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 control

This is a step back for 20-year-old Mason (16-0, 14 KOs), who struggled in his last fight against Yohan Vasquez, getting knocked down twice by him 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. They will fight on the preliminary card broadcast on ESPN+ instead of the ESPN main card. The co-feature 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 bout.

Top Rank isn’t taking any risks with Mason, so they went with a soft puncher in Jaimes (16-2-1, 11 KOs), who is coming off a lopsided ten-round unanimous decision loss to the former welterweight champion. WBA lightweight in September. 14th last year.

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

However, after being repeatedly hit by Vasquez’s left hooks in their fight last November, Mason stopped talking about fighting for a world title. Now you know you need more time before you’re ready, and you may never get there if your chin continues to betray you. Floyd Schofield Sr. revealed that his son had hurt Mason in sparring.

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, going for knockouts.

Manuel Jaimes Challenge

Jaimes, 24, looked slow and weak in his loss to Rolly Romero, so he is not a threat to Mason. As long as Abdullah doesn’t leave himself exposed 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 because he showed a good chin in his fight against Rolly.

If Mason makes it past the lightweight division, he will have a lot of trouble fighting at 140 or 147 if his punch resistance doesn’t improve.