By Jake Donovan
Out of sight, out of mind.
Nowhere does that phrase ring truer than in boxing circles. The hardest of hardcore fans will go to great lengths to watch any show, or settle for a post-fight report in the absence of network coverage or an available online stream.
Everyone else settles for what’s offered on the tube, and even at that in a major show.
As a whole, we’ve become a sport of elitists. Once upon a time, the mantra read, “As the heavyweight division goes, so goes boxing.” Today, the sport basically lives and dies on whatever is offered on HBO or Showtime.
Undefeated Mike Jones has enjoyed a few televised appearances in recent years, including ESPN2 and the Solo Boxeo series that used to run every Friday on Telefutura. But the talented Philly product has yet to appear on either of the aforementioned premium networks.
As a result, he remains out of sight and out of mind to most beyond the sport’s cult following.
He deserves better. A lot better.
On a weekend – hell, a summer - as slow as this one, there is no reason for a fighter of Jones’ talent to have to toil on the club circuit and off-camera. Yet it’s the route he’s forced to travel if he doesn’t want to grow stale on the sidelines awaiting other top welterweights to accept his repeated challenges of “anyone, anywhere, anytime.”
The latest stop comes Saturday night in Bally’s Atlantic City, when he faces late replacement Lenin Arroyo in the evening’s main event, whose only coverage comes online via pay-per-view webcast on GoFightLive.tv.
This year has been a challenging one, to say the least. It began with the knowledge that he wouldn’t be on television anywhere near as frequently as was the case the year prior, which really wasn’t all that often to begin with.
A televised opener on ESPN2 and two headliners on Telefutura was the extent of his prime-time exposure. His lone appearance on The Deuce resulted in the first distance fight he would endure as a pro, with his second trip to the scorecards coming in his very next fight.
Jones would resume his knockout ways just in time – stopping Juliano Ramos in six entertaining rounds in late August. The bout served as his first televised main event, coming on Solo Boxeo of all places, a series that traditionally catered to the needs of Latino fighters, or at least their promoters.
Every so often, talent is spoken in a universal language. The amount of talent Jones brought to the table was enough to temporarily give the series a new look, and for the series to give him a second look, as he was brought back a little over three months later. He once again impressed, stopping the normally durable Luciano Perez in three rounds.
Unfortunately, he was already facing an uphill battle going in. No matter how impressive he’d look, it would be his last ever fight on the series. It was announced less than a month prior to his fight that Telefutura opted to bow out of the boxing business, riding out the fights left on its schedule before calling it quits.
The December showcase against Perez would mark the last time Mike Jones graced a television set. The irony being that a Latino-friendly series would spell the end of prime time exposure for an African-American fighter.
Given his fan-friendly smile – capable of switching between boxer and banger in the blink of an eye – you’d think those in search of filling up their boxing schedules would be feuding over who gets first rights in showcasing the rising star.
Now more than seven months into the year, there have been no takers.
Jones’ lone fight to date in 2009 was a second round stoppage over Dario Esales. Not the greatest opponent in the world, but the best that promoter J. Russell Peltz could do on short notice after Larry Mosley would pull out of the fight just six days prior due to a back injury.
Sadly, it wouldn’t be the last time efforts were made to get Jones and “the other” welterweight Mosley in the ring. The two were rescheduled to go in June, only for Jones to bow out of the fight after suffering a strained bicep during training camp.
Efforts were made to reschedule the fight for this weekend, only for Mosley to once again pull out of the fight. Instead, he faces Lenin Arroyo, who becomes the man who replaced the man who replaced the man to fight Mike Jones.
Arroyo, a 29-year old Costa Rican now based out of Miami, was brought in after former world title challenger Ben Tackie couldn’t pass state medical requirements. Tackie was brought in after Mosley backed out for what promoter J. Russell Peltz insists will be the last time.
In other words, don’t look for Jones-Mosley to take place anytime in the near future, if at all.
Not that it matters for the moment. So long as networks refuse to grant him airtime, it will remain a struggle to look for Mike Jones in almost any capacity.
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com and an award-winning member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Contact Jake at JakeNDaBox@gmail.com.