"Joe always put his imprint on everything," Jones, from North Philadelphia, said in recalling Frazier, who died of liver cancer on Nov. 7. "He wanted all his guys to be modeled after him. He'd say, 'You want to plant those feet and get those knockouts. Be grounded and have that foundation first. Sit in the pocket and really dig it out.'
"And his left hook? Oh, my. He'd say, 'The left hook, the double hook, it's not a 1-2. It's all one shot.' "
At 6-feet tall and with the spindly legs of a thoroughbred, the 28-year-old Jones has the build and the style more reminiscent of ring great Thomas Hearns, than Frazier, a short and short-armed heavyweight who constantly moved forward, taking three and four punches to land one because he knew his one could do more damage than your four. But knockout punchers come in all shapes and sizes, the gift of power not always packaged in a particular body type.
The scheduled 12-rounder with Lujan, on the televised undercard of the HBO pay-per-view rematch between WBO welterweight champion Miguel Cotto (36-2, 29 KOs) and former WBO/IBF/WBA welter titlist Antonio Margarito (38-7, 27 KOs), quite likely is the most important of Jones' professional career. He is rated No. 1 in the 147-pound weight class by the WBO, No. 2 by the WBA and No. 3 by both the WBC and IBF. If Jones impressively takes care of business against the 31-year-old veteran, who has twice fought for a world championship, it could catapult him into a matchup with Randall Bailey (42-7, 36 KOs) for the IBF welter crown recently vacated by Andre Berto.
