It's guys like Keith Jones who make the sport. Not everyone can be a champion but they (champions) have to overcome the likes of Keith Jones to set them on their way and gain valuable experience in doing so. A true pro.Staff Reporter, South Wales Echo
One of the most popular figures on the British boxing scene has called it a day.
Former Welsh welterweight champion Keith Jones, nearing 37 and with more than a century of fights behind him, has hung up those busy gloves for the final time.
The arrival of little Libby, now 16 weeks old, to join sons Joshua and Jacob, means Jones wants to spend more time with them and his biggest supporter, wife Louise.
'When my daughter was born I realised I'd missed out on a lot with the other two,' said Cefn Hengoed-based Jones. 'Boxing takes so much time out of your life.
'On my day off this week I went up the park and played cricket with the boys and it was great. If I was still boxing, I'd probably have been out running instead.'
Factory worker Jones, a pro since 1994, has met dozens of champions over the years, losing to most, although frequently having good reason to question the decisions against him.
'I beat Steve Murray on a Mike Tyson show,' he insists. 'And I beat Leo O'Reilly, but didn't get the verdict.
'Sometimes I look back and wonder 'if only...', but if I'd started winning I wouldn't have reached 108 fights.'
Valued as a man who would take on all the rising stars, put up a good show and teach them a few things without posing too serious a threat to those unbeaten records, Jones was a promoter's dream.
And, unlike some 'opponents', he never simply hid behind a tight defence, boring everyone to death before picking up his pay-packet and heading back down the motorway.
'It was like being a world champion, everywhere I went they knew my name,' he recalls with pride.
'And it wasn't a case of 'Oh, no, here's that Keith Jones again', because they knew they'd see a good fight.'
The undoubted highlight came when Jones claimed that coveted Welsh title, stopping hot favourite Ross McCord before his own fans in Swansea in 2002.
It was just reward for an outstanding pro and all-round nice guy.
Not that there isn't one small note of regret as he signs off.
'I'd have liked to face that Amir Khan,' he says, wistfully.
He may have been in it for the extra money but he certainly loved the sport. I wish him well in his retirement.
