Guillermo Jones

Guillermo Jones (born May 5, 1972) is a Panamanian professional boxer and former WBA cruiserweight champion.

Career

Known as 'El Felino', Jones is most well known for three things in boxing... 1) Rising many weight classes throughout his career. 2) Very long layoffs between fights, especially as champion. 3) Being able to win in hostile territory. Jones started to box in the paid ranks in 1993 as a welterweight, and was a world champion as a 198 pound cruiserweight 20 years later in 2013^[1]

Guillermo (referred to by his first name rather than 'Jones', which usually refers to boxer Roy Jones Jr.) won his first 21 bouts in Panama, but was then stopped in Venezuela in two rounds by David Noel of Trinidad and Tobago in September 1997. He avenged that loss two months later in Panama by first round Knockout. Now aligned with promoter Don King, Jones fought two light middleweight WBA world title bouts against Laurent Boudouani in 1998. He drew once and lost the rematch by split decision in 12 round contests.

Guillermo fought his way through four weight classes. Later fighting as a cruiserweight in 2002, he fought Johnny Nelson for the WBO World cruiserweight title, drawing in 12 rounds in his third world title attempt. Most in attendance thought Jones had done enough to win the title from Nelson.

After yet another split decision loss in 2005 to future cruiserweight world title holder Steve Cunningham, Guillermo rebounded the same year with knockouts of Kelvin Davis and Wayne Braithwaite.

Jones got a shot at WBA World Cruiserweight champion Firat Arslan on September 27, 2008 and won the WBA world title by tenth round stoppage. He was the heaviest, and the oldest professional fighter from Panama to have achieved a world championship when he became Panama's 28th world boxing champion.^[2] After winning the WBA title, Jones created controversy when he went through a two year period of inactivity while remaining WBA world champion.

In August 2010, the WBA finally threatened to strip Guillermo of his belt unless he defended his world title. As a result, he made his first defense of his world title against Valery Brudov in October 2010, scoring an eleventh round stoppage in Panama City.

Jones second defense of his title was scheduled to take place on June 25, 2011, against then undefeated Ryan Coyne. A few days before the fight, Jones pulled out, citing a back injury sustained following a training session.^[3] Jones later announced he would make a mandatory defense against Yoan Pablo Hernández.^[4] The fight was scheduled to take place in Germany on August 27, 2011, but the bout was cancelled with no specific reason.

Jones the defended his WBA world title against Mike Marrone. The fight took place in Florida on November 5, 2011, with Jones retaining his title via a TKO in the sixth round. After over a year of inactivity, Jones was declared the champion in recess after he backed out of a title defense against boxer Andres Taylor of Pennsylvania. Denis Lebedev of Russia won the interim WBA World title and then won the vacant WBA World title after Jones refused to fight him. After 18 months of inactivity, Jones traveled to Russia to fight Lebedev and settle matters regarding who the legitimate WBA world champion was, himself or Lebedev.

On May 17, 2013, Jones, the WBA World Cruiserweight champion 'in recess', cut and closed the left eye of Denis Lebedev in the first round. He eventually knocked out the other WBA World Cruiserweight champion 'claimant', Denis Lebedev of Russia, at 1:54 of the eleventh round to settle the issue once and for all as to who the true WBA World Cruiserweight champion was.^[5] The bout is the first WBA World title bout in which two defending champions of the same world title belt faced each other. Jones inflicted horrific punishment on Lebedev, inflicting enough damage to Lebedev's right eye to perhaps end his career for medical reasons. Observers felt the bout should have been stopped early, but the Russian Boxing Federation would not stop the bout so it would go the distance, putting Jones in the position of having to knock Lebedev out in hostile territory to keep his title.

In October 2013, Jones was stripped of his title for failing a drug test for his WBA unification fight with Lebedev, with Lebedev being reinstated as full champion. A rematch between Lebedev and Jones has concordantly been ordered by the WBA. Jones again tested positive, and was stripped of the title, however recent allegations of Russian tampering with drug testing has put this finding in doubt.^[6] In December 2013, Jones was reinstated by the WBA as Champion in Recess.^[7]

