Roy Jones Jr officially becomes Russian citizen with Moscow passport ceremony

It’s official: Roy Jones Jr is a Russian citizen.

The four-division champion widely regarded as one of the finest prizefighters of his generation was presented his Russian passport in a ceremony on Tuesday at the Federal Migration Service’s offices in Moscow.

“I am Russian,” Jones, 46, said in Russian.

Vladimir Putin had signed a decree to grant citizenship to Jones in September after the boxer announced his intent to apply during an August meeting with the Russian president in Crimea, the territory annexed by Russia last year. Putin granted the request on the grounds that Jones “intends to spend a significant part of his life working in Russia” according to the Kremlin’s official website.

Three of Jones’ past nine fights have taken place on Russian soil. Though nearly a decade removed from competitive relevance, Jones’ career has taken on something of a ‘world tour’ feel in recent years: showcase bouts against hopelessly overmatched opponents in such far-flung locales as Poland, Latvia and North Carolina, often punctuated with in-ring musical performances by the fighter himself.

“Thank you, Vladimir Putin. I’m really glad to have become a Russian citizen. Russia’s such a welcoming country, and many people in the world want to become her citizens,” Jones said according to the agency’s website. “This is one of the happiest days of my life.”

Following Jones’ meeting with Putin in Crimea, Ukraine placed the fighter on a blacklist of “traitors”, “separatists” and “terrorists”.

Jones, a native of Pensacola, Florida, represented the United States at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, where he won a silver medal after a highly disputed loss to Park Si-Hun in a light middleweight final that saw him land nearly three times as many punches as his opponent. The ensuing controversy prompted a complete overhaul of the scoring system for Olympic boxing.

As a professional, he captured world championships at middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight. After a 49-1 start with the lone defeat coming on a disqualification, he lost seven of 12 fights between 2004 and 2011.

Jones (62-8, 45 KOs), who also works as a boxing analyst for HBO, pulled out of a scheduled fight against Tony Moran in Liverpool last month without explanation. He’s repeatedly expressed interest in making one last run at a world championship at cruiserweight.

Vladimir Khryunov, Jones’ promotional partner in Russia, said in August that Jones has no plans of renouncing his American citizenship.