Joppy.

Trinidad made a comeback in 2004 after being retired for two years, and after losing to Winky Wright in 2005, he retired once again. He returned to take on Jones in 2008, and it wouldn't be worth it. He was knocked down twice in the bout and lost a unanimous decision over 12 rounds of competitive, but decisive boxing for Jones.

No. 8: TKO6 Vinny Pazienza (June 24, 1995)

In a fight where Jones landed four times as many punches as his opponent through six rounds, this remains one of his most dominant displays of brutality and skill.

Jones set a record in his 1995 bout with Vinny Pazienza when he became the first and only man to ever go an entire round without taking a single blow from his opponent, according to CompuBox.

Pazienza, a light middleweight champion, was always one of the toughest boxers in the sport during this time, and he showed why in this fight. After being knocked down three times in the sixth round, the referee stopped the assault. Pazienza protested even though he had no chance, and he knew it.

No. 7: TKO6 Clinton Woods (Sept. 7, 2002)

Clinton Woods was one of the UK's best light heavyweights in the last decade, and he proved it with victories over fighters such as Glen Johnson and Julio Cesar Gonzalez. They both came after his fight with Jones in 2002, and he went into the title fight with a 32-1 record.

Jones was coming off his dynamic behind-the-back knockout over Glen Kelly, and Woods didn't want to give Jones the chance to do anything like that to him. He fought well through six rounds, but Jones fought great, counter-punching and displaying his brilliant accuracy on his overmatched opponent.

Woods' corner threw in the towel in the sixth round, giving him the only stoppage loss on his record.

No. 6: MD12 Antonio Tarver (Nov. 8, 2003)

Sometimes a boxer's best victories are those that are their hardest, and this was the toughest fight Jones has ever won.

Antonio Tarver wanted his chance so bad, and he finally got it in 2003. It took six years, but Tarver had been a standout amateur and Olympic bronze medalist in the years before he turned professional at the age of 28.

It was a tense fight with few exchanges in the opening rounds. Tarver attempted to steal them by flurrying at Jones' on the ropes for brief periods in each. Jones, who was drained from his 18-pound weight cut from his previous heavyweight bout with Ruiz, had trouble finding the openings and energy to take over when he saw the opportunity to do so.

What makes this fight rated at No. 6 on my list is Jones' answer to adversity—something he rarely, if ever, had shown up to this point.

He came out in the final rounds to claim the majority-decision victory he would get, and it could have easily gone the other way.

It wouldn't be the last time they fought, and Tarver won both the rematch and the rubber match.

No. 5: KO4 Virgil Hill (April 25, 1998)

Virgil Hill was a veteran boxer who was highly skilled and experienced when he went into his bout with Jones Jr. in 1998. With only two losses on his record, including one to Thomas Hearns, Hill had also left his mark as a light heavyweight champion for more than a decade.

Even if this wasn't Hill being knocked out, it would probably still be on this list. The knockout cannot be overlooked, and it was a brutal shot right to Hill's body. He grimaced as he rolled around on the canvas, holding his ribcage in agony and clinching onto his mouthpiece.

Watch the replay if you dare.

No. 4: UD12 Bernard Hopkins (May 22, 1993)

It was the first of two meetings 17 years apart, but it was the one that counted and the one that should have been the only one.

Bernard Hopkins and Jones met May 2, 1993 to crown a new IBF middleweight champion. Hopkins was ranked ahead of Jones by the sanctioning body, but they were both in the top two, making it the most important fight in both of their careers up to that point.

It wasn't a memorable fight, but that doesn't take away from the importance of the victory for Jones. He out-boxed Hopkins, who was 21-1 at the time, and won a unanimous decision over 12 rounds with 116-112 on all three scorecards.

Both still continue to fight today, and Hopkins has achieved what Jones has not by winning a major world title when he defeated Jean Pascal to become the oldest champion in the history of the sport.

No. 3: KO1 Montell Griffin (Aug. 8, 1997)

Montell Griffin can always claim he beat the great Roy Jones Jr, but the circumstances of that win have to be explained, and they aren't something he should be proud of. What he can be proud of are his two great victories over James Toney, which set up the fight with Jones.

To many people's surprise, Griffin was ahead on one scorecard through nine rounds in their first meeting. Jones, who seemed to be frustrated, eventually got to Griffin, knocking him down in the seventh round and again in the ninth.

The second knockdown was where the controversy occurred, as Jones unloaded two more punches to his downed opponent, resulting in a disqualification and the first loss of his career.

Then came the rematch five months later, and Jones was determined to make Griffin realize what he was really capable of when he didn't take someone lightly.

After knocking Griffin down once early in the round, Jones stalked his opponent and caught him with a vicious uppercut two minutes into the round, knocking Griffin out.

No. 2: UD12 John Ruiz (March 1, 2003)

After a few years of rumors that Jones was going to make a move up to the heavyweight division, it finally came to fruition in 2003 when he signed to fight WBA world heavyweight champion John "The Quiet Man" Ruiz.

With the win, Jones would become the first middleweight champion to win a heavyweight title in 106 years; all-time great Bob Fitzsimmons was the last. Ruiz had just finished his trilogy with Evander Holyfield and was coming off a victory over a previously-unbeaten Kirk Johnson.

It would be the last time fans would see Jones at his best before falling at the hands of Antonio Tarver soon after. But he gave them something to remember, winning a unanimous decision over 12 rounds with the scorecards reading 116-112, 117-111 and 118-110.

Jones would never defend the titles and moved back to the light heavyweight division.

No. 1: UD12 James Toney (Nov. 18, 1994)

The 1990's best "bad boy" boxer James Toney was 44-0-2 when he signed to fight Jones in 1994.

Toney had done more than proved he was a great middleweight, winning the middleweight title from Michael Nunn and defending it successfully against other great fighters such as Reggie Johnson and Mike McCallum.

After Toney moved up to super middleweight to take on Tony Thornton, who he defeated to win the IBF super middleweight title, Jones also made a move up to the higher weight class.

Not only did Jones take Toney's title over 12 rounds, he knocked down and dominated him in every sense of the word to win a unanimous decision with the scores of 119-108, 118-109 and 117-110.

It was a masterpiece.