Cleveland Boxer Abdullah Mason Defends His World Title in His Hometown: Q&A

Northeast Ohio has produced a host of great fighters, from Johnny Kilbane, who held the featherweight title from 1912 to 1923 and is immortalized with a statue in Battery Park, to Hall of Famer Joey Maxim of the ’50s, to Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini in the ’80s, to UFC Champ Stipe Miocic. 

Now, 22-year-old phenom Abdullah Mason joins their ranks. Known for his speed, power and athleticism, he’s gone 20-0 with 17 knockouts, becoming Cleveland’s first World Champion in more than a decade. 

Mason, who has held the World Boxing Organization lightweight championship belt since 2025, defends his title on July 4 at the Wolstein Center. With his original opponent, the two-time British world champion Joe Cardina, facing visa trouble after being charged with assault at home, Mason now takes on Toledo native Albert Bell. Bell (that’s Bell, without the “e”), known for his control and sharp technique, is 28-0 with nine knockouts. Tickets are still available for the fight (starting at $58.55), which begins at 8 p.m. You can also watch the title match on TNT Sports.

Before signing a professional contract with Top Rank Boxing at age 17, Mason grew up in a boxing family, with his father, Valiant, raising five fighters. Since Mason was a 9-year-old training at Euclid’s Little Giants Gym, Valiant has coached all of his sons. He still does. When Abdullah enters the ring this weekend, you’ll see Valiant in his corner as well as the corners of Abdullah's two brothers on the undercard, Abdurrahman Mason (vs. Alvaro Cabral) and Ibrahim Mason (vs. Erik Hanley). 

“My family is my biggest support system,” Mason says. “They push me to be better inside of the ring and outside of the ring. It’s just the environment that I need as a world champion. They push me towards being a better champion.”

A week before the fight, we visited Mason at his gym in East Cleveland to learn more about his boxing style, his upbringing in Cleveland and his approach in the ring.

CM: As a Cleveland native, what are your thoughts and emotions going into a big holiday, hometown championship fight?

Abdullah Mason: The main thing going into a fight of this magnitude and it being my hometown is staying focused. There’s a lot of stuff coming at me, different people asking for tickets, people wanting merch, asking for this and that, but my main thing is just staying focused on fight night, because if that's not A-1, then nothing else matters.

CM: What does staying focused mean to you? How do you stay focused?

AM: It's all mental. Once you’re the ring, and once you go through a training camp, you know you're in the physical shape to get the job done. But as it gets closer, then everything becomes mental, you know? You’re making sure you're thinking about the game plan over and over in your head. You're not thinking about anything else surrounding the fight. You're not thinking about anything outside of just being inside of the ring and getting the job done.

CM: How do you think Cleveland shaped you?

AM: Them being behind us, supporting us all the whole way. Before we actually started getting on the road for those national tournaments, my father had a fragrance shop. So that fragrance shop, he closed it down just to keep us on the road for those tournaments, and as he closed it down, me and my brothers were hustling his products out of that shop: the incense, the black soaps, the body products, the lotions. Cleveland, they always have supported. They donated to the cause. They push us. They put their word behind us. They told their families about us, like, “Yo, these young kids out here are doing their thing. Make sure y'all support.” So Cleveland has been behind us the whole way. It feels good to be able to represent them and to have them on our back as we move forward.

CM: Do you hope that a kid sitting in that arena watching you from Cleveland might feel inspired, whether it's in their own sport or in yours?

AM: Oh, for sure. It feels amazing to be an example where everybody knows that whatever you put into your craft or your skill set, you get the same results out of that. So, me being in boxing at nine years old, just sticking to it all those years, I became professional at 17, and now at 22 years old, I've won the world championship title. I’m the youngest active champion in boxing right now, so it just lets them know that as long as they stick to it and stay focused, then they can get to where they need to go.

CM: We talked about kids getting into boxing. You boxed as a young kid. People who don’t like boxing might say, “Oh, punching is violent.” Things like that. Why is boxing a special sport? What has it taught you?

AM: There’s so much that goes into the sport of boxing. It's not just two people punching at each other. That's the last part, the part that everyone sees, but everything else before that, the preparation to build up the discipline, you could apply it to any other part of life. The discipline of getting up and just working every day, and the sacrifices you gotta make. The certain things that you gotta stay away from. Drilling certain things in order to keep that muscle memory. It goes into not just punching another person, but it teaches respect to your opponent, because you know that they're going through the same things you're going through.

CM: I know you’re focused, but do you have a big Fourth of July meal planned for after the win? I know getting ready for a fight means a lot of cutting weight and clean eating.

AM: Everyone asks this. My go-to meal would be, like, chocolate chip cookies and ice cream. I’ve definitely got a sweet tooth. 

CM: Tell me about your brothers being on the card. Have you guys done that before?

AM: Well, as amateurs, all five of us actually fought on the same card before. Ever since then it was, like, Yo, it's gonna be crazy if we do the same thing in a professional fight. With three of us on the card, it just makes it that much more exciting. It's gonna be a little different for the coaches. My father has to coach a few brothers in one night, but it’s something we’ve been looking forward to. The Mason Brothers make things much more exciting. 

CM: What's your dad’s coaching style? 

AM: He’s definitely intense. But in a sport like boxing, you’ve got to be intense. You can’t just be like, jab. You gotta speak up a little bit and get straight to the point. He definitely has a good eye, so you know that if there’s something that he tells you and you do it right, then it's gonna work. We all bounce off each other. My other brother is a former coach, and my brothers bounce off what he says, too. We’ve just built this movement together. 

CM: What is it like to have to prepare for a new opponent at the last second?

AM: Like I said, boxing is most definitely a mental sport. As long as you mentally dive into anything that comes your way, that makes you a champion. That makes you who you are as a fighter, and the more you're able to adjust, the better you're gonna be.

CM: How would you describe your game in the ring?

AM: I would say I'm more of an aggressive puncher, you know. I like to get the job done. If I could get him out of there early, I'm gonna get him out of there early. I don't like to miss any opportunities, but I like to take my defense with me and stay sharp along the way. I would say I'm an exciting boxer. I would say if you watch any of my fights, and that's the first boxing fight you see, that could be the fight that defines what boxing is for you.

CM: A lot of times when you see guys like that, they're brash and loud, but you don't strike me as that kind of person. Why do you prefer to let your performance in the ring do the talking?

AM: I guess I'm just too true to the sport. You’re a boxer. You do all your work inside of the ring. You don't got to do too much else. You know, my personality, I'm just a chill person, but some people are loud. Some people like to talk more. Some people like to bring eyes that way. But my way is, I like to let my hands do the talking.

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