New York, NY (April 23, 2013) –Edgar Perez has replaced veteran Troy Lowry as the opponent for New York’s Boyd “Rainmaker” Melson in a six round junior middleweight bout Saturday, April 27 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY.

Born on the boxing-crazed island of Puerto Rico and based out of the fighting city of Chicago, Illinois, Perez won his first five professional bouts, three of which came by way of knockout. Perez, whose only defeats came against blue chip prospects Luis Arias, Jermall Charlo and Steven Martinez, will look to pull off an upset against his popular foe.

With a solid record of 10-1-1 with 4 knockouts, Melson’s one of the most talked about fighters in New York. On April 16, Melson, who donated all of his fight purses and is heavily involved in helping finding the cure for chronic Spinal Cord Injuries, earned additional notoriety when he was featured with his best friend Christan Zaccagnino on HBO’s critically acclaimed series Real Sports. Originally scheduled to fight in February as part of the postponed Danny Garcia-Zab Judah headlined card, Perez is Melson’s third scheduled opponent.

“This is the part of boxing that nobody likes,” said Melson, who battled to a disputed draw in his last bout back in October. “The truth is guys get hurt at every level of this sport and opponents change. I’ve had a challenging training camp with a freak scratched cornea in my sleep as well as a reoccurring throat infection, but nevertheless I am in good shape with a strong mind ready to compete. I‘ve been working with my new head coach Simon Bakinde, who has my former Assistant Coach Bernie Lenahan still by my side now assisting him, and we’ve worked together as a new team for some time now. I am extremely confident about our adjustments to my technique that we have made. I’m extremely thankful that so many people enjoyed the story about Christan and I, but now it’s time to get back to work!”

Melson-Perez is scheduled for 6 rounds.

Tickets and merchandise are available on Teamfighttowalk.com. Following the bout, Melson will once again donate his entire fight purse to Justadollarplease.org in support of bringing trials to the United States that could help cure chronic Spinal Cord Injuries.

In association with the 501 (C) 3 nonprofit Justadollarplease.org, Melson and his best friend Christan Zaccagnino created Team Fight to Walk, whose mission is to raise awareness within the boxing community as well as the entire nation about the importance of bringing Clinical Trials to the United States to help cure Spinal Cord Injuries. Team Fight to Walk is comprised of Melson, Zaccagnino, former Rutgers football player/ESPY honoree Eric LeGrand, two-time cruiserweight champion Steve “USS” Cunningham, former junior middleweight titlist Austin “No Doubt” Trout, title contender DeAndre “The Bull” Latimore, Edgar “El Chamaco” Santana, Hector “Machito” Camacho Jr., 2008 US Olympians Demetrius “Boo” Andrade and Shawn Estrada along with prospects Sid “The Messenger” El Harrak, Jeff “TNT” Spencer, Denis “Da Momma’s Boy” Douglin, Will “Power” Rosinsky, Floriano “Italiano” Pagliara, Danny “Little Mac” McDermott, Vinny “The Lion” O’Brien, Ahmed “Prince of Egypt” Samir and Delen “Sniper” Parsley.

For more information or to make a donation, go to teamfighttowalk.com or Justadollarplease.org. All specific questions about the nature of the Clinical Trial to cure Spinal Cord Injury can be sent to boydmelson@yahoo.com.