Lightweight contender Abdullah Mason faces Manuel Jaimes next month on Valentine’s Day, February 14, at the Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Chin check
This is a step back for the 20-year-old Mason (16-0, 14 KOs), who struggled in his last fight against Yohan Vasquez, dropping him twice in the first round on Nov. 8 in Norfolk, Virginia.
Mason vs. Jaimes will compete on the undercard of the Denys Berinchyk vs. Keyshawn Davis card. They will compete on the ESPN+ streamed preliminary card rather than the ESPN main card. The co-feature bout on the card is undefeated junior middleweight Xander Zayas (20-0, 12 KOs) taking on Slawa Spomer (20-0, 11 KOs) in a 10-round bout.
Top Rank isn’t taking any chances with Mason, so they opted for a soft puncher in Jaimes (16-2-1, 11 KOs), who is coming off a big ten-round unanimous decision loss to the former WBA lightweight champion in September. 14th last year.
It’s been a busy year for 5’9″ southpaw Mason in 2024, fighting four times and beating everyone. Before his last fight against 30-year-old Dominican Republic native Vasquez (26-6, 21 KOs), Mason had talked about fighting for a world title in 2025.
However, after being repeatedly clipped by Vasquez’s left hooks in their fight last November, Mason stopped talking about fighting for a world title. He knows now that he needs more time to be ready and may never get there if his chin continues to betray him. Floyd Schofield Sr. revealed that his son had injured Mason in sparring.
Mason needs to be less aggressive and pick his spots when opening up with his offense. He doesn’t have the chin to fight the way he does, going all out for the knockout.
Manuel Jaimes challenge
Jaimes, 24, looked slow and weak in his loss to Rolly Romero, so he’s not a threat to Mason. As long as Abdullah doesn’t leave himself open by throwing repeated uppercuts, he should be able to defeat Jaimes with no problem. It will be interesting to see if he can knock him out because he showed a good chin in his fight against Rolly.
If Mason moves up to the lightweight division, he will have a lot of trouble competing at 140 or 147 if his punch resistance doesn’t improve.
2025-01-07 21:17:00
