One of the sport’s standout phenoms is not taking a step back in the competition despite dealing with some adversity during his last fight.

Twenty-year-old lightweight stud Abdullah Mason will challenge Manuel Jaimes on February 14 at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York, an official informed of the deal told The Ring on Monday.

The bout will take place on the undercard of Top Rank's ESPN tripleheader headlined by Denys Berinchyk’s WBO lightweight championship defense against first-time title challenger Keyshawn Davis.

Mason vs. Jaimes will stream on ESPN+.

Last time out in November, Mason (16-0, 14 KOs) was shockingly knocked down twice in the opening round of his firefight against Yohan Vasquez. However, Mason also dropped Vasquez in the first round and ended the fight in the second with a knockout.

The Ohio native Mason has been put on the fast track by promoter Top Rank since turning pro as a teen in 2021. With five wins in 2024 – all via knockout – Mason was considered by many observers as the prospect of the year.

The shaky first stanza against Vasquez opened the doors for heavyweight Moses Itauma to siphon some of the top prospect of the year honors away from Mason.

Jaimes (16-2-1, 11 KOs) is best known for going the 10-round distance in his last fight and suffering a unanimous decision loss against Rolando Romero in a junior welterweight bout on the undercard of the pay-per-view headlined by Canelo Alvarez and Edgar Berlanga in September.

Prior to the fight against Rolly, the Northern California native Jaimes, 24, beat former titleholder Jonathan Romero in July.