A Conversation With “Poison” Junior Jones: Staying Relevant

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Exclusive interview by Anthony “Zute” George

In boxing, the lower weight divisions are rich with history and thick with boxing talent. An eclectic group of defensive wizards, power punchers, volume punchers, and overall ring technicians. Junior Jones is one of those fighters. “Poison” fought and defeated some of the best fighters of his time at 122 pounds. Ringside Report sat down with Junior for an exclusive boxing conversation.

Every fighter has an origin. While no fighter can say they were bitten by a radioactive spider or exposed to gamma rays, their start into boxing is often unique. For Junior, he explains he laced up the boxing gloves when he was “ten years old, because I kept getting beat up by my sister.” Yes, he said his sister. Before you laugh, Junior explained that he was no punk, and he could indeed handle himself “against kids in my neighborhood. I just could not beat my sister.” A unique origin for sure.

At that time, Junior explained that he participated in a boxing tournament and performed well. He went on from there and had a stellar amateur career, “I won the Golden Gloves twice, and had an amateur record of 150-9.” Junior was a kid who grew up on the streets of Brooklyn. He had the amateur pedigree and street smarts to pursue a professional boxing career, but when Junior turned eighteen in 1989, having a long boxing career was not what he wanted to do. “I turned pro in 1989. I was eighteen. My thing was that I wanted to have one fight and retire. I wanted to know what it was like to fight a grown man, then retire.” An odd plan that obviously did not bear any fruit. Jones stopped George Young on June 8th, 1989, and he did not look back.

You may be wondering what Junior Jones planned on doing after his one and done, “I never thought that through, so I have no idea.” Jones explained that he decided to keep fighting because fighting as a professional provided him with so much elation, and he did not want to give it up. Jones also knew that boxing provided him with a vehicle to get out his aggression in a way that would keep him out of trouble, “I wasn’t going to get arrested from fighting,” Jones explained.
Being from Brooklyn, Jones knew the dangers of the street. Many kids with his complexion where a target of the police and/or gangs. Like Mike Tyson and Riddick Bowe, Junior Jones escaped the streets of Brooklyn by way of the most grueling profession in the world. Jones explained that he was not aware of Mike Tyson until he started fighting professionally, but he knew who Riddick Bowe was. And the people of Brooklyn knew who Junior was, and he explained that the support from the people of Brooklyn was “tremendous.”

Junior’s fan base grew exponentially when he started performing in more high-profile fights. I asked Junior what he felt his most significant win was, he replied, “Most people are going to expect me to say (Marco Antonio) Barrera, but it wasn’t. It was Orlando Canizales. I was hoping to fight Canizales when I was still fighting at bantamweight. He set the record for the most consecutive title defenses at that weight. When he moved up and I finally fought him, and beat him, that meant more to me than anything else.” Junior Jones beat Orlando Canizales in 1996. They fought at the 122-pound limit, and Jones won by a lopsided decision on the scorecards.

Orlando was a ring technician and one of the most underrated boxers of all time. How did Junior Jones prepare to fight such an accomplished pro? “I knew I could not make any mistakes fighting him, I had to be dam near perfect. I beat him eleven rounds to one. Without that fight, I would not have been where I am today.”

Junior had other tremendous wins in his career. He defeated the great Marco Antonio Barrera twice. In their first fight, Junior explains how they took a stoppage victory away from him, “I knew for a fact that I could beat Barrera. Nobody believed me. I told everybody I was going to stop him in the fifth round. It happened. They called it a DQ, but it was not a DQ. The corner jumped in the ring before the ref could stop it. But I really knocked him out.” By defeating Barrera, Jones won the WBO super bantamweight title.
Junior had little time to celebrate his victory over Barrera, however. “The WBO said they would strip me of my title if I did not give him an immediate rematch.” Junior insists that there was no rematch clause in the contract. “I knew the results were not going to change. But I figured I would not knock him out this time, so I prepared to go twelve hard rounds. It was a tough fight. We both brought our best. But I thought I beat him eight rounds to four.” Jones won a unanimous but close decision. Duane Ford’s scorecard of 116-111 was the widest score in favor of Jones. Junior now had two crucial victories over a future Hall of Famer. Junior Jones credits Barrera as the best puncher he faced.

Barrera might have been the best puncher Junior ever faced, but he credits Tracy Harris Patterson as the strongest fighter he faced, “After fighting two rounds with Tracy, I knew how strong he was and decided to just try and outbox him. So, I beat him with a decision.”
During his career, Jones was trained by Joey Fariello, a trainer that might not get the same clippings as guys named Futch, Arcel, Benton, Dundee, or Steward, but a legendary trainer nonetheless, “Joey was a great trainer. He enhanced what I already had. Joey was big on working the jab, his thing was everything comes off the jab. I improved my jab because of Joey,” Junior explained.

Jones explained that he missed out on another opportunity to defeat another future Hall of Famer, Prince Naseem Hamed. “We were supposed to fight so many times. He avoided me time and time again. He only fought Barrera because he figured he could beat Barrera because I did. We actually came close to fighting. When I agreed to go to England to fight Richard Evatt, it was understood I would get to fight Hamed if I beat Richard Evatt. So, I go to England and fight Richard Evatt, and he was kicking the shit out of me, I could not get anything going. But I caught him with a left hook in the eleventh round and knocked him out. One shot. After about a month, the Hamed people just called off the fight.”

Junior Jones had an impressive career. He defeated Hall pf Famers and was avoided by Hall of Famers. With that said, it is odd that Jones does not even appear on the International Boxing Hall of Fame ballot. Why? A boxing insider told me that there are plenty of people who very much want Jones to be on the ballot but also explained that it might be tough because of all the gigantic names that will be eligible for the next couple of years. “There is no doubt I should be considered on the ballot,” Jones insisted.

Despite not being on the ballot, Jones has visited the IBHOF during Hall of Fame Weekend, as well as other various meet and greet events for the fans. Jones loves interacting with the fans, and explains the importance of these events, “You have to stay relevant. Out of sight, out of mind. And I love interacting with the fans. So, I go all over to autograph signings, meet and greets, for the fans.” Jones said his plans to attend the IBHOF in Canastota this June.

Will Jones ever get to meet the fans in Canastota, New York as a Hall of Fame inductee? “Hopefully, my day will come one day. I think I will have a chance when I am 60, 70, years old,” Jones said. But for Jones to get consideration from the voters, he has to first appear on the ballot. Will that day come soon?

Stay tuned…

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