Five-star Tony Jones battles for latest win
Telford's Tony Jones battled to keep up his unblemished record in pro boxing with a tougher-than-expected test on Saturday night.
The light welterweight from Brookside has still yet to lose a round in the paid code after his fifth professional outing,
Up-and-coming Jones' five opponents have racked up over 500 bouts of combined paid experience between them in the ring.
And his latest adversary, Ibrar Riyaz, is one contest away from becoming a centurion after stepping through the ropes with the Shropshire slugger.
Riyaz has only ever been stopped three times in 99 outings, too, and Jones tried his best to become TKO No 4.
They clashed over four rounds on promoter Tommy Owens' show in the Holte Suite at Aston Villa Football Club. Jones will be stepped up to six at the same venue on May 14.
The 24-year-old settled for a 40-38 points victory this time out, drawing the last two sessions and had to fight hard to take a share of the last round.
He said: "Ironically, I'm told it was the best I've ever boxed as a pro, despite it being the first time I'm come close to losing a round.
"I thought I'd boxed beautifully for the first half of the fight, although I was starting to realise how hard he was. He really came at me towards the end.
"I hit him with a couple right of hands flush to the chin that would have put other fighters down and kept them there. Instead, he was shouting 'come on' at me.
"Later on, I felt jaded and as if my punch resistance was fading a bit. I had the flu a few weeks before and nearly pulled out as a result.
"We decided to carry on after I got back in training, but it's not a risk I would want to take again. It could have gone horribly wrong."
Jones, managed by Kellie Maloney and trained by Brian Robb, will now sit down with his team and discuss what's ahead in 2016.
He'll be looking to up his sparring and travel to gyms wherever possible, as he prepares for an upgrade in the distance for his next outing.
He continued: "Kellie was at ringside and said it was the best she's seen me box. I'm happy with where I am, but I'm going up in rounds now.
"That's means I need more sparring and over longer distances to make sure I'm ready. The next opponent could be even more durable."
