Carlos Jackson’s first Main Events fight lands him big-card opportunity

Two months after signing with Main Events, junior featherweight Carlos Jackson will have his first opportunity to fight underneath the promoter’s banner.

Jackson (20-1, 13 KOs) will face Carlos Carlson (25-8, 16 KOs) on the undercard of Bakhram Murtazaliev’s junior middleweight title defense against Tim Tszyu. Murtazaliev is also a Main Events fighter.

The card will be held October 19 at the Caribe Royale Orlando. The televised undercard, airing on Amazon’s Prime Video, will include junior middleweight prospect Yoenis Tellez vs. Johan Gonzalez and middleweight prospect Mateo Tapia vs. Endry Saavedra.

Jackson was a promotional free agent who was flying under the radar, according to Joe Rotonda, director of operations for Main Events.

“He’s a big puncher at 122. He took some time off and came back earlier this year. He wants to fight everybody,” Rotonda told BoxingScene.com. “He wants [undisputed junior featherweight champion Naoya] Inoue at some point. … We’ll see what he looks like later this month. He’s fighting Carlos Carlson, a tough kid, fought on UFC Fight Pass recently [in a Marchloss to Feargal McCrory]. We’ll see what he looks like. I think we’ll be impressed, though.”

Jackson turned pro in 2015 at the relatively late age of 26. He won his first 16 bouts before dropping a unanimous decision to Enrique Vivas (18-1 at the time) in July 2020. Jackson notched three more wins, then stepped away from the ring from September 2022 until this April, returning with a fifth-round TKO of Alexis Bastar (then 18-2-1).

The loss to Vivas came at featherweight, which Jackson has occasionally fought at over the years. Rotonda believes Jackson will be better off fighting in the 122-pound weight class. The match with Carlson will be right in the middle, at 124 pounds.

There have been other changes made besides Jackson’s weight class.

“He switched his whole surroundings up. He was in Georgia [Jackson is from Atlanta], and now he just went out to California to hold camp out there, and he’s going to get a new trainer out there, too,” Rotonda said. “I think he was with his coach from way back when, and he decided to switch it up to try to evolve the game a little bit. So he’s taking his career seriously, which I think he always did. It’s just about taking it to the next level now because he’s right there. He’s the right win away from breaking back into the top 10.”

Time will be of the essence for Jackson, who is 35 years old.

“If Carlos gets past October 19 and we can go that ProBox route, there is no B-side of ProBox [matches]. ProBox is 50-50,” Rotonda said of the promoter, which, in full disclosure, owns BoxingScene.com. 

Main Events has been intentional about keeping a smaller roster, given that most of the television and streaming network dates belong to other promoters.

“I’m not into signing 60 guys and having nowhere to put them,” Rotonda said. “I know a ton of these guys go out and they sign all these fighters, and there’s no way to honor those deals. […] So if I can guarantee that I can keep you busy, we’ll bring you on. Especially if you actually want to fight, you want to fight anyone and figure out whether you can fight or not, and we can figure that out too for you.”

Added Duva: “We’re not well-situated to sign a guy who’s turning pro. You need to keep them active. But to get to the people like Carlos Jackson who are at a crossroads in their career, I think we’re well-positioned to help them. So that’s what we’re going to do.”

David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2 and @UnitedBoxingPod. He is the co-host of the United Boxing Podcast. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.