Jones v Cameron: it has to be a cracker

Troy Jones…a real throwback fighter. Picture: Manjit Narotra/BCB

TROY Jones, the banger who has risen from small halls to arena super-shows, continues his quest to be a household name on Saturday.

In a 10 rounder that seems destined to explode, the exciting light-heavyweight meets Liam Cameron on Queensberry’s huge bill at Manchester’s Co-OP Live Arena.

Screened by DAZN, fellow light-heavies Joshua Buatsi and Zach Parker battle it out in the main event.

Jones – forget the Tamworth billing, he’s one of Chelmsley Wood’s band of boxing brothers – is a throwback fighter. He wants tough, testing fights, he wants to entertain. He can dig deep in the trenches, he possesses underrated skills. He’s a handful.

In Sheffield’s Cameron, he gets what he wished for. The 35-year-old really made the public sit up and take notice by giving Ben Whittaker all the trouble he could handle – and then some – before the Wolverhampton star injured himself falling out of the ring in the fifth. Public sympathy was with Cameron following the technical draw.

Admittedly, Whittaker blitzed him in two rounds when they met again. The former Commonwealth middleweight champ, who has lost seven of 32 bouts, is rugged and relentless. “Win at all costs,” he told BoxNation in the build-up to Saturday night. “I’m going to be a dog in there. Win by any way possible.”

Jones, aged 27, will relish that kind of fighting talk. “Ten rounds, three six rounds – how many rounds it takes my arm will be raised,” he said.

Troy is much changed from the slam-bang boxer of the early days who relied on raw power. He built-up a 12 bout unbeaten run and took the English belt by beating Leon Willings before losing his “0” to Ezra Taylor in May.

He performed very creditably against Taylor, a man on course for stardom, and the points loss enhanced his reputation.

Jones has squeezed in one victory since that result, while Cameron hasn’t fought since April’s setback – the only stoppage loss of his career.

“I want to build my stock more and more,” Jones said in a BoxNation interview, “and I’m starting to do so.”

He believes fans are going to witness a barnstormer. “You don’t have to go looking for me, we are not going to be doing laps in the ring, it’s got to be a good fight.”

Troy firmly believes the public have yet to see him at his very best. He added: “They saw glimpses in the Ezra Taylor fight and there were a lot of things I didn’t do right towards the end.

“They are going to see a more polished version of me on Saturday night, my stock is going to rise and rise.

“I love fighting, getting paid to do so – what more can I ask for? If I’d done what I could’ve, should’ve (against Taylor), I could’ve had my hand raised.”

For Cameron, defeat is simply not an option.

He said: “It’s a must win fight. I want to develop and go on, Troy can come back. I’m buzzing for it. I could’ve had an easy opponent, but I thought, ‘you know what, this is what I’m doing it for’.”

The quick Whittaker loss was a painful lesson. “I went into the fight thinking, ‘I’m going to smash him’, didn’t care what was coming back and got stopped. I would’ve loved to win that fight, it was a hard pill to swallow. For that to happen, it weren’t good.”

*The fight will be shown live on DAZN.