Lightweight Manuel Jaimes will accomplish another career milestone as he faces one of the hottest prospects in boxing, Abdullah Mason, on February 14 in New York City.
Jaimes, 24, is a Stockton, California-based fighter who turned professional in 2018. Despite the humble beginnings of his career – he turned pro on the first ever Toscano Boxing Promotions show at the San Joaquin County Fairgrounds in Stockton – he will have back-to-back high-profile fights on big stages. Jaimes explained how the fight came together.
“We had already agreed to the fight before [Mason] had his last fight,” Jaimes said. Mason, 20, fought in November against Yohan Vazquez. The thrilling opening round saw the Cleveland, Ohio-based Mason dropped twice in the first round. Mason also dropped Vazquez in the first round –– and then stopped him in the second round. “Seeing him get dropped gave us a confidence boost,” Jaimes said. “Hopefully, that plays to our advantage.”
Jaimes is coming off a disappointing unanimous decision loss to Rolando Romero at junior welterweight. The fight took place on the Saul “Canelo” Alvarez-Edgar Berlanga pay-per-view undercard in September.
What went wrong in that fight for Jaimes? He believes the bright lights and big stage of fighting on an Alvarez undercard might have gotten to him.
“I kind of froze in that moment,” Jaimes, 16-2-1 (11 KOs) said. “Now to step back and learn from that experience. Then get another opportunity where it’s the same thing, it’s a big stage, to be in a big fight on a big card, it’s another big opportunity. I’m not going to let this one slip past me this time.
“People say, ‘Oh, the lights are too bright’, and in the moment you don’t think that, but once you’re there, the fight just went by too fast for me. I wasn’t able to slow down and process things like in real time.”
Jaimes has been in the gym training at Stockton PYA with his longtime coach Steve Salas. In a few days, he will head down to Robert Garcia Boxing Academy in Riverside, California to finish up camp.
“We’ve been in the gym for a while already,” Jaimes said. “We were in the gym when [Mason] had his last fight. So we’ve already had a good camp out here, and then we are going to finish up the strong down there at Robert Garcia Boxing Academy.”
In Jaimes’ favor is the 94 rounds of professional experience he has to his credit, compared to Mason, who has gone 44 rounds as a pro.
Jaimes is eager to make the most of this fight, even as Mason, who holds a record of 16-0 (14 KOs), is being touted as one of the next big things in boxing.
“It doesn’t get any bigger than that [fighting in New York City], and I’ve talked to people in my family and stuff about [how] this is another dream come true for me,” Jaimes said. “The last one – fighting on Mexican Independence Day weekend at the T-Mobile Arena – that was big. I know I’ve told people a dream of mine is to fight at Madison Square Garden, and so like to be there now is crazy. I really can’t let this opportunity pass me this time.”
Lucas Ketelle took an unconventional path to boxing, eventually finding his stride in gyms and media. For the past decade, he has hosted the Lukie Boxing podcast, filmed training camps for fighters like Arnold Barboza Jnr, Mikey Garcia, and Caleb Plant, and worked with top professionals like Mike Bazzel. Ketelle is also an author of Inside the Ropes of Boxing, a guide for young fighters, a writer for ProBox TV, BoxingScene, and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Find him on X at @LukieBoxing.
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