Abdullah Mason (18-0, 16 KOs) says Top Rank promoter Bob Arum told him that he’s going to be “The Face of Boxing” if he keeps staying focused after his sixth round TKO win over Carlos Ornelas (28-5, 15 KOs) last Saturday night at the Palms Casino Resort, Las Vegas.
Durability Doubts
Fans doubt whether Mason has the durability to become a star or even a belt holder. On November 8th last year, veteran Yohan Vasquez dropped Abdullah twice, and he reports being hurt in sparring. Top Rank might be able to maneuver Abdullah Mason into winning a world title like they did with Keyshawn Davis with careful matchmaking.
They turned Keyshawn into a quick world champion after he was schooled by Andy Cruz in the Olympics and matched him against soft opposition as a pro until they put him in with a weak world champion, Denys Berinchyk, last February. He’s not a star, obviously, but a world champion. They could do the same with Mason by keeping him away from guys that would expose him.
The unbeaten lightweight contender Mason, 21, knocked the super featherweight Ornelas down in rounds two, four, and six. At the end of the sixth round, referee Raul Caiz Jr. stopped the contest because of Ornelas’s appearance. He’d taken a beating and had zero chance of winning.
“We got the job done. Against [previously scheduled opponent Giovani] Cabrera, we would have done the same thing,” said Abdullah Mason to Sean Zittel, following his sixth round TKO win over replacement opponent Carlos Ornelas last Saturday night in Las Vegas.
Mason did NOT look impressive in that fight with Ornelas. He was matched against his second consecutive weak puncher by Top Rank after last February’s near-disaster against Vasquez. In Mason’s last fight, he was put in with the pillow-fisted Manuel Jaimes, a guy coming off a lopsided 10-round decision loss to Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero.
“Face of Boxing” Talk
“Just go back to the drawing board. There’s always room for improvement, no matter how you do it. I did great. It was a durable opponent. I was touching him, and I got him out of there. Absolutely. It’s only a matter of time,” said Abdullah when asked if he believes his ‘star is beginning to break out.'”
Given Mason’s youth, he will likely outgrow the lightweight division and be forced to move up to 140 and 147, where life will be tough for him due to the punchers in those divisions. Predictably, Mason and his team will fight hard to stay at 135 for as long as possible, but they can’t stay at this weight artificially forever without diminishing returns.
“[Top Rank promoter] Bob [Arum] told me right after the fight, ‘Keep staying focused, and you’re going to be the Face of Boxing.’ That’s what I see myself as, ‘The Face of Boxing’ coming up. Boxing will determine who I fight when I get there.
“When I get there and I fight somebody that already has a title and I end of taking that title or if I have to fight for a vacant title,” said Mason when asked if he sees himself fighting for the vacant WBO lightweight title if the current champion, Keyshawn Davis, soon outgrows the divisions and moves up in weight.
“It doesn’t matter. As long as I keep stepping it up as I’ve been doing and keep passing these guys and making them look how I’m supposed to make them look. We’ll get our job done when we get there. That’s what we’re looking forward to right now,” said Mason.