Roy Jones Jr. announces date for his final career boxing match in 2018

The future boxing Hall of Famer will be 49 when he steps into the ring for the final time

Future Hall of Famer Roy Jones Jr., who has remained active in recent years despite pleas from others to retire, has announced his Feb. 8 return will be the final bout of his career. 

Jones, who turns 49 in January, doesn't yet have an opponent for his cruiserweight main event in his hometown of Pensacola, Florida. The card, titled Island Fights 46, will feature both boxing and mixed martial arts bouts. 

"You should call it my last day at the Bay. It's my last one for the Bayfront, Civic Center, Pensacola, Bayfront Arena, whatever you want to call it," Jones said in a video posted Thursday on Facebook. "So if you want to come to see my last day in Pensacola, be there, Feb. 8. That's my last one there."

Jones (65-9, 47 KOs), boxing's pound-for-pound king for nearly a decade until his knockout loss to Antonio Tarver in 2004, will enter the 75th professional bout of his career. The 1988 Olympic silver medalist turned pro in 1989 at junior middleweight and won world titles in four divisions including heavyweight.

The last decade has not been kind to Jones inside the ring as he was brutally knocked out three times when stepping up in class. He has largely faced limited competition in recent years, including a 2016 bout against a former MMA fighter making his pro boxing debut. 

Despite having to constantly fight off questions regarding why he's still fighting, Jones enters the final bout of his career having won 10 of his last 11, dating back to a violent stoppage loss to Denis Lebedev in 2011. 

Jones has been unsuccessful for the last decade attempting to secure a boxing match against MMA legend Anderson Silva. But with his quest to secure one more world title at cruiserweight -- the division that has eluded him -- coming up empty of late, there is reason to believe this will actually be the last fight for Jones.