Amari Jones Makes A Big Statement in San Jose

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Middleweight Amari Jones is making 2026 the year he checks off bucket list items.

On Friday, he stopped the former IBF belt holder, Vincenzo Gualtieri, in the third round at the SAP Center in San Jose, California. The time of the stoppage was 2:29.

Jones, 17-0 (15 KOs), who has stopped his last three opponents in four rounds or less, now awaits his own crowning moment. Jones fought for the first time. After a destructive performance in which Jones dominated Gualtieri, including two knockdowns in the third round, it was clear that the hope is for a title fight in the fall.

“I am willing to put it on the line to prove myself to fight whoever I have to fight to get me closer to the title,” Jones told FightsATW backstage. “I am the ultimate finisher. When I hurt him and dropped him, I knew he wasn’t fully recovered. I knew I had to pick my shots the right way and get him out of there.”

Photo by Cris Esqueda/Golden Boy/Getty Images

Virgil Hunter, Jones’ trainer, added insight into what he saw of the dominant performance.

“[Gualtieri] is a con artist type fighter, always looking like he is going to do something, but not doing [anything],” Hunter told FightsATW. “I said, eventually [Jones] is going to hurt him, because he is covering up and vulnerable. So when he landed the first shot that knocked him down, I knew it was over.”

Jones of Oakland, California, is currently rated No.4 by the IBF, while Germany’s Gualtieri, 25-2-1 (8 KOs), entered the bout ranked No.5 by the same sanctioning body. The IBF title is currently vacant.

On the undercard:

Cruiserweight Robin Safar of Las Vegas won a split decision over Argentina’s Yamil Peralta. The scores were 116-111 and 114-113 for Safar, with one judge having it 115-112 for Peralta. Super middleweight Darius Fulghum of Houston stopped Yoanki Urrutia of Miami in the third round. Cruiserweight Tristan Kalkreuth knocked out Marco Antonio Canedo in the sixth round, and junior bantamweight Jordan Fuentes won a six-round unanimous decision over Dante Paris Ibarra Hernandez.

On the untelevised undercard:

Featherweight local ticket seller, Jose Medrano Jr., stopped Anel Dudo in the fourth round, middleweight Jordan Panthen knocked out Jean Rivera-Pacheco in three rounds, junior bantamweight John “Scrappy” Ramirez won an eight-round unanimous decision over Lucas Emanuel Fernandez, and in the opening bout, flyweight Enkhmandakh Kharkhuu won an eight-round unanimous decision over Adrian Yair Ibarra Herrera.