Boxing great Roy Jones Jnr knocks out fan in $100k challenge

Roy Jones Jnr knocked out fan pick Vyron Phillips. Photo / Facebook - Roy Jones Jnr

Roy Jones Jnr - the legendary four-weight world champion who was widely regarded as the best pound-for-pound boxer in the 1990s - knocked out a fan in a special US$100,000 challenge on Sunday.

Jones, who has won 62 of his 71 professional fights, headlined a card where fans had the opportunity to fight the 1988 Olympic silver medallist - if they won they would take home a cash prize of $100,000.

Vyron Phillips, a 33-year-old MMA fighter with an amateur boxing background, was voted for by fans ahead of 1500 applicants to step into the ring with Jones - but he was unsurprisingly out of his depth and the referee stopped the bout in the second round.

The fight was part of a multi-sport pay-per-view event held by urshow.tv at the Celebrity Theatre in Phoenix, Arizona, with wrestling stars Kurt Angle and Rey Mysterio going head-to-head on the same bill.

Many fans on social media expressed their distaste at seeing a future Hall of Fame inductee, who dazzled the world with his athleticism and boxing skill in the 1990s and early 2000s, fight in the event, but he would not confirm whether he plans to retire.

"There's nothing official. I may hang it up, I'm going to see how I feel," the 47-year-old said after the event.

"This fan thing doesn't really have any effect on my career goals, you know I'll still be training fighters and haven't made any career plans yet."

"I wouldn't challenge Michael Jordan in 1-1 for $100,000. That guy (Phillips) has an amazing heart to just try the feat. He went out and challenged the best. That's a lot of heart."

Phillips said after his second-round loss that he hopes Jones - who was brutally knocked out in his most recent professional bout against Welshman Enzo Maccarinelli in Moscow in December - hangs up his gloves.

"I'd like to see Roy go away from this. Maybe coach. I don't want to see him get hurt," he said.

Jones made history in 2003 when he defeated John Ruiz to capture the WBA heavyweight title, becoming the first former middleweight champion to win a heavyweight belt in over a century, and he is widely viewed as one of the finest boxers of his generation.