LAS VEGAS - Roy Jones Jr. nearly paid the price for trying to take care of some unfinished business.
Jones, looking nothing like the fighter who dominated the light heavyweight division for years, had as much as he could handle Saturday night from Tampa's Antonio Tarver before winning a majority decision to regain the 175-pound title.
In the IBF 154-pound title bout, St. Petersburg's Winky Wright scored a unanimous decision over a game but outmatched challenger, Angel Hernandez.
Both Jones and the decision were loudly booed after a fight in which Tarver was the aggressor and Jones waited until the late rounds to throw more than one punch at a time.
Jones won back the title he vacated to move up and win the WBA heavyweight title from John Ruiz in March, but Tarver gave him as much trouble as any fighter in his 14-year pro career.
Tarver seemed to land the bigger punches and more of them, marking the left side of Jones' face and taking the fight to him. But Jones landed well to the body and did enough to win on two of the three ringside cards.
Judge Glen Hamada had Jones winning 117-111, judge Dave Harris had it 116-112 and Jerry Roth had it 114-114. The Associated Press had it 114-114.
"I beat the man tonight, that makes me the man," Tarver said. "I won the fight hands-down. His face tells the story."
Wright, seeking some recognition in a division that includes Oscar De La Hoya, Shane Mosley and Fernando Vargas, stood and punched with Hernandez for much of the fight on his way to a lopsided decision.
He was never able to put Hernandez down, but Wright was satisfied.
"I didn't box. I wanted to give the fans what they wanted to see so I slugged with him," Wright said.
Wright of St. Petersburg has had trouble getting big fights because he's a left-hander who tends to fight technical fights. But he abandoned that style against Hernandez, and the two went after each other much of the way.
Wright won 119-109 on one scorecard, 118-110 on a second and 117-111 on the third.
The fight topped the undercard of the Jones-Tarver fight at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.
Hernandez, the No. 7-ranked IBF contender, kept after the taller Wright the entire fight.
Wright, who improved to 46-3 with 25 knockouts, won for the ninth time in 11 title fights.
Wright said he wanted to move up to middleweight to fight Bernard Hopkins.
"I won mine Bernard, now it's your turn," he said.
