Interview Dated September 2006

Promoter Roy Jones

Roy Jones has high ambitions. For one thing, he wants to change boxing. He doesn't have any illusions that he can revolutionize the sport but the promoter believes he will have an impact. His first Houston card is scheduled for the 21st of September at the Bella Aida Gardens in southwest Houston.


HBS - So with a name like Roy Jones I suppose people might be getting you confused with the boxer.

RJ - It's been good. I walked through airports with a bunch of equipment and people have said, "Oh, are you Roy Jones' daddy? Go ahead". So it helps but sometimes it gets in the way as well. The negative people used to watch him and they've had some comments so I've had to deal with that too.

HBS - Where are you from?

RJ - Born in Trinidad, grew up in Trinidad and Tobago. Went to a technical college there and migrated to the United States to work for about two months after college. Thirty years later I'm still here.

HBS - What kind of college did you go to?

RJ - I did an associates of welding engineering tecnology, two years down there, which was a five-year program. I got it convereted here and it's now a welding engineering and technology degree. I got a bachelor's degree at Prairie View and a Masters in Education.

HBS - You've been a teacher then for much of your life?

RJ - I taught school for 30 years and now I'm retired. I taught for North Forest, I taught for Goose Creek Independent School District, 12 years out there and 19 years at HISD.

HBS - So you have a little bit of an accent, a mixture of influences.

RJ - Certainly it is. I've lived quite a few places in the United States and across the world and that's the reason why.

HBS - How or why did you start to get into boxing promotion?

RJ - My main thrust is that I believe that boxers deserve a little better quality life than they're living right now. Number one, I don't think that the struggles that boxers go through is just. What I mean by that is quite simple. I believe that if a guy is a professional boxer, his primary source of income needs to come from boxing. That can't happen the way it's structured right now, especially for a guy that's now climbing the ladder. The other thing is insurance. I don't see any effort being made to do something about getting these guys annual insurance so that they can take care of their medical expenses in preparation for a fight. There are so many things that I am looking at right now, hoping that the boxing commission will support in making these changes slowly. I don't believe that a fellow should fight for the money he's fighting for. I can't change that overnight. I'm putting things in place hopefully that in turn will change some of these things.

HBS - That's a pretty altruistic view. Most people have a perception of boxing promoters that is not necessarily all that positive. You seem to have an idea of reform. What would motivate you to pursue that?

RJ - I boxed and it's in my blood. I boxed as an amateur since I was 16 and I got out of it when I was 34. I coached here, I coached in Alaska, I coached in Brownsville, Texas and I was a national coach in '76 and I came back here and was a Gulf Coast Regional coach in '95 at that time with Willie Savannah. But I've seen the stress and I'm looking at the stress that the boxers go through. So many of them have talent but they cannot own the talent because they have to go out somewhere else to make a living and never have enough time to train and do the things necessary in order to become great champions. I've seen a lot of men go through the rings and get out on the other side and get out of the business because they did not have the time to own the skills.

HBS - So this is your first boxing card that you've got coming up here?

RJ - This is the first in Houston. I did some in the Caribbean. I did one in Huntsville, Texas.

HBS - So how's it going for you? Obviously a lot of details to take care of.

RJ - Yes, I'm running into a lot of stumbling blocks but this is to be expected in boxing and these are the things that I'm focusing on and trying to change. With me coming in with new ideas and the things that I'm doing, it's going to be good for boxing overall. They're going to benefit, the well-known promoters would benefit. I think that we need to have a promoters association. I think we need to have a boxers association. I think we need to have all people that's involved in boxing in an annual convention somewhere where we can meet and exchange our ideas and change things for the betterment of the sport. Cyclists go out and make millions or soccer players go out and make millions. Boxers are still making pocket change and this has to stop. I think this is the most manley, the most demanding of all sports and the guys need to be compensated and be respected. This is my goal. I may not change everything but I think that I'll be able to change some things. The first thing that I'm doing, we have live internet. Pay-per-view live internet, this is the first time that it's been done and hopefully this will allow us to pay the boxers some more money than they're making right now per round. So promoters be prepared, if this succeeds, these young men are going to be making much more money than they're making now per round and this is my goal. Don't harm me because I'm trying to do better.

HBS - So what's going to happen is someone who clicks onto this website will click to another link and they'll have to pay to view the fight.

RJ - That's right they'll have to pay to see the fight. They can see the whole card for $2.99

HBS - That's still quite reasonable.

RJ - That's more than reasonable.

HBS - Again back to the perception of promoters, I think it's a pretty widely-held view that boxing is often a dishonest sport. Oftentimes the boxer being promoted by the person holding any given card is much more likely to win a close fight. What's your assessment of that and do you have any thoughts on whether that can be changed or should be changed?

