On July 9th in Atlantic City, Mike Jones kept his unbeaten record with a win by knockout over Irving Garcia. Although the punch that floored Garcia landed low, it was missed by the referee and counted as a body shot. After a slow first round, Jones dominated the rest of the fight. His athletic frame made Garcia look small as Jones used his speed and combinations to impressively beat Garcia.
Jones pawed with his jab to find range for the first three minutes. After that, an educated left hand took over the fight as Jones landed left jabs, hooks, and uppercuts. Jones improved to 22-0 with 18 knockouts. More importantly, Jones was the Shobox headliner and proved that he is ready to move into the big welterweight fights. Challenges with Manny Pacquaio and Andre Berto may be in the near future.
I have been to the last four Jones fights in Atlantic City. Each fight, he continues to evolve and impresses me more and more. Although I do not think Jones is ready for a Pacquaio or Mayweather, a fight with Berto or Miguel Cotto would be very interesting. I think Jones is ready for those big fights, and hopefully Showtime and HBO think so too.
In the co-main event, Lanardo Tyner upset Antwone Smith with a ninth round knockout win. Tyner, who paced himself well the entire fight, ended the night with a huge body shot that floored Smith. You could see the defeat on Smith’s face as he said he could no longer continue.
The undercard was filled with some great fights and fighters. Ryan Belasco fought a very smart and technical fight against Kevin Carmody in a 6 round junior welterweight battle. Belasco won by UD. Other memorable moments included Steve Martinez’s TKO of Jason Thompson, Anthony Smith’s TKO of Walter Edwards and Jason Sosa’s four round war with Clinton B. Douglas.
The biggest punch of a night full of hard hits happened when Philly favorite Ardrick Butler was knocked out by Manuel Guzman. In round one, Butler quickly dropped Guzman. He quickly began to pressure Guzman until a clean right hand caught Butler on the chin, dropping him within the last seconds of the round. Butler looked like a different fighter at the beginning of the second round. Butler began taking a lot of hits and still seemed hurt from the last round. As the two went to exchange in the middle of the ring, Butler was cleanly hit and dropped to the canvas. Doctors immediately attended to him. He was okay.
Russell Peltz put on a very entertaining card. Any Peltz promoted fight I have attended never disappoints. It was a great night of fights.