Jones defies ‘ring rust’ theory; says he will knockout Cox

Jan 18, 2013 Sports

Jones will attempt to replicate this victory when he poleaxed Cleveland Fraser.

In boxing parlance, when a boxer on the verge of combat is deemed to be ring rusty it means that he has not fought for a long time and would experience grave difficulties in the coherency of his punches. While this theory has held fast on many occasions, some boxers have defied, and debunked such conventional analysis.
Kwesi ‘Lightening Struck Assassin’ Jones is scheduled to re-enter the ring with Barbadian Shawn ‘The Sniper’ Cox in a 10 rounds catchweight affair and despite a prolonged hiatus of approximately one year, has promised to knockout his opponent in the latter rounds of their 10 rounds catchweight affair slated for January 24 next at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
Jones’ last fought against Berbician; Kelsey George in June last year and it took the former pugilist less than one round to dispose of the latter. Before that bout, Jones had snatched victory from the jaws of defeat when, after enduring 8 torrid rounds against Barbados based Guyanese fighter, Cleveland Fraser, he came up with a killer punch that crashed into his opponent’s jaw and turned off his lights.
In reality, therefore, Jones has been out of the ring for approximately 9 months between the Fraser/George bout and another seven months between the imminent bout with Cox. Contrastingly, Cox have been pretty active, disposing of local fighters Leon ‘The Lion’ Gilkes and the memorable 2nd round knockout victory over former World Boxing Council (WBC) Cruiserweight champion, Wayne ‘Big Truck’ Braithwaite.
Further, Cox has engaged World Boxing Organization (WBO) number two ranked cruiserweight, Denis Lebedev, but suffered a second round knockout.
The pundits are advocating that Jones might have bitten off more than he could chew especially since he will be coming off a lengthy layoff. Kaieteur Sport visited Jones at his West Ruimveldt home yesterday morning, mere hours after he had wrapped up his morning sessions. “I am not scared of Cox,” he blurted, in response to the first question posed. “I know he calls himself ‘The Sniper’ but you need to remember that I am ‘The Assassin,’ a more deadly proposition,” said Jones.
Reminded of Cox’s devastating knockout of ‘The Big Truck,’ Jones blurted, “I am no ‘Big Truck,’ I have no time for idle gaff; all I know is that I will take Cox into the deep and drown him,” said a super confident Jones. For the uninitiated, Jones was saying that he would take Cox deep into the latter round before finishing him off.
He was reminded of his lengthy hiatus from the ring but scoffed and replied,”I have not been in the ring but I’ve been engaged in intensive training.” He said that he has had two aborted fights; against Trinidadian Kurt Sinnette and his countryman, Shawn Corbin. “The fight against Sinette was cancelled after the (Trinidad) authorities ruled that I could not fight because I was not the holder of a Caribbean Boxing Federation (CABOFE) title.” He said that he believed that Corbin experienced cold feet and opted to fight Braithwaite instead. “All this time I was awaiting my chance so now that the opportunity is here I will not let it slip by,” pronounced Jones.
Our discussion occurred merely two hours after Jones had wrapped up his morning sessions and Jones was getting ready to catch up on some rest. “I commence sessions at around 5 o’clock and engage in lots of conditioning work,” he intimates. This includes sprints, abdominal exercises and rigid calisthenics. Jones said that he has already wrapped up sparring sessions since it will be risky and he might incur unnecessary injuries. “I’ve been engaged in light sparring sessions recently but with the bout merely two weeks away, my coach has decided to take precaution and ease the glove work,” said Jones. He is confident that he has engaged in enough such activity to prepare him for battle.
Quizzed on his approach to the bout Jones said that he has studied the Cox/Levedev tape and feels confident of emulating the Russian’s feat. “Cox is an attacking fighter and experiences difficulties engaging fighters of similar styles,” said Jones. He said that he will test Cox’s ability, attacking from the very first bell.
Jones is adamant that despite his robust frame, Cox is incapable of taking a decent body shot and has a weak chin. “I will be exploiting those deficiencies,” assured Jones.
Jones’ confidence cannot be ignored but he must be cognizant of Cox’s knockout propensity; several of his opponents were not around long enough to test the theory. Out of a total of 16 fights, Cox has surrendered only two but what is most impressive is the fact that 13 of his 14 victories ended well inside the distance and he has compiled an impressive knockout ratio of 83.33.
Meanwhile, Jones is no slouch and has proven that he possess immense punching power and could knock out his man with a single punch; one only have to ask Cleveland Fraser. Additionally, Jones’ record consists of several abbreviated victories including Edmond Declou, Leon Gilkes, Patrick Boston, George and Fraser, all victims of his mighty punch.
The word is out that Jones, like the modern day Clint Eastwood, is out to avenge Braithwaite’s loss. “Yes he beat up my countrymen and I will come to take revenge and restore some dignity and respect,” proclaimed Jones.
He admits that the Braithwaite lost was a hard pill to swallow. “But Wayne has had his day in the sun; it is now my turn to shine,” declared Jones matter of factly.