When you’re 30 years old and just starting a pro boxing career, you had better know where to find the career gas pedal.
Jayson Colon, with the guidance of his Haverhill Inner-City Boxing Club trainer Sean Farley, is hitting the ring accelerator, like few in the sport will do, as he attempts to make up for lost time.
Just 2-0 as a pro, Colon heads to the Oceanside Ballroom in Revere on Saturday to take on Massachusetts Super Middleweight champ, Ross Rodriguez, a seasoned 6-2 veteran.
“The guy we’re fighting has eight fights and a good record at 6-2. I said yes to the fight, because I think we can beat him,” said Methuen’s Farley. “What difference does it make if we have five fights, seven fights. I believe we can beat him now.
“He’s a Brighton police officer and a good guy, but we’ve just got to go get that belt off him.”
Lowell’s Colon knows he’s playing ring catch-up. After an all-conference basketball career at Greater Lowell Tech, he left the game and put on weight.
He always liked boxing, so he hit the gym, first in Lawrence, about 10 years ago.
As he advanced through amateurs, his interest and desire grew. He knew he needed more, and Colon found Farley at the Haverhill Inner-City club.
“Sean has had a huge reputation for years. I had a friend here, Brandon Higgins, who was fighting for Sean, but I always knew who Sean was,” said Colon. “I wanted to come to a gym where I could be better, where I didn’t feel like I was the best guy there.”
Farley has worked with some of the top fighters the area has produced over decades, both in boxing and in MMA — Calvin Kattar, Alexis Santos and Adrian Sosa among them.
Training with him daily in Haverhill meant plenty of sacrifice for Colon.
“I sell roofing. I used to drive from Lowell to Tewksbury to work out in the morning, then to Worcester to work, then to Haverhill for the gym, and back to Lowell every single day,” said Colon.
“Now, it’s better because I work in Westford. It’s worth it. There’s no gym like this in Lowell, and the bond that Sean and I have, we have great chemistry. He’s the only dude I trust to train me.”
With a couple of easy wins to start his career, there is no time to waste.
“I’m just looking to see as far as I can go. We’re trying to speed things up. We’re not trying to take any easy fights, padding our record. We’re just trying to let the rubber hit the road and see what we’ve got,” said Colon.
“You look at some guys’ records and they’re beating the same guys three times. You knocked him out in the first round the first time, why are you fighting him two or three fights later?
“That’s never something I wanted to do, not something I want to be part of. People who buy tickets to see me, they work hard for their money. Tickets are $75 for this fight. People are working three or four hours to earn $75. I don’t want them to watch me fight for 30 seconds, to knock out someone who shouldn’t be in the ring with me? I don’t think that’s fair to anybody. Also, that’s not going to make me feel good. I’m 30, I’m in the prime of my career Now is the time.”
To his credit, Colon is not filling his head with delusions of grandeur – yet. He understands the odds are long against him, getting such a late start in the game.
Every step he takes will matter and be impactful.
“Yeah, (I’m a long shot). But I feel like I can beat most of the local dudes around here. So we’re starting with that,” said Colon. “We’re not thinking about world championships or anything like that. We’re worried about conquering New England, and we’ll see from there.”