NEW YORK — Abdullah Mason put a frightening beating on Manuel Jaimes, knocking out a game but outgunned fighter who had just gone the distance with Rolando Romero.
Mason put Jaimes down four times in four rounds before referee David Fields stopped their eight-round scheduled lightweight fight at the 1:55 mark. The fight was on the preliminary undercard of Denys Berinchyk-Keyshawn Davis at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
While Mason’s last bout in November was among the best brief shootouts in recent history – a two-round win over Yohan Vasquez in which both men hit the canvas – this match was mostly one-way traffic in favor of the 20-year-old Mason, who is now 17-0 (15 KOs).
Mason showed patience and worked behind his jab, hurting Jaimes near the end of the first round with a sweeping left hand. The pattern of Jaimes struggling to cut off the movement of Mason led to the inevitable first knockdown early in the second round, the result of a counter left uppercut. Jaimes signaled to his corner that he was fine, but he had few answers for how to adjust.
Jaimes, who looked significantly smaller than Mason despite fighting in the junior welterweight division in his last fight, was down again in the third round as a counter left hand followed by a right hook caught the Stockton, California, resident coming in recklessly. After Jaimes briefly visited with the doctor, the fight was allowed to continue into the fourth round, though it was clear that Mason had no interest in extending it any further.
Mason landed a solid counter left hand that dropped Jaimes again, and then put him down for the fourth and final time with a pair of right hooks, aided by a hard left hook to the body just before it.
“We want the belts…world championship,” said Mason when asked what he wants next.
“We right there. Keep doing what I’m doing and making these guys look like I’ve been since I turned pro.”
Mason declined to give any specifics when asked by ESPN reporter Mark Kriegel who he would target for his next fight. Instead, Mason said he wants to stay busy and take on bigger challenges.
“The more they give me, the more I put out. We creeping up on those titles,” said Mason.
Jaimes, now 16-3-1 (11 KOs), was stopped for the first time in his career. The 24-year-old had been on his best run to date, with a decision win over Jonathan Romero last July followed by the loss to Rolando Romero in September on the Saul “Canelo” Alvarez-Edgar Berlanga undercard in Las Vegas.
In other action at Madison Square Garden:
One of the sharpest performances of the undercard came from welterweight prospect Rohan Polanco, who put on a power-punching display to blast out Jean Carlos Torres in two rounds.
Polanco, 15-0 (10 KOs), scored two knockdowns on Torres, 22-2 (17 KOs), before their scheduled 10-round fight was stopped by referee Eddie Claudio at the 1:48 mark.
The 26-year-old Polanco, of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, utilized a looping left hook a la Gennadiy Golovkin to hurt Torres early in the first round before a straight right put Torres down. Torres was noticeably wobbly as he walked back to the corner after the round, while Polanco could barely be bothered to take a sip of water, wandering around his side of the ring for the duration of the minute break.
Polanco’s left hook once again paid off early in the second round when a leaping left hook deposited Torres onto the canvas once more. A right hand between the guard buckled Torres’ knees, and the fight was stopped after another left hook sent him to the ropes.
Polanco, who fought in the 2020/2021 Olympics, is managed by Gary Hyde, perhaps best known for his work with Guillermo Rigondeaux.
The 34-year-old Torres, of Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico, sees a three-fight winning streak ended.
Keon Davis made it look easy in his second pro fight, knocking out Ira Johnson at 1:38 of the second round. Davis, the 2024 U.S. Olympic trials champion and younger brother of Top Rank fighters Keyshawn and Kelvin Davis, maximized his 6’3” welterweight frame, keeping the 5’9” Johnson at the end of his punches, and then landing punishing shots in combination.
It was the accumulation of punches, as opposed to any single shot, that eventually caused the first knockdown early into round two. Johnson rose up but was met with another punishing combination that put him down again. Johnson, 3-3 (2 KOs), took the full count on his knees before rising up.
Davis, who had turned pro on Keyshawn’s previous fight in November in their hometown of Norfolk, Virginia, raised his record to 2-0 (1 KO).
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