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Jaime Herrera stops Mike Jones in shocker, thriller

Fighters Network
23
Aug

Unheralded welterweight Jaime Herrera spoiled the comeback of Mike Jones, surviving two early knockdowns and battling back to grind down the former contender to a bloody seventh-round stoppage on Saturday at Bally’s Event Center in Atlantic City, N.J.

Herrera (12-2, 7 knockouts), a tough 25 year old from Franklin Park, Ill., was dropped hard by left hooks in rounds 2 and 3. It looked as though Jones, who hadn’t fought since suffering an 11th-round KO to Randall Bailey in an IBF title bout in June of 2012, would score a relatively easy early rounds stoppage in his first step back toward contender status. However, although Herrera got up on very wobbly legs after his first knockdown at the end of Round 2, he would not concede without a fight.

Herrera went on the attack in Round 4 and the lesser-experienced fighter had a lot of success, perhaps aided by a nasty cut Jones suffered over his right eye at the of Round 3. Jones (26-2, 19 KOs), a 31-year-old boxer-puncher from Philadelphia, fought back but his form and technique quickly fell off as blood covered his face.

The one-eyed former title challenger took a beating in rounds 5 and 6, absorbing hard uppercuts from Herrera. The punishment was so bad in Round 6, the ringside physician visited his corner prior to Round 7. Jones was allowed to get off his stool for the next round and he remained game but he continued to take a beating from Herrera, forcing the bout to be stopped on the doctor’s advice at the end of Round 7.



Jones led by one point, 66-65, on all three scorecards at the time of the stoppage.

The loss is a big blow to Jones’ career but his manager/promoter J Russell Peltz remained optimistic after the fight.

“Mike looked like a million dollars in the second and third round,” said the hall of fame promoter. “After the knockdown at the end of the second round, they legitimately could have stopped it. Even though the bell had rung, the guy had gotten up and was still wobbly and fell back into the ropes, but the referee let him go back into his corner.

“So the kid showed a lot of heart and fought through it. He came out in the third round and got dropped again early in the round. But by the end of the third round, the kid knew that he was back in the fight even though he had been knocked down. After the head butt on Mike’s right eye, then, his left eye all of a sudden swelled shut. I don’t know how that happened, but it just swelled shut.”

Peltz, who agreed with the officials’ decision to halt the fight at the end of Round 7, says Jones may not fight again this year.

“Mike was just wobbling,” said Peltz. “He had no legs after the fifth or sixth round.

“Obviously, it’s a major setback. With that eye, even if he had won, he’s not going to be fighting for a while.”

Jones’ second consecutive stoppage loss is the second consecutive upset TKO victory for Herrera, who stopped undefeated prospect Michael Finney in five rounds in March.

 

Lem Satterfield contributed to this report.

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