Roy Jones Jr is considered by many to be one of the greatest fighters of all time, having won world titles at middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight.
During his 76 fight professional career – which is technically still ongoing – Jones faced some of the best boxers of his era, including James Toney, Joe Calzaghe and Bernard Hopkins.
When Boxing News asked ‘Captain Hook’ which modern fighter he could have faced in his prime if he had the choice, he named the current WBA Light-heavyweight Champion and one of the pound for pound best in the entire sport.
“Dmitry Bivol.”
Bivol was the consensus 2022 fighter of the year, following up on his stunning win over Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez with a near faultless performance against another Mexican in Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez later in the year.
However, Bivol has remarkably not boxed once this year, and the momentum he enjoyed last year has been well and truly curtailed. It has recently been revealed that he has been injured, and is only now eyeing a return.
Fans live in hope that a mouth-watering undisputed clash against fellow Russian Artur Beterbiev can somehow be agreed, however this looks further away than ever after the WBC announced they would not sanction any fight with Bivol due his nationality.
Canelo has stated his desire to run it back with Bivol at some point, though this does not look likely to happen in the near future either as the Mexican’s next two bouts will be with Al Haymon’s PBC and Bivol is contracted to fight on DAZN.