 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date | July 18, 1998 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | The Theater at Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Title(s) on the line | WBA light heavyweight title | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tale of the tape | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Result | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Jones defeats Del Valle by unanimous decision | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Lou Del Valle vs. Roy Jones Jr. was a professional boxing match contested on July 18, 1998, for the WBA light heavyweight championship. [1]
After knocking out fellow former champion Virgil Hill in four rounds, in his first bout for 8 months in April, Roy Jones Jr. agreed to challenge WBA champion Lou Del Valle. Del Valle, a former sparring partner to Jones, had won the WBA belt in September 1997 (which had been vacated by Lineal champion Dariusz Michalczewski in July) by stopping Eddy Smulders of the Netherlands in the eighth round. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
Despite it's billing as a unification bout, Jones was not recognized as the full WBC champion, that being Graciano Rocchigiani [7] with Jones classed as a "champion in recess".
The champion Del Valle was a 15 to 1 underdog. [8]
Jones would dominate the action, using his speed to out boxed the champion, landed frequently to the body. Del Valle was cut over the left eye from an accidental headbutt in the 7th round. In the 8th a quick counter right left combination sent Jones down for the first time in his career, he made it to his feet and didn't not appear badly hurt. Del Valle wasn't able to take advantage and at the end of 12 rounds all three judges would score the bout for Jones with scores of 118–109, 118–109 and 119–108, making him a three time light heavyweight champion. [9] [10]
HBO's unofficial ringside scorer Harold Lederman scored the fight 118–109 for Jones. According to CompuBox, Jones landed 233 of 483 punches thrown (a 48.2% connect rate) against DelValle landing 113 of 286 (a 39.5% connect rate). [11]
Speaking after the bout Jones said "It's very difficult fighting your sparring partner, he knows all your tricks. That's why I don't like to fight sparring partners." [12] He would describe the punch that floored him as a "good shot. A darn good shot".
By October the WBC had demoted it's light heavyweight champion Graciano Rocchigiani to an "interim champion" [13] after inexplicably claiming its references in promotions and contracts to the Rocchigiani-Nunn fight as a championship bout, and to Rocchigiani as the champion in its rankings, had been "typographical errors". [14] As a consequence Jones was elevated by the WBC to their full champion, making him a unified light heavyweight champion.
Confirmed bouts: [15]
| Winner | Loser | Weight division/title belt(s) disputed | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
 Derrick Gainer | Kevin Kelley | Lightweight (10 rounds) | Unanimous decision |
| Preliminary bouts | |||
| John Brown | Lemuel Nelson | Lightweight (8 rounds) | Unanimous decision |
 David Izon | Marion Wilson | Heavyweight (8 rounds) | Unanimous decision |
| Victor McKinnis | Luis Rosado | Welterweight (8 rounds) | 5th round TKO |
| Songul Oruc | Carla Witherspoon | Super lightweight (4 rounds) | Unanimous decision |
| Gabe Brown | Calvin Smith | Heavyweight (4 rounds) | 1st round KO |
 Elvir Muriqi | Billy Desser | Super middleweight (4 rounds) | Unanimous decision |
| Country | Broadcaster |
|---|---|
| United States | HBO |
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