Roy Jones Jr names the hardest puncher he faced in legendary 76-fight career

Roy Jones Jr gave a rather surprising response when asked to name the hardest hitter he ever came up against.

The Hall of Famer made his mark on the middle, super-middle and light-heavyweight divisions, before dethroning WBA heavyweight champion John Ruiz in 2003.

Despite hitting the scales at just 193lbs, a severely undersized Jones nonetheless dominated their contest from start to finish and claimed a unanimous decision victory.

Based on size alone, many would suspect that Ruiz, who ended 30 of his 44 professional victories inside the distance, was the biggest puncher that Jones faced.

Alternatively, Antonio Tarver was also a heavy-handed puncher who shared three fights with the four-division world champion at 175lbs.

Despite losing their first encounter via a majority decision in 2003, Tarver exacted his revenge by securing a second-round stoppage victory the following year.

The ‘Magic Man’ then ended their trilogy with a unanimous decision win in 2005, but it was nearly a decade earlier that Jones recalls encountering his hardest-hitting opponent.

Speaking with Ring Magazine in a ‘Best I Faced’ feature, Jones names Merqui Sosa, who he stopped in the second round in 1996, as the most powerful fighter he faced.

“Merqui Sosa was a very powerful guy. You couldn’t push him back; he didn’t give up anything in the ring. I had to get him out of there early. He was very strong and wasn’t planning on going nowhere.

“Merqui missed me with a shot that almost buckled my knees. If that had landed it would have been different.

“I was like, ‘Wow, this guy’s trying to kill [me]!’ I went to work on him after that and got the fight over. Tarver had good punching power, but he didn’t punch harder than Merqui Sosa.”

Prior to his fight with Jones, Sosa had lost a split decision to James Toney after suffering an early knockdown and being docked a point for low blows.

And despite never becoming a world champion, the Dominican banger nonetheless ended his career with a formidable record of 34-9-2 (27 KOs).