Amari Jones Stops Former Champion Vincenzo Gualtieri In Three

Jones dominated the former IBF middleweight champion and strengthened his position in the vacant-title picture Friday night in San Jose.

Amari Jones may have just punched his way into the middleweight title picture after stopping former IBF champion Vincenzo Gualtieri in three rounds Friday night in San Jose. The unbeaten contender controlled the eliminator with dedicated body work, and clean counters before finishing Gualtieri with two knockdowns in the third.

Jones (17-0, 15 KOs) controlled the fight from the opening bell in their IBF middleweight eliminator at SAP Center in San Jose on DAZN, repeatedly beating Gualtieri (25-2-1, 8 KOs) to the punch.

The unbeaten 24-year-old middleweight from Oakland, California, who now lives in Las Vegas, never allowed Gualtieri to build any momentum. Whenever the former champion tried to pressure him, Jones caught him coming forward.

The fight ended in the third round after Jones backed Gualtieri into the corner and landed a left hook and right hand through the guard that sent him to the canvas.

Gualtieri got back up, but Jones stayed on him and dropped him a second time with a left hook along the ropes. Referee Edward Collantes stopped the fight during the count.

The victory was Jones’ third consecutive stoppage win and the biggest result of his career so far.

The IBF middleweight title is currently vacant after former unified champion Janibek Alimkhanuly was stripped following an adverse analytical finding tied to Meldonium in a VADA test. His planned unification fight with Erislandy Lara was later canceled, though Alimkhanuly still holds the WBO title despite serving a one-year suspension from the sanctioning body.

Gualtieri previously held the IBF middleweight title before losing it to Alimkhanuly by sixth-round stoppage in 2023.

“I made a statement tonight that needed to be made,” said Amari Jones. “I proved that my win against veteran Luis Arias wasn’t a fluke by going out here and knocking out an experienced former world champion. Coming into the fight, I knew he [Gualtieri] was an awkward fighter, knew his way around the ring, and that it was going to take some time to settle into the fight. I didn’t think it’d be that quick, though. I started to put my shots together really well.”

Continued Jones, “after the first round, I came back to my corner, and Virgil [Hunter] told me that Gualtieri had already shown me everything he had. It was only a matter of time after that. I was trying to set up traps for him to fall into. He was blocking shots well, but I knew if I could sneak my right hand through his guard, I could put combinations together. I finally landed my shots, and it knocked his equilibrium off. I’m an ultimate finisher. I put the combos together and hit him in the body, went back to his head, and finished him. I’m not doing this for no reason. A star was made tonight, and I put the middleweight division on notice.”

In the chief support bout, Robin Safar (20-0, 13 KOs) overcame an early knockdown to edge Yamil Peralta by split decision in a close cruiserweight fight. Safar rallied behind steady pressure after Peralta dropped him with a right hand in the second round.

Elsewhere on the card, Darius Fulghum stopped Yoanki Urrutia in three rounds at light heavyweight, while Tristan Kalkreuth knocked out Marco Canedo in the sixth round of their cruiserweight bout. Jordan Fuentes also stayed unbeaten with a six-round decision over Dante Hernandez.

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