Mike Jones vs Randall Bailey: IBF Title Fight Goes to Purse Bid on Jan. 24

by Scott Christ on Jan 12, 2012 10:48 PM EST in Boxing News Analysis

Mike Jones will face Randall Bailey next for the IBF title, but the fight is headed to purse bid. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)

The vacant IBF welterweight title fight between No. 1-ranked Mike Jones and No. 2-ranked Randall Bailey will go ahead, but no agreement was made today, so the fight is going to purse bid on January 24.

Top Rank will represent Jones in the bidding, while DiBella Entertainment will be bidding for Bailey.

Jones (26-0, 19 KO) defeated Sebastian Lujan in the PPV-opening bout of the Cotto vs Margarito card on December 3, and while he won easily, it was hardly an attention-grabbing performance. Though he's been featured on some major cards, Jones still hasn't had a true eye-opening win.

Bailey (42-7, 36 KO) earned his title shot a while back, when Jan Zaveck still held the IBF title, by stopping Jackson Bonsu in the first round of an eliminator in Belgium, on March 19, 2010.

Bailey is known for having stunning power in his right hand (and his left isn't exactly feeble when he lands a good hook, either), enough power to beat anyone if he can catch them. Jones will be the fairly heavy favorite in this fight, as Bailey can be fairly easily diffused with the right approach, but there's always danger when fighting Randall Bailey.

The IBF title, if you missed the saga, became vacant when Andre Berto chose to give up the title instead of facing Bailey, as HBO rejected a Berto vs Bailey fight. Berto instead went after a rematch with Victor Ortiz, which is happening February 11 (on Showtime), leaving the belt to be decided between Bailey (who had stepped aside to let Berto face Zaveck in September) and Jones.

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Comments

how good is mike jones?

do you guys think he would give mayweather a better fight than canelo?

by el javi on Jan 12, 2012 11:02 PM EST via Android app reply actions

I’m kind of indifferent to him. He has talent, but has never seemed special.

@KoryKitchen32 on twitter

by Kory Kitchen on Jan 12, 2012 11:13 PM EST up reply actions

Jones is talented. I think his reach would be the main advantage. Maybe he could be what Paul Williams was hyped as. There is of course an extremely disproportionate amount of money to be made between mayweather/canelo right now than mayweather/jones.

by bennybass on Jan 12, 2012 11:17 PM EST up reply actions

Honestly I don’t see much in him. He’s just a pretty good fighter who will be a contender for a few years. I suspect when he faces really top-level guys, he’ll lose clearly.

Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."

by Scott Christ on Jan 12, 2012 11:28 PM EST up reply actions

Canelo has Red Hair and a constituency

"Silence is golden when you can't think of a good answer"
---- Muhammed Ali

by pakinpower on Jan 13, 2012 1:09 AM EST up reply actions

Best Alvarez review.

by RyanSexton on Jan 13, 2012 2:24 AM EST up reply actions

He'd either get starched early

Or give Mayweather a tougher time than Canelo. I’ve always maintained that Mayweather could have problems against a long volume puncher, a la Jones or Paul Williams. He has a tendency to just get into a defensive mode when he’s under fire, and if he fights someone with longer reach than he does (I think that’s only happened once or twice in his whole career), he won’t be able to pull back as well.

All that said, the more likely scenario is that Jones (or Williams) comes in with flurries a few times, Mayweather times him at the end of the flurry, and after that happens 3 or 4 times Jones would just stop fighting aggressively.

Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."

by Brickhaus on Jan 13, 2012 2:02 PM EST up reply actions