On Saturday night (Dec. 10) from the Atlanta Civic Center in Atlanta, Georgia, Roy Jones Jr. stepped in to the ring for the 63rd time in his Hall of Fame career. Many feel the former multiple division superstar should have stepped away from the ring numerous fights prior to this evening’s, however, Roy had different plans.
Jones Jr. (55-8, 40 KOs), one month shy of his 43rd birthday, decided to stay at the cruiserweight level and face former Contender participant Max Alexander (14-6-2, 2 KOs) from Camden, NJ in the ten round main event that was for the vacant UBO Intercontinental cruiserweight title.
Alexander, at 6’2", had a height and reach advantage but the experience level was not there for him to piggyback his way through this fight.
From the opening to the final bell, Jones Jr., now trained by Tommy Yankello, methodically out boxed Alexander. Jones also had long-time trainer Alton Merkerson alongside Yankello in his corner.
Jones threw more jabs than usual and landed his lead left hook multiple times throughout the fight. Alexander, bleeding from his face after a few rounds, was never in the fight. The judges’ final tallies were 100-90 twice and 99-91.
Lightweight Chris Howard (14-0-1, 6 KOs) of Cincinnati won a competitive eight round split decision over late sub Stephon Alexander (4-4, 4 KOs) of Norfolk Virginia by scores of 78-74 twice for Howard and 77-75 for Alexander. Howard fought hard against a pretty slick southpaw in Alexander, and deserved the nod.
Georgia-based cruiserweight Brian Howard (8-0, 6 KOs) scored a first round TKO over fellow Georgia fighter Sharif Kemp (7-5, 6 KOs) at 1:31 of the round. Howard landed a left hook-right hand combination as he was backing up, stopping Kemp in his tracks early in the round. Howard began pumping a stiff left jab, backing up Kemp. He followed that stiff jab with a barrage of power punches as he had Kemp on the ropes in a defenseless posture. The referee stoppage was a good call.
Light heavyweight Ryan "The Irish Outlaw" Coyne (19-0, 8 KOs) of St. Louis, Missouri scored a TKO at 3:00 of round two over Cincinnati’s Dante "Inferno" Craig (18-12-1, 13 KOs). Coyne warmed up in the opening round by jabbing and walking down Craig. As the second round came to a close, Coyne, a southpaw, landed a straight left to the face of Craig sending him to the canvas. Craig did not answer the bell for the third round. Coyne, who recently moved from cruiserweight to light heavyweight, is now trained by former heavyweight champ Michael Moorer.
Heavyweight Mike "The Juggernaut" Wessel (2-0) of Celina, Ohio, now fighting out of Mississippi, outworked veteran "Big" Gabe Brown (18-17-4, 12 KOs) of Pensacola, Florida over six one-sided rounds. Brown, at 354 lbs, was unable to get his hands moving enough to overcome the pressure and work rate of Wessel, who was outweighed by nearly 100 lbs. Scores were 60-54 twice and 58-56.
The opening bout between Memphis, Tennessee’s Tristan "TNT" Todd (3-0, 1 KO) and Pensacola’s Beden "The Future" Laurent (1-2) was one-sided from the start as Todd out boxed Laurent and landed the bigger punches over the scheduled four rounds. All three judges saw the fight 40-36 for the Tennessee native. The two fought at 170 lbs.
The event, shown live on Ustream.tv, also featured three professional mixed martial arts bouts.
Adrian Patrick’s KO Kings and Roy Jones’ Square Ring, Inc. promoted the event entitled "King of the Ring V"
