HOUSTON, Texas \u2013\u00a0Omari Jones has vowed to maintain his discipline despite a growing sense of pressure to fight with greater spite.<\/p>\n
The promising junior middleweight recorded five victories in the 12 months that followed his professional debut, but after the last of those \u2013 the unanimous decision over Christian Gomez in March \u2013 the high expectations that surround him contributed to a demand for him to entertain.<\/p>\n
On Saturday at the Fertitta Center he fights the undefeated Diego Zuniga and insists that delivering a \u201cstatement\u201d is at the forefront of his mind. His promoters Matchroom, similarly, want him to complement gaining experience with building a reputation as a fighter to invest in, and to that end \u2013 after his appearance on the undercard of O\u2019Shaquie Foster-Raymond Ford \u2013 are preparing to deliver for him a further two fights before the conclusion of 2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not just being more aggressive, it\u2019s about me putting on my best performance,\u201d the 23 year old told BoxingScene. \u201cI want to put everything together \u2013 from my last fight, a lot of people said it was a boxing clinic and they would have liked to have seen a stoppage. I would be more aggressive, but I\u2019m not gonna let outsiders throw my game plan off, and who I am as a fighter.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not sure where the art of fighting and dominating \u2013 going rounds \u2013 got lost. I actually got a lot of love from a lot of people, so I took a lot of the positives, and it outweighed the negatives, \u2018cause a lot of people was happy with my performance, and you had a small bunch of people who wasn\u2019t, but I was super happy with it and think it was my best performance. My team was super happy with it. People are getting impatient, and aren\u2019t there to see the art of boxing \u2013 they just want to see knockout, knockout, knockout, and brawl and action. But the name of the game is to hit and not get hit.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a balance of both [entertaining and winning]. Not getting lost and tricked out of my spot; to brawl and just go crazy in there. But being able to box, being able to bang, whenever I want to on my terms. I\u2019m the boss in the ring and take control in the fight. I\u2019d be able to do what I wanna do.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Matchroom have] been happy with what I\u2019ve been doing, \u2018cause my first five fights I dropped guys; stopped guys, and the only fight that wasn\u2019t like that was my last fight. Who are these people to tell me to go out there and bang? I\u2019m just gonna do what I\u2019m gonna do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked about the test presented by the 30-year-old Zuniga, who is expected to prove both physical and aggressive, he responded: \u201cThis opponent\u2019s pretty good. He has a 9-0 record. He\u2019s coming to fight. Any undefeated fighter wants to keep that undefeated record. The last opponent I fought, people thought he was a walkover, and the opponent before that was undefeated; these undefeated guys are tough \u2018cause they know their 0 is on the line.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has a decent jab. He tries to be rough, so we\u2019ll see what he comes with. All I know is I\u2019m gonna stick to my game plan and what I do, and he\u2019ll adjust to me.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe feet [are his weakness]. Me being athletic, my feet is gonna be the dictator, and I\u2019ll be able to start off with that, get my rhythm, and it\u2019s gonna start with the feet \u2013 angles, and things like that.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe last opponent, he was 23-6 with a 90 per cent knockout ratio. The opponent himself was a statement into how I\u2019m moving as a prospect. The opponent before that was undefeated. He was stubborn \u2013 I knocked him down in the first round, he got back up and he fought. I want to make statements each time. I want people to say \u2018That kid\u2019s special\u2019 each time out, and I would love to steal the show.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jones, who impressed Matchroom at Paris 2024, is being fast-tracked and built in his home city of Orlando by his promoters. Three of his six fights \u2013 including his professional debut \u2013\u00a0have been staged there, and he expects to fight there again in the coming months before headlining there in 2027.<\/p>\n
\u201cEddie Hearn and Matchroom first set the plan out when we first met in Paris after the Olympics,\u201d he explained. \u201cThey were gonna keep me busy; we were gonna have fight after the fight. \u2018We gonna go to your home in Orlando and you\u2019re gonna make your name there and bring out a lot of your fans.\u2019 That\u2019s everything and more that I\u2019ve been wanting and asking for. I\u2019m super happy, and I wanna be that prospect of the year, and with me being busy that puts me in a great spot to be able to do that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019mma have two more fights by the end of this year. One will definitely be in Orlando, and next year I have four more fights and am hopefully headlining in Orlando, so that\u2019s the goal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zuniga, of Des Moines, Iowa, sees in the marketable Jones the opportunity to transform his career. He also believes that against him his greater experience as a professional fighter represents his greatest chance of success.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a good fighter,\u201d Zuniga said. \u201cI still think he has an Olympic style, transitioning into the pros.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s the tallest; the sharpest. I\u2019d say [he\u2019s the best I\u2019ve fought].<\/p>\n
\u201cHis height; his feet; he moves well, and he has sharp punches. His movement, his length and his sharpness [are his strengths].<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve seen his fights. I\u2019ve seen how he fights and how he composes himself. I plan on introducing him furthermore into the pros [by making this physical].<\/p>\n
\u201cCongratulations to him for going to the Olympics, and qualifying, and stuff like that. That\u2019s always real good. But a fight\u2019s a fight; you can bring what you bring to the table but we\u2019re still gonna have to fight, man; we\u2019re gonna have to see what you\u2019re about on the inside.<\/p>\n
\u201cA fight like this is real good exposure for me. I\u2019ve been doing this for a while. It really hasn\u2019t hit; I was expecting to feel like excited, or jittery, or some sort of feelings. But honestly, it just feels like we\u2019re here in Houston and on the job.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just really need the exposure. I\u2019ve always been an exciting fighter; the fans are gonna love me. They\u2019re gonna love what they see; if they like me and wanna see more of me, let\u2019s do it. That\u2019s what I wanna do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON, Texas \u2013\u00a0Omari Jones has vowed to maintain his discipline despite a growing sense of pressure to fight…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":705580,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,6653,186946,343281,151776,85],"class_list":["post-705579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-boxingscene","tag-declan-warrington","tag-diego-zuniga","tag-omari-jones","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=705579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/705580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=705579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=705579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=705579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}