By Allen Fox: Unbeaten welterweight contender, and likely future Manny Pacquiao opponent Mike Jones (25-0, 19 KO’s), will reportedly be fighting welterweight contender Sebastian Lujan (38-5-2, 24 KO’s) on December 3rd at Madison Square Garden in New York on the undercard of the Miguel Cotto vs. Antonio Margarito fight.

This is a big jump up for the 28-year-old Jones, who has faced mainly soft 2nd and 3rd tier opposition his entire six-year pro career. Jones, despite his ripe age of 28, has fought only one quality fighter and that was Jesus Soto Karass, who gave Jones fits in their first fight in November 2010.

Jones won the fight by a controversial 10 round majority decision but was exposed by Karass in that fight. Jones made some adjustments, using more movement to easily beat the slow, plodding Karass in a rematch in February of this year. Jones was still very hittable and didn’t look like a world beater in that fight.

In his last fight, Jones went back to dining on 2nd tier opposition and took out journeyman Raul Munoz in the 2nd round. It’s surprising that Jones’ promoter Bob Arum is willing to put him in with a good fighter like Lujan, because a lot of boxing fans are under the impression that Arum was going to keep Jones on the soft path until a cash out fight against fellow Top Rank fighter Pacquiao in either 2012 or 2013.

Jones will be destroyed by Pacquiao when the time comes for that in house fight. But it’s nice to see Jones finally facing a good opponent. I think Lujan is a step up from Karass, although not as good as some of the other welterweight contenders like Devon Alexander, Kell Brook, Randall Bailey, Shawn Porter or Thomas Dulome. Those are the guys Jones should be fighting, but likely won’t until after he gets his big payday fight against Pacquiao in the future.

Jones lacks speed, flexibility and boxing ability. He seems to be top heavy with skinny legs that suggest that he probably be able to stay at welterweight for too much longer. At 6’0″, he looks like a middleweight from the top up. He’s huge for the division, and could end up as one of the paper champions soon.