Prospect of the Month (April): Amari Jones
On a day that seemed to go disastrously wrong for team Haney, there was one bright spot for Bill Haney and the team. 22-year-old Amari Jone, who also originally hails from the Bay Area, California, and fights out of Las Vegas, continues to impress and continues to shine. After an eye-opening performance on the Haney-Prograis card in which he stopped Quilisto Madera at the Chase Center. He looked even better in another step-up fight as he dominated every minute of every round at the Barclays Center and stopped Armel Mbumba-Yassa to 12-0 (11), picked up the biggest wins of his career and established himself as one of the premier 160-pound prospects in the world and takes home our Prospect of the Month Award.
Jones, a tall, athletic, pure boxer with fluid movement and good snap worked patiently behind his jab. Putting round after round in the bank, Jones sat in the mid-range, and in the pocket and landed everything in the arsenal, then made Mbumba-Yassa miss over and over again. Frustrating his man. Jones picked up the pace and began punching his outgunned opponent. After five one-sided rounds, Jones got the stoppage he looked destined to get. A big right-hand, left hook two-piece put Mbumba-Yassa don just seconds into the stanza. The 22-year-old stayed on his wounded opponent and rocked him with another right hand and then another, which brought in referee Arthur Mercante to step in and stop the bout, less than 40 seconds into the sixth.
Jones continues to impress and win convincingly each step of the way. This Month's performance against Mbumba-Yassa suggests hes really, really ready to move up. That performance was dominant against a quality opponent. Perhaps for his next fight, they can match the 22-year-old against a Shane Mosley Jr, a Denzel Bentley, or even a comebacking JRock Wiliams. A win over a name like that, which it appears the Cali native is ready for, puts him firmly in contender status at the 160-pound division and no longer stuck in the prospect level.
