Lightweight prospect Abdullah Mason faces Manuel Jaimes next month on Valentine’s Day, February 14th, 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, getting dropped twice by him in the first round on November 8th in Norfolk, Virginia.
Mason vs. Jaimes will be fighting on the undercard of the Denys Berinchyk vs. Keyshawn Davis card. They’ll be fighting on the ESPN+ streamed preliminary card rather than the ESPN main card. The co-feature fight on the card is unbeaten junior middleweight Xander Zayas (20-0, 12 KOs) fighting Slawa Spomer (20-0, 11 KOs) in a 10-round fight.
Top Rank isn’t taking any chances with Mason, so they picked a soft puncher in Jaimes (16-2-1, 11 KOs), who is coming off a wide ten-round unanimous decision loss to former WBA light welterweight champion on September 14th last year.
It was a busy year for the 5’9″ southpaw Mason in 2024, fighting four times and knocking everyone out. Before his last fight against the 30-year-old Dominican Republic native Vasquez (26-6, 21 KOs), Mason had talked of fighting for a world title in 2025.
However, after getting clipped repeatedly by Vasquez’s left hooks in their fight last November, Mason has stopped talking about fighting for a world title. He knows now that he needs more time before he’ll be ready, and he may not ever get there if his chin continues to betray him. Floyd Schofield Sr. revealed that his son had hurt Mason in sparring.
Mason needs to be less aggressive and pick his spots when he opens up with his offense. He doesn’t possess the chin to fight the way he does, going all out for knockouts.
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 without any problems. It’ll be interesting to see if he can knock him out because he showed a good chin in his fight against Rolly.
If Mason outgrows the lightweight division, he’s going to have a lot of problems fighting at 140 or 147 if his punch resistance doesn’t improve.
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