Manny Pacquiao vs. Mike Jones: PR Stunt or Meaningful Proposition
Manny Pacquiaoย hasn'tย even started training for his fight against his Nov. 12th opponent, Juan Manuel Marquez, yet and already Bob Arum is chiming off about possible future opponents for Pacquiao.
According to Boxingscene.com, Top Rank sent out a release claiming that Bob Arum put Mike Jones on a list of possible opponents for Pacquiao to face in 2012.
Mike Jones (24-0 18KO) has fought in Welterweight for nearly his entire career andย doesn'tย have a very impressive rรฉsumรฉ to even warrant a fight of this magnitude. He is the current holder ofย the NABA welterweight title, WBO NABO welterweight title and the WBC Continental Americas welterweight title.
Two of the most significant fights he has on his rรฉsumรฉ are from the same person, Jesus Soto Karass. Other than Karass, Jonesย doesn'tย have any notable names to his name.
This is not to say that you wouldn't be a challenge in any way. He's stands six feet tall and has a 72 inch reach. If they were to fight, he would be the biggest opponent Pacquiao has ever faced and one of the hardest punchers.ย
Itโs speculated though that this is merely a publicity move by Top Rank to raise Jonesโs profile in the boxing world and bring more attention to him. Jones is promoted by J. Russel Peltz and not by Top Rank, or not at the moment at least.ย
They seem to want to use Pacquiao as bait to lure fighters into joining under the Top Rank team in hopes of a dream fight with Pacquiao. This appears to be the case as Timothy Bradley turned down a super fight with Amir Khan in favor of waiting his contract out with Gary Shaw.
Jones is a smaller PPV draw than Timothy Bradley and has yet to highlight his own major TV main event. So as of right now, all signs point towards raising the young manโs profile and maybe having him join Top Rank when his promotional contract expires with his current promoter.
Whatever the case may be, I hope for the sake of everybody whoโs a fan of boxing that this fight doesnโt materialize in the next year or so. This would be a waste of a fight when there are clearly much better choices out there.
Jones's next fight is on June 25th against Raul Munoz (22-13-1 16KO) and is a keep busy fight.
