MOSCOW, February 19. /TASS/. Former undisputed boxing champion and Russian citizen Roy Jones Jr. is set to attend the 2024 Games of the Future, which are slated to kick off this week in Kazan, capital of Tatarstan in Russia’s Volga region, a spokesman for the fighter told TASS on Monday.

"Roy is set to visit the Games of the Future in Kazan," the spokesman said.

Roy Jones Jr.

In September 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree granting Russian citizenship to Roy Jones Jr. Since starting his professional ring career in 1989, the US-born boxer has won world titles in four weight classes.

At one point, he was considered the world’s best pound-for-pound boxer. He is also a unique sporting figure as he is the only fighter to win belts in the middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight divisions.

Jones boasts 66 wins over his professional career, including 47 knockouts, and has lost nine fights. In 1988, he won a silver medal at the Seoul Olympics.

2024 Games of the Future

The inaugural cybersport Games of the Future will be hosted by the Russian city of Kazan between February 21 and March 3, 2024. The Games will feature entirely new sports disciplines combining advanced technology, the digital environment and physical activity.

The competitions are designed to use cutting-edge developments in cybersports, robotics, both augmented (AR) and virtual reality (VR), information technology (IT) and artificial intelligence (AI). The tournament offers $25 mln in prize money.

As part of the preparations for the Games of the Future, Russia has organized a series of Phygital Games. The first Phygital Games were held in September 2022 and they were followed by numerous editions up until the present, with the most recent such event held in Kazan on October 5-22, 2023.