Omari Jones drove seven hours round-trip to find quality sparring work for his most recent training camp. He will know soon if it was worth it.
Jones will face Jerome Baxter in a six-round welterweight bout this coming Saturday at The Fontainebleau in Las Vegas.
Jones, 4-0 (4 KOs), might be best known for being the only member of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Boxing team to medal. (He won bronze.) In March, he turned professional with Matchroom Boxing, and in recent weeks the 23-year-old fighter from Orlando, Florida, would hit the road with some regularity to make the most of his latest opportunity.
“It was my way of testing myself,” Jones said. “I drove three hours to Miami with my dad and my coach. We pretty much travel to get rounds because we don’t get work in Orlando.”
It wasn’t a vacation. Jones sparred WBA junior middleweight titleholder Abass Baraou (who is scheduled to fight WBO junior middleweight titleholder Xander Zayas on January 31), then aim to be back at his own gym a day later.
“We’d turn right back around,” Jones said. “We’d do our whole workout there in Miami.”
Jones has gone only nine rounds as a pro. So far, no opponent has made it past the third round with him. He doesn’t think about his early knockout streak or going into the later rounds. In November, Jones needed just three rounds to knock out Yusuph Metu, who had never been stopped in his career.
“If it goes the distance, the rounds don’t scare me,” Jones said. “I am always taking the opportunity to end the fight early.”
Baxter, a 31-year-old from Pittsburgh, most recently fought in September, winning a six-round unanimous decision over Nelson Morales. At 7-0 (3 KOs), Baxter has exuded confidence in the lead-up to Saturday’s fight. Jones even alluded to some pre-fight chatter on social media between the two sides.
“I want to take an undefeated fighter's record and show them that there are levels to boxing,” Jones said. “I am on a different level, and I am ready to show that.”
Jones believes his standout amateur career and sparring sessions with a current titleholder suggest what the future holds for him.
“This will be my last six-rounder, then I am moving on to eight-rounders,” Jones said. “Each time out, we are stepping up the fights, and my team believes in me and my talent. Matchroom does as well.”
Lucas Ketelle is the author of “Inside the Ropes of Boxing,” a guide for young fighters, a writer for BoxingScene and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Find him on X at @BigDogLukie.
