HR 9055 2003
1	House Resolution
2	A resolution honoring world heavyweight champion Roy
3	Jones, Jr.
4
5	WHEREAS, on Saturday, March 1, 2003, before more than
6	15,000 spectators at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas and
7	additional millions via national and international television, a
8	confident Roy Jones, Jr., stepped into the ring and fought his
9	way to a unanimous decision against world heavyweight champion
10	John Ruiz, and
11	WHEREAS, amid the cheers and accolades of a smaller but no
12	less enthusiastic crowd of devoted fans gathered to greet him
13	the following night, exhausted but happy hometown boy Roy Jones,
14	Jr., returned to Pensacola, not just a local superhero, but the
15	new heavyweight champion of world boxing, and
16	WHEREAS, 5-foot-10 Roy Jones worked resolutely to prepare
17	himself for the title fight against the taller, heavier John
18	Ruiz, turning deaf ears to the cries of naysayers who warned him
19	against attempting such a feat, and
20	WHEREAS, Roy Jones has won world titles at middleweight,
21	super middleweight, and light heavyweight, and now joins Bob
22	Fitzsimmons as one of only two former world champion
23	middleweights to wear the world heavyweight belt, a distinction
24	that set apart Fitzsimmons for 106 years, NOW, THEREFORE,
25
26	Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of
27	Florida:
28
29	That Roy Jones Jr., is commended for his determination to
30	reach the goals he has set for himself and is congratulated for
31	his having earned the World Boxing Association Heavyweight
32	Championship.
33	BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution be
34	presented to Roy Jones, Jr., as a tangible token of the
35	sentiments expressed herein.