RJ - I think it should be changed. I feel that with a good strong organization we would be able to change this. One of the things I'm doing though is trying to address the fact that local boxers need to build a record at home first, do some fighting at home, get recognized at home, then take the fights abroad. And the reason for that is simple. A lot of our young men, good little fighters, we don't have enough fights in Houston to accomodate them. They have to go out and anytime you go into somebody's backyard you become an opponent and not there to win the fight. This has to change around boxing, not only in Houston or Texas, but has to change around the world. I've seen guys knocked out, the referee picked them up and at the end of the fight they got the decision. These are the things that has to change. I can't change this overnight but there are some things we've got to address, that I believe, with time, and I'm not talking about short time, because I'm going to give a certain amount of my time to boxing and then I'm going to go ahead and take a true retirement. So I'm figuring betweek 4-5 years, if God extends my life to that time, I intend to make some serious changes, then I'm going to move onto retirement.

HBS - What is it that you enjoy about the sport? You mentioned that you had boxed.

RJ - For me, boxing exposed my willpower, my desire to do something, to finish a job. That's what it did for me and that's the way I see boxing because a lot of times you're in there, you can't take time off. They cannot change the player. It's two people involvedand that's it and it's the stronger will the better skill, the better prepared, that's the one that's going to win. Knowing this going in, if you have some pride about yourself most times then you will address those things that will make you a winner and that's what I like about a sport .

HBS - Let's talk about your card that you've got coming up. Who do you like on there?

RJ - Gutierrez is on the card, Jose Gutierrez, Topita, that's a young man, I like him. I like his attitude and I believe with the right nurturing, even though there's a couple of losses on his record, I believe this young man can go fairly far. But he has to want it as much as everybody else wants it. There's another young man, Smith (T-Diddy), I think he's another one that can go very far if he really buckles down and he works a little harder than he's working.

HBS - T-Diddy's fairly charismatic so he makes for a good card.

RJ - Yeah, he makes for a good card because of his personality and I think this young man, he brings something special to the sport if he can get in the right groove.

HBS - You have Danny Reyes who's coming off some losses and really needs to come around with a win.

RJ - That's right and I do think that he can win this fight. He's fighting Mikel Williams and I do believe if he goes out there and fights like Danny can fight, he can beat Williams.

HBS - You can't underestimate Williams because he's beaten Topita and he's a tricky fighter.

RJ - Yes, he's a good test for Reyes. The thing that we try to emphasize, the people on our cards, they're going to have to fight, one. Two, they're going to have to give the fans their money's worth. So I am not going to pick a lay-down for any fighter. I want these guys to come out fighting and earn the win. Each one of them has a challenge in their fights but I believe they're fights that they can win. if they can come out and do what they have to do.

HBS - How'd you come up with this venue, Bella Aida Gardens?

RJ - Well I was driving around and one day I saw the place and I came in and talked to the manager and that's how I ended up here. It's simply by accident.

HBS - So you expect to do more cards?

RJ - Well my goal is to do at least one card a month. This is a very highly ambitious program but I feel that after this fight we can go ahead and do one probably we should do another one in November or early December and from January we will go once a month.

HBS - It's not cheap to put on a boxing card. There's some risk.

RJ - There is always risk in life. I am taking my own money that I worked hard for but I see it like this. You know my daddy told me a long time ago, if you made an entrance and nobody observed you, you need to back out and step in again. This is what I'm doing. What I mean by this, I feel that I can make an imprint on boxing. I can make it for the good because this is a good sport. I remember as a little fellow we had radios at the time, there was no T.V., and I can remember our house was filled with people listening to the fights and I think that's what got in my blood. Maybe four years old or maybe I was a little older, until television came in and everytime there was a world title fight our house was full. Everybody came to our house. It was a big event.

HBS - So this is not just necessarily a business venture for you, it's something you love. It's part of your life.

RJ - It's a passion and I feel like if I can do this and retire I'm willing to sit back and let it go from there because I'm going to lay a foundation that everybody in boxing follows. Don King did what he had to do and I think everybody that comes into this business needs to make an impact or do something to chage this fight business and make it something better for the people that's inovlved. When I say the people that's involved I'm talking about the boxers themselves. I'm not talking about promoters or nobody else I'm talking about the fighters because they're the ones in poverty after they're career's over.

HBS - You really have a high regard for fighters and you respect them.

RJ - Certainly I do. And I had a friend, in Baltimore, Maryland, that died homeless under a bridge and I promised him that I was going to make a change. He was a good fighter and he ended up dying under the bridge homeless, penniless, and I still don't understand why this happens because the people that made money off of him never took the time to give him any attention and that hurts. It hurts. And this guys was one of the nicest guys. Because of his family I don't want to call his name but this guy he was up in the ratings, he was a very good welterweight boxer and he died from poverty and this shouldn't be. I will make an impact. I don't know how much of it I will be able to change in the time that I'm going to devote to boxing but whatever I change it will be permanent.