Just going through boxrec finding fights for the prediction contest I noticed that he was fighting somebody named Ryan Coyne.
How many guys have had a stranger career path than Jones? The fact that he moved from 147 to 154 to 168 all the way up to cruiserweight in around six years was strange enough. And then he becomes a very good cruiserweight. I thought that in 2005 he was arguably the best cruiserweight in the world.
But then he takes over a year off and comes back and takes two inconsequential fights. Then he takes another year off, comes back for a title shot against Firat Arslan and knocks him out.
So then of course he takes two years off before coming back to retain his title against Valery Brudov. Now he's fighting Ryan Coyne.
Granted, there may have been some legitimate reasons for his inactivity. I don't know if he was hurt at times or what. But I do remember he had a lot of momentum in 2005 after the back to back knockouts of Braithwaite and Kelvin Jones, and then nothing.
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