Again the underdog, Manuel Jaimes aims to upset Abdullah Mason

Manuel Jaimes is no stranger to being an underdog. 

His upcoming fight with lightweight prospect Abdullah Mason calls back to Jaimes’ amateur days, when he faced Otha Jones III, one of the best amateurs of his era.

In 2016, Jaimes fought Jones at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nevada. Though Jaimes didn’t win the tournament semifinal bout, it was an extremely competitive match with local fans cheering for him, some of whom believed he did enough to win. Nine years later, Jaimes will channel that into one of the biggest fights of his career. 

“I am going to use some of my experience from the amateurs, especially with him being like a younger guy,” Jaimes told BoxingScene. “You know he’s fast, he’s quick, he has that speed. Not necessarily that he fights an amateur style, but he has those qualities of the top amateurs with quick hands.”

Jaimes, a 24-year-old from Stockton, California, is coming off his second career loss, though the defeat was on the biggest stage of his career. Jaimes lost to former junior welterweight titleholder Rolando Romero in September on the Canelo Alvarez-Edgar Berlanga pay-per-view undercard. Jaimes is now 16-2-1 (11 KOs).

The bout with Romero was at junior welterweight. Jaimes’ fight against Mason – on the February 14 undercard of Denys Berinchyk-Keyshawn Davis on ESPN – will be at lightweight, where he’s had his most success. 

Jaimes believes he will also benefit from having a longer period of time to prepare for this fight. He split camp between his local gym with Steve Salas and Stockton PYA, as well as going to Robert Garcia’s gym in Riverside, California. 

“I am really excited. I had a full camp this time,” Jaimes said. “We didn’t have to ease into camp or anything.”

For Jaimes, this bout is a long time in the making. He recalls being offered the Mason fight before but is glad it is happening now, when it is a bigger fight. 

“I want to say that we had been offered this fight a while back,” Jaimes said. “I was just thinking about this the other day. I am not sure how long ago it was, but it was going to be like a six-rounder.”

Mason, 16-0 (14 KOs), a 20-year-old from Cleveland, Ohio, can be summed up in one word – phenom. He has passed every test asked of him. Even in his last fight in November, when Yohan Vazquez knocked him down twice in the first round, Mason got up and scored the stoppage, extending his knockout streak to six fights. 

Still, seeing Mason’s last fight gave Jaimes even more encouragement. 

“Even before his last fight I felt I could beat him, but after seeing him get dropped twice makes me confident,” Jaimes said. “After seeing that last fight, seeing that he’s vulnerable that way, then it just gave me that much more confidence.”