Trainer of Philly fighter Mike Jones always has late son on his mind

Minutes before the bell rings next weekend, the ring announcer will bellow his name, and Mike Jones will instantly bounce a few steps forward before thrusting his arms into the air in front of the Madison Square Garden crowd.

Wearing a Joe Frazier shirt, his trainer, Vaughn Jackson, will stand firmly in Jones' corner. But his mind will instantly shoot elsewhere.

Instead of the World's Most Famous Arena, it will be Joe Frazier's old North Broad Street gym. And for a moment it won't be Mike Jones and Sebastian Lujan. Instead it will be Jackson and his 8-year-old son, Vaughn Welcome Jackson.

"I never told Mike this, but he reminds me a lot of my son," said Jackson. "A lot of things he does, I say, 'Wow.' Little certain things. . . . I just want to keep his spirit alive."

In 1998, Jackson's son died in an unexplained accident while playing alone in his upstairs bedroom.

"I don't even know how I'm still standing here," Jackson said. "It's something that I don't think no man should ever have to go through, but death is inevitable. It's something that we all have to face one day, but at that age and that time, I wasn't ready for it."

Before he trained Jones, Jackson trained his son, a rising amateur boxer. After watching his father train at the gym, the son asked if he, too, could become a boxer.

"So I started messing with him, and he started becoming real good. So I was like, 'Hold up, let me spend a little time with him,' " Jackson said. "He was just winning things, and I think he was a better fighter than me."

The way his son raised his arms and the determination he showed in the ring is what Jackson sees in Jones.

His son's dream was to win an Olympic gold medal, but Jackson said: "We can do bigger than that." He told him that, together, the two would capture the world welterweight championship.

On Dec. 3 at Madison Square Garden, Jackson may take another step toward achieving that goal as the 28-year-old Jones (25-0, 19 KOs), squares off against the 31-year-old Lujan (38-5-2, 24 KOs) as part of the undercard before Antonio Margarito vs. Miguel Cotto on HBO pay-per-view.

"Anything that reminds you of a son that passed has to be a great thing," said Jones, a Mount Airy native and Frankford resident. "I'm sure he thinks about him every day."

The winner will meet Randall Bailey for the vacant IBF world title. And then who knows? Maybe the world's best, Manny Pacquiao, is on the horizon.

"I'm just trying to keep his name alive. Keep it in my mouth," said the 42-year-old Jackson, originally from North Philadelphia. "And that's our guardian angel. That's why Mike's been successful, to me."

As an amateur, Jones trained under Joe and Marvis Frazier. After the death of his son, Jackson turned away from boxing. A few years later, Jackson returned and refound Jones, whom he had seen working at the gym when he would bring his son there for workouts.

It was Jones' strong work ethic that caught the eye of Jackson, as he always seemed to outwork the others in the gym.

Not knowing that he would become his trainer, Jackson approached Jones and simply told him, "One day you're going to become a great fighter."

Under the Fraziers, Jackson said Jones was learning only how to "dig a person out," and in order become a successful professional, he'd need to become a complete boxer.

"When you turn into a professional, you have to have all capabilities when you go into that ring," Jackson said. "Being a brawler, the matador, the boxer, and the puncher. And that's what I'm working with Mike on today, to learn all those aspects."

The bond that Jones and Jackson share is built on trust and a shared common goal to be the best. Jackson said Jones doesn't listen to a lot of people, and earning his trust isn't an easy task.

"I trust his judgment, he has a good eye," Jones said. "We have to stay on the same page. . . . He's a great guy."