 For Jones' first defense, he was matched up against the undefeated Montell "Ice" Griffin, who in his previous fight had defeated James Toney for the second time to capture the less-regarded WBU light heavyweight title.Prior to the fight, Griffin was seen by some as possibly the greatest challenge Jones, who was ranked by "The Ring" magazine as the number-one pound-for-pound fighter in all of boxing, had faced in his professional career.Jones entered the fight as the overwhelming favorite, with the odds being as high as 17–1 in his favor, though they went down to 6–1 by the time of the fight.