|
The Surelere Stadium Undercard Highlights
* New York's Mark Jones defied both age and popular belief in scoring a dominant unanimous decision victory over the favoured Englishman Yeti Yates to start off the evening (59-55, 58-56, 59-55). It was thought that Yates' aggressive disposition and punching power would be enough for him to defeat Jones but the 40 year-old put on a boxing display that will surely see his stock rise as far as his chances in the Qualifying League are concerned.
Clearly the experts underestimated Jones' speed, ability and the advantage he'd gain from the five inch height difference (6'3" to 5'10"). He was able to keep Yates on the outside for the majority of the contest, pumping a potent left jab into his face and also scoring with blazing combinations that had the tattoo-covered Coventry native shaking his head in bewilderment. It was only in round three that Yates had any success as he found the mark with three seperate power shots in the stanza: a smashing left hook early, a straight right moments later and a jolting uppercut late. But Jones simply went back to work in the 4th and he swept the bottom half of the bout on two scorecards, finishing magnificently with a final round barrage that came close to stopping his durable opponent.
The punch totals shown below tell the story of Jones' victory:
Mark Jones: 210/453 (.464)
Yeti Yates: 62/188 (.330)
"I can't believe how great this has turned out for me," said an ecstatic Jones. "You know, it was hard watching my buddy Marco lose on Tuesday so this win was as much for him as for me. Don't worry, buddy. We're gonna get there together. I have to say that I took some of the comments made in the press personally, folks saying I had no shot, saying that Yates was going to monster me. Looks like they were a little caught up in the image of him being a tough guy, a convicted criminal and pretty mean. I was so happy with the way my jab was working, you know? It really won me the fight 'cause without it he would have been getting inside and that would have caused me some trouble, no doubt."
(to be continued)
|