Ian Green is now training with the former middleweight titleholder Roy Jones Jnr.
The move comes as the streaking middleweight contender from Paterson, New Jersey is also a promotional free agent after a run with Hall of Fame promoter Don King. Green, 19-2 (12 KOs), confided that Jones told him that he had the tools to be the king of the middleweight division.
It was a surreal moment for the 32-year-old Green, who has long looked up to the man who will now guide his career..
“Growing up, Roy was one of my favorite fighters,” Green told BoxingScene. “He is teaching me a lot of secrets and tricks that are hard to learn if you haven’t been in the ring. It is the best of both worlds.”
“He is giving me a different perspective. He is not just telling me what he sees on the outside, but what he would do if he were on the inside in that situation.”
Green is unbeaten since 2017, but he has been out of the ring since a June 2024 win over Roy Barringer.
The bout was his last with King, though he won’t go into his next fight cold. He has kept in shape and additionally looks forward to training at Jones’ compound in Pensacola, Florida.
“Things will be clear for me, I won’t have brain fog,” Green said of training outside of his comfort zone. “Training at home and going through personal problems, and things can get foggy. Your mind isn’t on boxing 100 percent.”
“It is a sacrifice, but it is a night and day difference,” Green said. “All I have to do is box, and he isn’t in the city; he is in the country. I have no choice but to get better.”
Green, who upset unbeaten Tyler Howard in 2021, is on a seven-fight win streak. He is aiming to return to action in the fall, and then he believes he will get a major opportunity.
For now, his focus is on getting active.
“I am one fight away from a phone call,” Green said. “Once I am active again, there will be a guy dumb enough to take a fight with me.”
Lucas Ketelle is the author of “Inside the Ropes of Boxing,” a guide for young fighters, a writer for BoxingScene and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Find him on X at @BigDogLukie.
