Former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones made some waves when it came out he had parted ways with his longtime management team.
He made some more when he brought on Richard Schaefer, a former CEO at Golden Boy, to be his new advisor. And that move, according to longtime boxing analyst Michael Rosenthal, the managing editor at Boxing Junkie, was a good one.
“Richard’s one of the two or three smartest guys I’ve run into,” Rosenthal told MMA Junkie Radio on Thursday. “… He comes from a banking family, but he’s learned a lot (in boxing) and he’s one of the sharpest guys in this business. He hasn’t worked in MMA, but maybe that doesn’t matter.”
Jones, a former UFC light heavyweight champion, has run into a logjam with UFC president Dana White in terms of negotiating a fight in his move up to heavyweight. It was expected Jones would challenge new champ Francis Ngannou for the title, but Jones’ financial hopes didn’t seem to jibe with White’s.
Now Jones appears to be set to wait upwards of a year while he bulks up to heavyweight. But with Schaefer on his side helping guide the negotiation, maybe that timeline could change – particularly since White appears to like him.
“Dana respects Richard, and I understand why,” Rosenthal said. “He’s made a lot of deals behind the scenes. He knows how to negotiate. He knows how to work with people.”
Check out the video above to hear Rosenthal break down the Jones-Schaefer-White situation, as well as the current boxing landscape – including Triller.
