Following his one round blowout of Antoine Byrd in March, talks began of a bout between Roy and Vinny Pazienza. Paz had easily handled Roberto Duran in their rematch in January in Atlantic City, and was a ringside observer for the Byrd fight. I for one thought the idea was a joke, and that Pazienza would need a machine gun to beat Jones if they met.,
The promoters saw money to be made, and the fight nicknamed ‘The Devil and Mr. Jones’ was set for June 24th, 1995 at Atlantic City’s Convention Hall. Roy had said on numerous occasions that he really wasn’t interested in beating up Vinny, but the contract was signed, and he trained to do his job.
I had just purchased an at the time, a beautiful 46 inch projection tv from Sears. It was my was of having my own closed circuit theatre at home, and a great way to watch live boxing.
The pay-per-view card was slow, and the main event was late in starting that night. The fight itself started off as expected to me, with Jones keeping the shorter Pazienza at bay with his great left jab, and also mixing in hard power shots. It was one sided throughout the first five rounds, but Vinny had a great chin, and I figured would last the twelve round distance.
What shocked me was when a Jones’ left hook dropped Vinny midway through the sixth. He got up and appeared to be ok. Another Roy right hand put him on the canvas with 25 seconds left, but Paz got up again. A final 6 punch combination dropped Vinny to close the round, and referee Tony Orlando called if off as he fell into his corner.
It proved to me even further the greatness of Jones, how he toyed with the veteran Pazienza, and even knocked him out for the first time. The future for Roy was nothing but bright, and I saw no one on the horizon that could beat him.
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