JASON HENNINGTON jason.hennington@granitemedia partners.com
“It will be one hell of a come back story,” Destiny “Too Sweet” Jones said about her return to the ring.
Jones will be stepping back into the ring for the first time since a December, where she suffered a lost to Beatriz Ferreira, who recently won the IBF championship. Since then, Jones has trained and is prepared to get back on the winning track this weekend, Saturday, June 15 against Feifilimai Faiva.
“If you’re going to be great, you’ve got to be able to work under the lights,” David Watson, Jones’ trainer said.
The fight will take place at Cross Insurance in Portland, Maine, live on Fubo TV. Jones is focused on redemption according to her trainer.
“She is real eager to redeem herself. She knows she is better than her last performance,” Watson said. “Going through that experience has matured her. She takes things a little bit more seriously, she understands what can happen in there.”
According to Watson, the bout will be six rounds, so Jones had a seven week camp that included running five to seven miles a day six days a week and at least two hours in the gym every day.
Watson said Jones learned a lot of lessons from her last fight. Watson plan to keep her strategy the same as before utilizing her skill set.
“Sometimes you learn more from your losses than you do your wins,” Watson said.
The plan is to move, use angles and speed to control the fight, but keep the same general fighting style.
“We’re staying with the technical boxing with power on the combinations that she throws, or at least the last punch of the combinations,” he said. “We’re going to throw faster punches and combinations.”
Jones’ opponent, Faiva, is 5-0-1 with three knockouts. Jones is 5-2-0 with three knockouts. She is on a trajectory that not many boxers have achieved according to her trainer.
“Destiny has gone from fighting amateurs here in Texas to fighting on small local shows to getting signed by a major promoter and fighting all over the United States against higher competition,” Watson said. “Most fighters... grow up in a town, fight in the town and end their career in the town. Very few go on to fight across country, get signed by promoters, fight on television. For Destiny just having seven fights, she’s done a lot, and she’s going to do a lot more.”
Watson thinks Jones is just getting started, and has a bright future ahead of her.
“Destiny has hidden gifts that have not been displayed yet,” Watson said. “She’s got speed, she’s got power and what you saw in her last fight, which she hasn’t displayed yet, is a lot of heart,” Watson said. “She is in the building stage, and you’ll know her name in a year or two.”
