Roy Jones Jr. Dave Kallmann / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK

Roy Jones Jr.'s uplifting talk to heavyweight prospect goes viral

By Jason Clinkscales | Last updated 6/26/23

In anticipation of an upcoming heavyweight match on ESPN, a clip featuring legendary boxer Roy Jones Jr. talking with young contender Jared Anderson went viral for all the right reasons.

Top Rank, the boxing promoter, launched a YouTube show where Jones visits Anderson during training camp as he prepares for his bout against Charles Martin this coming Saturday. In this clip posted on the promoter's social media, Jones, long considered the greatest pound-for-pound fighter of his generation, is shown talking to Anderson about how the undefeated fighter was born to face the pressures placed upon him.

This moment between @RealRoyJonesJr and @TeamBigBabyy will give you chills pic.twitter.com/As6QLzKsmF
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) June 26, 2023

After winning gold in back-to-back national amateur championships in 2017 and 2018, Anderson turned pro in 2019 and quickly put himself on the map with a 14-0 record with 14 knockouts. It was in Top Rank's COVID bubble in 2020 where he truly made a name for himself, with four straight TKO victories in a five-month period.

Yet the pressure he alluded to must be draining, to say the least. At 23 years old, he's viewed as the latest in a long line of heavyweights asked to bring prominence back to the U.S., a nation that ruled the weight class until Lennox Lewis and the Klitschko brothers held court in the 2000s through 2010s. Add to his own tough upbringing and a desire to improve his and his family's fortunes, and it's understandable that the 23-year-old feels the weight of the world on his broad shoulders.

Few can relate to those trials like Jones, whose own sterling amateur background ordained him for professional greatness. We'll learn over time if Anderson took Jones's words to heart.

More must-reads: