Lightweight prospect Abdullah Mason takes on Manuel Jaimes next month on Valentine’s Day, February 14, at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Beard check
It’s a step back for the 20-year-old Mason (16-0, 14 KOs), who struggled in his last fight against Yohan Vasquez, dropping him twice in the first round on Nov. 8 in Norfolk, Virginia.
Mason vs. Jaimes will fight on the undercard of the Denys Berinchyk vs. Keyshawn Davis card. They will fight on the ESPN+ preliminary card, not the ESPN main card. The bout on the card is undefeated junior middleweight Xander Zayas (20-0, 12 KOs) taking on Slaw Spomer (20-0, 11 KOs) in a 10-round bout.
Top Rank didn’t want to take any chances with Mason, so they chose a soft-hitter in Jaimes (16-2-1, 11 KOs), who is coming off a ten-round unanimous decision loss to the former WBA welterweight champion in September. 14 last year.
It’s been a busy year for the 5’9″ southpaw from Mason 2024, fighting four times and knocking them all out. Before his latest fight against the 30-year-old Vasquez of the Dominican Republic (26-6, 21 KOs), Mason talked about a world title fight in 2025.
However, after Vasquez’s left hooks clipped him repeatedly in their fight last November, Mason stopped talking about a world title fight. He now knows that he still needs time before he is ready and that he may never get there if his beard continues to betray him. Floyd Schofield Sr. revealed that his son had injured Mason in sparring.
Mason needs to be less aggressive and pick his spots when he gets open with the offense. He doesn’t have the beard 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 will be interesting to see if he can knock him out as he showed a good chin against Rolly.
If Mason moves up from lightweight, he will have a lot of trouble fighting at 140 or 147 if his striking ability doesn’t improve.
