Mike Jones vs. Randall Bailey for vacant IBF welterweight title on June 9th

By Boxing News - 04/12/2012 - Comments

Image: Mike Jones vs. Randall Bailey for vacant IBF welterweight title on June 9thBy Sean McDaniel: Unbeaten welterweight contender Mike Jones (26-0, 18 KO’s) will be up against big puncher Randall Bailey (42-7, 36 KO’s) in a fight for the vacant IBF welterweight title on June 9th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Jones, #1 IBF, #1 WBO, has been toiling away for the last seven years fighting mostly in obscurity against lesser fighters. He’s recently started stepping it up slightly with wins over Irving Garcia, Jesus Soto-Karass, and Sebastian Lujab, if you want to call that stepping up, and he’s done well.

In the 6-foot Jones’ first fight against Soto-Karass in November 2010, Jones didn’t look at all good in winning a questionable 10 round majority decision. But in their rematch in February 2011, Jones looked 100 percent better in winning by a convincing 12 round unanimous decision. I still wouldn’t call it a great performance because Jones was getting nailed all along by Soto-Karass, but the fight did show some substantial improvement from Jones.

Bailey, 37, represents a real threat to the 28-year-old Jones because of his one punch power. Bailey has a cannon for a right hand and he’s able to hurt his opposition when he connects cleanly. However, Bailey isn’t quite the puncher at welterweight compared to when he fought at light welterweight. At that weight, Bailey was dangerous for anyone that stepped in the ring to fight him. He’s been in with some good fighters like Juan Urango, Herman Ngoudjo, Miguel Cotto, Ishe Smith and Diosbelys Hurtado. He was beaten by all of those fighters. Bailey seems to have problems against opposition with good power and who put a lot of pressure on him.

Jones will have a size advantage over the the 5’9″ Bailey, #2 IBF, but it won’t mean anything if he runs into one of Bailey’s big right hands. Jones is one of those huge fighters with a large upper body and skinny legs. He’s kind of like a Wladimir Klitschko of the welterweight division but without Wladimir’s comparative power.

Jones can punch, but he’s not a huge puncher at 147. He’s more of a big guy that wears you down with his size and reach. Bailey, on the other hand, is a very big puncher and he’s capable of taking Jones out with a single shot if he lands solidly. However, it might not be easy for Bailey to land often because Jones has altered his fighting style to where he now moves a lot, and doesn’t just stand in front of his opponents looking to slug like he used to.



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