Following in the slipstream of welterweight stars Errol Spence and Terence Crawford, Cleveland prospect Abdullah Mason looked up to both.
They met in a definitive showdown in 2023, when Crawford – at his very best – dismantled Spence in a Las Vegas showpiece fight. As a consequence of their paths, they are two of the fighters Mason most admires.
“I like how Crawford fights, but when Spence was active, I liked Spence,” he said. “I gotta say Crawford, he’s up there. I like his whole persona. I like the style a lot. He was just fun to watch for me. I don’t watch a lot of boxers. I’m getting into it more, but I say Spence – he just had a certain style that I like to see.”
Mason is climbing the world rankings. He fights Manuel Jaimes in New York on Friday night at the Theater in Madison Square Garden, and he is ranked 15th and 13th by two of the sanctioning bodies.
He is not sure how far that means he is from the top, but he knows he is running his own race.
“I mean, everybody’s path is different,” the 20 year old said. “Some guys are in my position, they are one or two fights away. You know, you got other guys, they take a little longer. They take two, three years. I don’t think I’ll be taking that long, but we’re going to see. Boxing will determine that.
“They put a good one in front of me and I knock him down and that’d put me way up in the rankings. We just going to see me right now. We taking it step by step.”
The lightweight division has been one of boxing’s finest for some time, with leaders including Shakur Stevenson and Gervonta Davis. They both have upcoming fights, and Mason will be watching.
“I mean, 135 has been like the hottest division in boxing for a while now,” he said. “And so, when you hear and you reach in the top, you know what you have to do and you know what you got to look like. And I believe I’m the next up-and-coming guy at 135, as long as I keep doing what I’m doing.”
Asked who is the divisional top dog is and who might come out on top if Stevenson and Davis meet, Mason was non-committal.
“Until they all fight each other, you’ll never know, but the guys with the titles – that’s who I look at as the guys to beat anybody with a title,” he said. ”So Tank, he’s been at the top for the longest out of anybody in the division. So you could put him there and Shakur; [Denys] Berinchyk has a title as well. So you could definitely put them up there, too.”
Stevenson fights the promising Floyd Schofield on February 22.
“I think Shakur, he gonna get him out of there, probably by stoppage, or he’s just gonna outclass him for the full fight,” Mason predicted. “I don’t think Schofield, he really has the it factor when it comes to being a top elite fighter. He’s a great fighter though, nonetheless. He got some amazing work. You can’t underestimate him, but when it comes to elite, elite boxing, I say Shakur walks over Schofield.”
Two weeks later, Tank faces Lamont Roach.
“I feel like Tank has it,” said Mason. “I feel like Tank has it, but I feel like it’s gonna be a great fight as well. Lamont Roach, he likes to fight, and he’s been doing it since he was young. It’s not foreign to him. I feel like it’s gonna be better than the Frank Martin fight for Tank. So, it might be a little more challenging in my eyes, but styles make fights, so you don’t really know until they get in there.”
“Tank” Davis is often heralded by young fighters as their favorite boxer. While Mason doesn’t go that far, he has plenty of respect for the Baltimore puncher.
“He did what he had to do to get to where he’s at now,” added Mason. “I respect the process of what he went through in boxing. You gotta stay focused. You know, I say he’s learned early to stay focused and he’s where he’s at now because of the hard work he’s put in. That’s that’s the goal for all of us to make sure we put in that work, and results will show. I respect him in that sense, for sure.”
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