Professional record

45 fights, 40 wins (31 knockouts), 3 losses, 2 draws
Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Rd., Time	Date	Location	Notes
Win	40-3-2	Daniel Cota	UD	10	20/11/2015	Arena Panama Al Brown, Colon City
Win	39-3-2	Denis Lebedev	KO	11	17/05/2013	Crocus City Hall, Moscow
Win	38-3-2	Michael Marrone	TKO	6	05/11/2011	Hollywood, Florida	Retained WBA cruiserweight title
Win	37-3-2	Valery Brudov	TKO	11	02/10/2010	Panama City, Panama	Retained WBA cruiserweight title
Win	36-3-2	Firat Arslan	TKO	10	27/09/2008	Altona, Hamburg, Germany	Won WBA cruiserweight title
Win	35-3-2	Zack Page	UD	8	07/07/2007	Bridgeport, Connecticut
Win	34-3-2	Jeremy Bates	TKO	1	06/01/2007	Hollywood, Florida
Win	33-3-2	Wayne Braithwaite	TKO	4	03/09/2005	Cleveland, Ohio	Retained WBA Fedelatin, WBC Latino cruiserweight titles
Win	32-3-2	Kelvin Davis	TKO	4	21/05/2005	Chicago, Illinois
Loss	31-3-2	Steve Cunningham	SD	10	02/04/2005	Worcester, Massachusetts
Win	31-2-2	Antonio Berroa	KO	1	03/12/2004	Panama City, Panama	Won WBA Fedelatin, WBC Latino cruiserweight titles
Win	30-2-2	Luciano Torres	TKO	1	16/03/2004	Panama City, Panama	Won WBA Fedelatin cruiserweight title
Draw	29-2-2	Johnny Nelson	SD	12	23/11/2002	Derby, Derbyshire, United Kingdom	For WBO cruiserweight title
Win	29-2-1	Sione Asipeli	UD	10	13/07/2002	Warren, Ohio
Win	28-2-1	Tim Williamson	SD	10	13/04/2002	Las Vegas, Nevada
Win	27-2-1	Victor Maciel	TKO	1	19/05/2001	Colon, Panama
Win	26-2-1	Allen Watts	UD	10	20/05/2000	Tunica, Mississippi
Win	25-2-1	Jaffa Ballogou	UD	6	18/12/1999	Tunica, Mississippi
Win	24-2-1	Jose Maquina Rojas	TKO	2	09/10/1999	Panama City, Panama	.
Win	23-2-1	Santos Daniels	TKO	6	04/09/1999	Panama City, Panama
Loss	22-2-1	Laurent Boudouani	SD	12	30/05/1998	Las Vegas, Nevada	Retained WBA Fedelatin light middleweight title
Draw	22-1-1	Laurent Boudouani	PTS	12	13/02/1998	Albuquerque, New Mexico	Retained WBA Fedelatin light middleweight title
Win	22-1	David Noel	TKO	1	29/11/1997	Colon, Panama	Retained WBA Fedelatin light middleweight title
Loss	21-1	David Noel	KO	2	27/09/1997	Caracas, Venezuela	Retained WBA Fedelatin light middleweight title
Win	21-0	Alejandro Ugueto	TKO	5	03/05/1997	Colon, Panama	Retained WBA Fedelatin light middleweight title
Win	20-0	Jorge Luis Vado	KO	1	28/02/1997	Colon, Panama
Win	19-0	Alejandro Ugueto	PTS	12	07/10/1996	Maracay, Venezuela	Retained WBA Fedelatin light middleweight title
Win	18-0	Gilberto Barreto	KO	1	15/06/1996	Panama City, Panama	Won WBA Fedelatin light middleweight title
Win	17-0	Eduardo Rodriguez	KO	2	20/04/1996	Colon, Panama
Win	16-0	Manuel Florian	TKO	2	29/03/1996	Panama City, Panama
Win	15-0	Carlos Alberto Arrieta	KO	1	15/03/1996	Panama City, Panama	Retained WBA Fedelatin welterweight title
Win	14-0	Jose Garcia	KO	1	02/02/1996	Colon, Panama	Retained WBA Fedelatin welterweight title
Win	13-0	Manuel Alvarez	KO	1	18/09/1995	Maracay, Venezuela	Retained WBA Fedelatin welterweight title
Win	12-0	Ricardo Simarra	TKO	4	05/08/1995	Colon, Panama	Won WBA Fedelatin welterweight title
Win	11-0	Antonio Ocasio	KO	3	15/07/1995	Colon, Panama
Win	10-0	Marcelino Quiroz	KO	2	01/04/1995	Panama City, Panama
Win	9-0	Rafael Ortiz	KO	1	04/02/1995	Colon, Panama
Win	8-0	Felix Jose Hernandez	TKO	2	15/10/1994	Colon, Panama
Win	7-0	Jaime Mayorga	TKO	1	03/09/1994	Colon, Panama
Win	6-0	Edison Martinez	TKO	1	04/06/1994	Colon, Panama
Win	5-0	Manuel Alvarez	SD	8	05/02/1994	Panama City, Panama
Win	4-0	Ramon Barrera	TKO	1	28/12/1993	Panama City, Panama
Win	3-0	Jorge Eliecer Ortiz	TKO	1	04/12/1993	Panama City, Panama
Win	2-0	Manuel Florian	UD	4	16/10/1993	Colon, Panama
Win	1-0	Gabriel Camarena	TKO	1	17/07/1993	Panama City, Panama	Professional debut

References

External links

• Professional boxing record for Guillermo Jones from BoxRec