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Jones Jr to fight for second time in two months

Roy Jones Jr will take on Egypt's Hany Atiyo on September 26 in Russia © Getty Images

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Former four-division titleholder Roy Jones Jr is headed back to Eastern Europe to fight for the second time in two months.

Jones told ESPN on Tuesday that he will take on Hany Atiyo of Egypt in a scheduled 12-round cruiserweight bout on September 26 at Basket-Hall in Krasnodar, Russia, which is about 90 miles from the Black Sea coast.

On July 26, Jones, boxing's No.1 fighter from 1994 to 2004, traveled to Riga, Latvia, and knocked out English journeyman Courtney Fry in the fifth round, his first knockout since stopping former super middleweight titlist Jeff Lacy in the 10th round in August 2009.

The victory was Jones' fourth in a row against a low level opponent since suffering three consecutive losses to Danny Green (a first-round knockout), Bernard Hopkins (a lopsided decision) and Denis Lebedev (a brutal 10th-round knockout) between 2009 and 2011.

"The good thing about fighting twice back-to-back is it makes me stay in shape," Jones said. "My body feels a lot better now than that it has in a long time. Being active is important and by being active, I make sure I am in the best shape."

Jones (58-8, 41 KOs), 45, said the deal for the fight came about during his trip to Latvia, where one of the promoters involved in the event, Pushka Promotion, asked him if he would be interested in fighting again in September in Russia.

"They asked me would I come back and do it again and we made a deal," Jones said. "I'm happy to go Russia. I have a lot of fans there and this is another tune-up to keep me active."

Jones will be fighting outside of the United States for the third consecutive fight and for the fifth time in six fights, including three in Russia.

The 30-year-old Atiyo (14-2, 10 KOs), known as the 'Egyptian Hurricane', is a career light heavyweight who has fought extremely low level opponents. He is coming off a fourth-round knockout loss to Joey Vegas in Uganda in June 2013 in a rematch of a previous 11th-round knockout loss to Vegas in April 2012.

"I know the guy I'm fighting is supposed to be a strong puncher, but not the most skillful guy," Jones said. "I know he will try to jump on me and try to get me out of there. It's cool though. I know what to expect."

Jones said his goal is to eventually get a shot at cruiserweight world titleholder Krzysztof Wlodarczyk, 32, of Poland. The day after Jones' fight, Wlodarczyk (49-2-1, 35 KOs) is scheduled to defend his belt against European champion Grigory Drozd (38-1, 27 KOs) in Moscow.

Jones, an obvious future Hall of Famer, who has held world titles at heavyweight, light heavyweight, super middleweight and middleweight, said he has been invited to attend Wlodarczyk's fight and plans to fly there the day after his bout to be ringside.

"I want a shot at Wlodarczyk and then I'm done," said Jones, whom many have called on to retire. "After I knock him out, I'm done. If I lost that would definitely be it, but I ain't gonna lose. Even if I won the title, I might walk away, but you know if I win the title I'll get some good offers, so I would consider them. I know Wlodarczyk is fighting in Moscow and I will be there. It's about a two-and-a-half hour flight and I am going there after my fight.

"I've had my eye on Wlodarczyk for some time. He has said he wanted to fight me. Let's do it."

If Jones does get the unlikely world title shot, it wouldn't be until sometime next year. Should Wlodarczyk win his bout against Drozd, his next defence is supposed to be against American BJ Flores (30-1-1, 19 KOs), with whom he already has a deal in place.

This article originally appeared on ESPN.com

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