Can Abdullah Mason Overcome Chin Concerns Against Manuel Jaimes?

Lightweight prospect Abdullah Mason will face Manuel Jaimes next month on Valentine’s Day, February 14, at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Chin check

This is a step back for the 20-year-old Mason (16-0, 14 KOs), who fought in his last fight against Yohan Vasquez, being knocked down twice in the first round on November 8 in Norfolk , Virginia.

Mason vs. Jaimes will fight on the Denys Berinchyk vs. Keyshawn Davis card. They will fight on the ESPN+ preliminary card instead of the ESPN main card. The joint fight on the card is undefeated junior middleweight Xander Zayas (20-0, 12 KOs) fighting Slawa Spomer (20-0, 11 KOs) in a 10-round fight.

Top Rank isn’t taking any chances with Mason, so they chose to go soft on Jaimes (16-2-1, 11 KOs), who is coming off a comprehensive ten-round unanimous decision loss to the former welterweight champion light from the AMB in September. 14th last year.

It’s been a busy year for the 5’9″ southpaw Mason in 2024, fighting four times and knocking everyone out. Before his last fight against the 30-year-old Dominican Republic native Vasquez (26-6, 21 KOs ), Mason had talked about fighting for a world title in 2025.

However, after being cut repeatedly by Vasquez’s left hooks in their fight last November, Mason has stopped talking about fighting for a world title. Now he knows he needs more time before he’s ready, and he may never get there if his chin keeps betraying him. Floyd Schofield Mr. revealed that his son had injured Mason in combat.

Mason needs to be less aggressive and pick his spots when he gets open with his offense. He doesn’t have the chin to fight like he does, doing everything by knockouts.

Manuel Jaimes Challenge

The 24-year-old Jaimes 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 with no problem. It will be interesting to see if he can knock him out because he showed a good chin in his fight against Rolly.

If Mason moves up to the lightweight division, he will have a lot of trouble fighting at 140 or 147 if his punching resistance doesn’t improve.