By Ryan Burton

On Saturday evening at Bally's Event Center in Atlantic City, NJ, Mike Jones (26-1) will return to the ring for the first time since being stopped by Randall Bailey on June 9th, 2012. He will face Jaime Herrera (11-2) in a bout scheduled for 10 rounds.

Herrera is an unheralded fighter but scored an upset knockout victory over the then 12-0 Michael Finney in March. Jones said that he is well aware of the risk that facing Herrera presents.

 

"I am looking at every fight from here on out as dangerous. I'm taking every fight seriously, this is serious business," said Jones.

The 31-year-old Jones has appeared on HBO and on major pay-per-view undercards headlined by the likes of Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto.

He doesn't think that he is that far away from being back on the big stage.

"I am only one great performance  away from breaking the gates open once again. The way boxing is, you only need one great performance  and you can get a title shot," Jones reasoned.

Jones is still co-promoted by Top Rank who's deep welterweight stable includes Manny Pacquiao, Juan Manuel Marquez, Tim Bradley, Brandon Rios and Luis Carlos Abregu. Mike Alvarado is also likely headed to 147 and the promotional company also has options on Diego Chaves.

Even though he hasn't fought in nearly two and a half years, Jones said that it's easier now for him to make the welterweight limit than before and that after this fight he would be interested in facing any of them.   

"It is easier than it used to be. It's just changing eating habits. Now I'm eating healthy 95% of the time instead of 50% of the time. I am not looking past Herrera but I am most definitely looking towards bigger and better competition. I think all of my fights after this are going to be HBO and Showtime worthy from here on out," Jones told BoxingScene.com.

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