It is the indispensable medium. Bob Arum and Oscar De La Hoya need television as much as Bill O?Reilly needs to shout into the cameras. But it is also a dilemma for young fighters impatient to get onto that rich stage as quickly as possible. Mike Jones is about to step through those ropes and into that light, which can be as unforgiving as it is bright.
That Jones has yet to do so can be viewed through a prism that casts a varied spectrum of interpretation. Prospects with less experience, a lesser record and a lot less potential have already been there. Fair or not, Jones has been waiting his turn, which finally comes on Nov. 13 beneath a screen that enriches as much as it exposes at Dallas Cowboys Stadium.
The wait, however, represents another opportunity, one which has been swept aside in the headlong rush to cash in before dues have to be paid. Jones, a Philadelphia welterweight who faces Jesus Soto-Karass on the HBO telecast of Manny Pacquiao-versus-Antonio Margarito, has served an apprenticeship. That?s a quaint notion, I know. Maybe, it?s even been forgotten. But forgotten fundamentals are a sure way to foreclosure.
While listening to Jones, promoter J Russell Peltz, Arum and Top Rank matchmaker Bruce Trampler on a conference call We
