Jose “The Punisher†Perez Jr. Shines on Friday Night Fights Debut.
| Super featherweight prospect Jose “The Punisher” Perez, Jr. (now 7-0-0 with 4 KOs), made his ESPN 2 Friday Night Fights debut with an impressive four round unanimous decision victory over the more experienced Abraham Verdugo (now 5-6-0 with 3 KOs), at the Civic Auditorium in San Jose, California. All three scorecards read 40-36. It was a solid win for the young, up and coming |  © Jesus Sanchez |
southpaw fighter as he showed good hand speed, a powerful straight left hand, solid footwork, and strong defense. As only SaddoBoxing.com can bring you, Perez, Jr., spoke to this writer from his dressing room right after his victory, and had this to say, “I feel better after the fight than I did before. I did ok, I mean, I had never fought a dirty fighter before. He was hitting me after the bell and would try to head butt me. Hey, it’s a fight right? I’ll meet him outside later on (laughing). I did ok, but I could have done a lot better. I should have stayed away a lot more, and gone to the body more, because the body shots were really hurting him. I hurt him a few times to the head, but I don’t know (laughing). I lost my train of thought, I just finished a fight (laughing). My last fight ended in forty-five seconds in the first round and everyone got mad at me, so I decided to make the fight last a little long this time. I hurt him a few times, and I felt he might go down, but I felt that I wanted to show what I could do so I didn’t end the fight.”
Don’t miss the first, exclusive post-fight interview with exciting young prospect Jose “The Punisher†Perez Jr. and members of Team Perez, including Jose’s father/trainer Jose Perez Sr., only at SaddoBoxing.com.
And fighting on national television for the first time can shake some fighters, but with Jose’s extensive amateur experience, he did not feel any added pressure. “I didn’t get nervous because I’ve been on TV before in the amateurs so I really didn’t think about it that much. The only times I remember that I was on TV was when the cameras were right in my face. Other than that, I never really thought of that. It was a good fight for me and I did my best. I’m sure my dad will tell me different because he is very hard on me (laughing).”
And “The Punisher’s” father, Jose Perez Sr. also happens to be his trainer, and had this to say about his son’s performance. “You know what, we’ve been working on a lot of stuff and we promised a six round fight for this. We had about three different opponents fall out, and a couple of days before, we were going through a lot of changes as to if he was going to fight. Who he was going to fight. A lot of things go through a fighter’s head and he is still inexperienced in being able to understand certain things about stuff like that. Even right before the fight, during the Donaire fight (a previous fight featuring Ninito “Flash” Donaire) we were still told we were going to go six, then all of a sudden, they changed the fight to four rounds. We had to hurry up what we wanted to try to do, but then actually what seemed to happen, was that, maybe in his head (Jose) he was still thinking he was going six rounds. A lot of times, what happens with these guys is that they want to take their time. That’s the type fighter Jose is and all that happened is that he is still in the learning phase and still lacks experience. You know, he only has seven fights, and a lot of people think very highly of him. Even, maybe a little more than they should. Me, I’m very happy that we got the win. Being on national TV, winning, and giving a good performance, I felt good. Could he (Jose) have knocked the guy (Verdugo) out? There were times in the fight were you could see that the guy (Verdugo) was probably ready to go, but he (Jose) just didn’t finish. There are still a lot of things that we need to work on as Jose is still learning and is going to get better every fight. He is a great kid and is very focused. He keeps his feet on the ground and is good for boxing. People just need to realize that he is still very young, and has a lot of learning to do, but he will get better and we will continue to win and fight on TV. Emanuel Steward came over after the fight and said some wonderful things to Jose, and that’s the type of things we like to hear.”
“Diamond” Ed Deveikis, of Team Perez added, “We are very happy with his performance. Could he have done better? Of course! But the bottom line is that he won and gave a great performance. We want to continue to step up and fight bigger fights. He is only going to get better and, with more experience, will continue to improve and win. You are definitely going to see a lot more of him and you guys should keep your eyes on Jose.”
Overall, it was a good performance for a great kid. He showed some great promise and solid skills. He has the amateur background, and strong people looking out for him and providing support, which is very important for a young fighter. Perez is only going to get better as he continues to learn his trade in the paid ranks. We are definitely going to keep an eye on this prospect, as he seems well on his way to bigger and better things. Stay tuned for exclusive interviews that found only on SaddoBoxing.com.
Writer’s Note: On behalf of SaddoBoxing.com, I would like to personally thank Jose Sr. and Ed Deveikis for taking the time to speak to me so soon after the fight. More importantly, I would really like to say THANK YOU Jose Jr., for giving me the privilege of your time, and speaking to me so soon after having exchanged punches. With that kind of attitude, you cannot help but wish nothing but the best for this young kid.
Sergio Martinez can be reached at srg_mrtnz@yahoo.com