MIKE JONES TKO3 LUCIANO PEREZ

There was excitement in the three rounds the fight lasted when Philadelphia’s Mike Jones stopped Chicago-domiciled Mexican Luciano Perez in Friday's Telefutura main event. Jones definitely got rocked by a left hook in the second round but he finished the fight with the sort of two-handed bombing I had hoped to see from him. He was a welterweight fighting a junior middleweight, Perez coming in well over the contacted weight, but he went in and blew out the bigger man with two knockdowns after surviving the shaky patch. When Jones fights like this he is fun to watch, a boxer-puncher whose chin isn’t exactly granite.

Jones’s promoter, Russell Peltz, told me: “Jones injured his left hand sparring Nov. 28 with light-heavy Yusaf Mack, and the Perez fight was in doubt for more than a week. In fact, it wasn’t until Sunday, Nov. 30, than I was feeling relieved that he could fight after three visits to two hand surgeons. However, for a kid who loves to spar, he couldn’t do any sparring the last two weeks.

“He did not listen to his corner against Perez. They were begging him to box but he said Perez was strong and rushing him around the ring. He admitted he got buzzed in the second round. He also said he felt confident once he found Perez’s chin, that the shots he was landing earlier with no effect finally would hurt Perez. He was determined to get inside and beat Perez to the punch and I guess he knew best. He did have his right hand in ice after this fight.

“He also said he was worried the fight would be stopped on a head butt since Perez was bleeding profusely from a scalp wound and Mike did not want a no contest on his record. He thought Perez felt the same way which was why he felt Perez was attacking him.

“Mike can punch, that’s for sure, and he’s got the right attitude — he simply wants to fight as often as possible and he really doesn’t care who he fights.

“With the bad hand, no sparring, the weight issue and no fight since Aug. 29, I thought he did rather well. Who does that to Perez?”