Ringside Recap: Michael Perez And Adrian Broner Win At Paradise

© Robert Brizel / Saddo Boxing

Golden Boy Productions and Star Boxing put on an exciting six fight card at the Paradise Theater in the Bronx last Friday which yielded mixed results. Michael Perez and Adrien Broner from the Golden Boy stable of fighters were the big winners of the co-main events in a series of bouts rebroadcast later in the evening on Telefutura Spanish television.

Yathomas Riley was scratched from the card earlier in the day. According to promoter Joe DeGuardia, Riley’s no-show decision was a telephone call stating “I’m not coming.”

Riley 8-0 (6), was the 2006 light heavyweight National Golden Gloves Champion.

In a brief interview during the evening, DeGuardia stated the Morris Park gym, damaged several months ago in a bad fire, should reopen soon as renovations have been going well. Asked about ex-fighter Aaron Davis returning to the gym to help run it, “We’ll see.”

The best bout of the evening was surprisingly the opening four round bout, an exciting and wild bantamweight toe-to-toe war thriller. Unbeaten local Bronx favorite Raul Lopez was upset by unbeaten Daniel Aquino of Meridian, Connecticut.

In a no-defense bout which featured both fighters trading bombs from pillar to post, Aquino neutralized the height and reach advantage of Lopez by calmly trying to fight on the inside in center ring. Lopez moved side to-side along the ropes in retreat, and the fight of the night happened when Lopez stopped landing in rounds two and three.

Lopez appeared to be the better fighter, but he had no game plan and could not switch gears after falling behind. In round four, Lopez listened to his corner and won the round by becoming more aggressive, coming forward and landing more power shots, while making Aquino miss a lot, but it was not enough.

Scoring: 39-37 twice for Aquino and 38-38. Clean bout, and the judges appeared to get it right, which is not always the case when a hometown fighter’s unbeaten record is at stake. Aquino is now 4-0, while Lopez falls to 4-1-1(3).

In a four round super middleweight bout, another of the fighting Muriqis, Shqiprim “The White Tiger” Muriqi, an Albanian now fighting out of Yonkers, New York, rose to 4-0 (3), with an ugly looking unanimous decision over journeyman Rondu Campbell, now 2-5.

The first round appeared even, with Muriqi holding his left hand low, and getting hit with counters. The next three rounds featured Muriqi landing a jab then brawling and holding, with Campbell attempting the same thing. Muriqi succeeded with his plan, Campbell did not.

Muriqi lacks the big punch, but has a big heart. Campbell ‘s 2-5 record is most deceiving, or as we say in boxing, “It’s not what the number is, it’s what the number means.”

Scoring: All three judges scored 40-36 for Muriqi. The bout was far closer than the scoring indicated.

In a brief co-main event showcasing the talents of a rising Golden Boy prospect, Adrien “The Problem” Broner of Cincinnati, Ohio scored a TKO at 3:00 of round one over Rafael Lora, a Dominican featherweight fighting out of Irvington, New Jersey.

The “Problem” in this bout was not Broner, an “A” level fighter worthy of top fight opposition. The problem in this bout was Lora, who appeared to be a featherweight, not a lightweight, and got taken out at the end of the round in a corner by the bigger man.

In any case, Lora, now 11-3 (5), has 11 wins over fighters with losing records. His last three opponents have a combined record of 53-0 including Broner, and Lora was not ready to “step up” to that level. Lora did not appear to beat the count. The referee waived the bout to a halt anyway.

Broner, 15-0 (12), who grunts as he punches (like the late heavyweight Jimmy Young) was able to land crisp and lethal power shots with pinpoint accuracy. Lora’s eyes almost immediately appeared to be those of a beaten man-with no answers. A left hook-right cross combination from Broner ended Lora’s night.

SaddoBoxing took the opportunity to talk with Broner, a rising contender well on his way to a title shot, about his brief contest and whether or not he was disappointed not to get a few rounds work in. “You don’t get paid for overtime. We will go back to the drawing board. Whoever they (Golden Boy) come up with, we’re ready.”

When asked about his opponent Lora, “He couldn’t catch me. I stayed with my jab. A lot of fighters then run and hold, so you keep your legs and stay strong. We worked on this in the gym.” With no target to grab, and getting hit at will, the smaller Lora was an easy target. The bout needed to be stopped when it was.

The fourth bout of the evening featured “the main event”, a six round lightweight bout between unbeaten Mike Perez, a Puerto Rican out of Jersey City, New Jersey, and unbeaten Francisco Reyes, a Mexican out of Seattle, Washington.

Perez 8-0 (3), managed to drop Reyes twice and cut him below the left eye with an accidental headbutt in round three. The bald-headed Reyes, 5-1 (2), got right back up from the flash knockdowns without a count, and the blood never bothered him, but he was outgunned from the get-go, and could do little more than go the distance and look for occasional countering opportunities.

Perez landed right-lefts to the body, had a tight defense and was more aggressive than Reyes in every round. Reyes fought the entire fight with questionable tactics, in particular throwing head and kidney punches while holding. The referee warned Reyes in every round for his tactics, and he could have been disqualified.

Perez used a short right hook to drop Reyes, after Reyes attempted to spin around with his back on the ropes and pin Perez, but got blind-sided in the maneuver. In the sixth, a short Perez right dropped Reyes in the final minute as he dropped his guard while headhunting.

In the post fight interview, Perez noted, “Reyes is a dirty fighter, throwing elbows, kidney and head punches while holding. They should have taken points away.” Perez continued, “My corner told me to move my head while he’s holding, so he doesn’t have a stationary target. My corner helps me a lot, six to eight eyes seeing what you (the fighter) can’t see. I prepared to go the distance; you’ve got to be prepared for any kind of fight.”

Asked about the spin around maneuver, Perez explained, “Reyes was trying to pinch me in the corner as Mexicans do, and work the body. I saw his left hand was down and I clipped him. He was also grabbing and head butting, leaning with his head. So I put my elbow atop his head.”

Asked about Reyes’ cut, Perez noted’ “Reyes seemed to be in a bad spot, but he wasn’t bothered by it. He thought he could beat me and maybe get signed by Golden Boy.” The future? “I’m going to take it one fight at a time, and take it from there.”

In a television swing women’s junior lightweight bout that went off next to last, Maureen Shea of Bronx, New York, won a six round decision over game Norma Faris, of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Shea 14-2 (8), had no trouble with Faris, who trains in Mike Perez’ gym (according to him), now 3-3.

Shea just came forward with a lot of jab combinations. The pony-tailed Faris was game, and took a good punch, but punched much slower than Shea. A Shea flurry in a corner forced a stoppage at the end of round three.

In a six round walkout bout, cruiserweights Ahmed Samir of New York City and John Douglas of Brooklyn, New York, grabbed, brawled and pushed their way through six rounds so ugly it became difficult for the photographers to get even a decent action shot.

The crowd booed the constant pushing, shoving and holding. Douglas landed consistent head shots in round one, staggering Samir through the ropes-but he did not go down. Samir, 9-0 (2), resorted to landing left-right combinations, then tying up Douglas , 7-14-3 (3), wherever possible.

Douglas, a 1996 Olympian, trains in Gleason’s gym with ex-junior welterweight contender Lennox Blackmoore (who fought Aaron Pryor and Antonio Cervantes). Samir also trains at Gleason’s.

Scoring: 60-54 and 59-55 twice a unanimous decision for Samir, who somehow won rounds 2 through 5.