By Chris Williams: Unbeaten welterweight contender Mike Jones (23-0, 18 KO’s) and Jesus Soto-Karass (24-5-3, 16 KO’s) will do it all over again on February 19th, when they square off once again to find out who the better fighter is at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Karass-Jones fight will be shown on the undercard of the bantamweight clash between WBC/WBO bantamweight champion Fernando Montiel and challenger Nonito Donaire. Jones and Soto-Karass fought last year on November 13th at the Cowboys stadium, on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao vs. Antonio Margarito bout.
Jones, 27, started off well in that fight and had Soto-Karass hurt from some rocket right hands. However, Jones punches himself out in the first couple of rounds and was unable to finish Soto-Karass off. At that point, Soto-Karass completely took over the fight after the 3rd round and pursued a tired Jones around the ring in the last seven rounds, pounding him with shots to the head and body while Jones tried to cover up. Jones threw shots back at times, but his shots had no power on them and his arms looked rubbery.
Incredibly, the judges scored it as a 10 round majority decision for Jones instead of giving it to Soto-Karass. It was pretty stunning, because Jones wasn’t even competitive after the 3rd round and spent much of the time retreating and trying to keep from getting hit. The rematch will likely be the same as the first fight, as Jones is someone that is used to going out and scoring knockouts early in his fights. When his opponents fail to fall early, he looks tight, robotic and lacking in flexibility.
Jones looks more like a weight lifter than a fighter, and I figured his lack of stamina and flexibility would catch up to him sooner or later. I just didn’t think that a limited welterweight like Soto-Karass would be the one that would ultimately expose Jones. This isn’t a sign of how good Soto-Karass is as a fighter, but more of an indication of how truly bad Jones is. The fight should be interesting to show two-ESPN level fighters going at it. I don’t see either at being good enough to be ranked in the top 10, and Jones #2 WBO, #3 IBF and #4 WBC ranking is a joke. He belongs more near the bottom around number#15 than near the top.
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