An anti-climatic fight between junior welterweights Michael Perez and Jorge Romero had a climatic ending of sorts. After dominating Romero for the first seven or eight rounds, Perez had enough in the tank to come out victorious.

Perez won a 10-round unanimous decision over Romero at the Coliseo Ruben Rodriguez in Bayamon, Puerto Rico on Monday night. The bout headlined a Golden Boy Promotions/ PR Best Promotions card and was televised live on Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports Deportes.

Perez was coming off a 10-round unanimous decision over Miguel Zuniga on September 30 in Brooklyn, N.Y. Romero entered the fight against Perez having lost three bouts in a row.

Perez controlled the tempo from the opening bell, keeping Romero on the outside with lead or counter left hooks to the head. Romero looked as though he was holding back, doing little to initiate or engage with Perez.

After getting outboxed during the first two rounds, things did not get any better for Romero. A left hook by Perez opened a cut over his right eye. Perez seemed to hurt Romero in the fourth round, landing hard left hooks to the body.
While Perez was in control, he did not increase his punch output or aggression, content to score to Romero's head from the outside.

Sensing he was down, Romero came on in the eighth round. He pressed the action, throwing more punches, particularly with hooks or crosses to the Perez's head. Perez's punch output dropped considerably in the final two rounds, fighting in spurts and keeping away from Romero. It was too little, too late for Romero, who probably should have been more active mush earlier than the later rounds.

All three judges scored the bout 98-92 in favor of Perez, who improves to 20-1-2, 10 knockouts. Romero, from Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico, drops to 24-9, 21 KOs. Perez is now unbeaten in his last six bouts since a technical knockout defeat after the sixth round to Omar Figueroa Jr. in January of 2012.

Two bouts featuring fighters from Puerto Rico rounded out the Golden Boy Live! telecast.

Arroyo defeats Quijano after slow start

Junior bantamweight prospect McJoe Arroyo won a one-side eight round unanimous decision over David Quijano. Arroyo had not fought in over a year, an eight round unanimous decision over Jairo Hernandez in Mexico City, DF, Mexico. Arroyo cited politics in boxing as a reason why he had not fought until Monday night.

From the opening bell, the southpaw Arroyo looked rusty as Quijano, who started fighting from the southpaw stance, beat him to the punch in the opening round with left hands to the head. Quijano carried it over into the second round and was doing well until he was stunned midway through the round by a combination to the head by Arroyo.

Arroyo seemed to find a rhythm in the third round, easily landing jabs to the head of Quijano. As the bout progressed, Quijano's punch output dropped considerably and his face started to bruise by the middle rounds Arroyo spent most of the second half of the fight boxing Quijano from the outside. Although Quijano continued to press the fight, his punches, few and far between, had little impact on them. Arroyo continued landing left hands to the head, mixing in a shot to the body.

All three judges scored the bout in favor of Arroyo, 79-73, 79-73, and 80-72. Arroyo improves to 14-0, 7 KOs, while Quijano drops to 15-5-1, 9 KOs.
 

Sosa decisions Perez

Welterweight John Karl Sosa won a six round unanimous decision over Victor Perez.

Sosa was the aggressor from the opening bell, forcing Perez to fight from the bcd of his heels. Perez would hold his ground on occasion, landing a hard right hand that got Sosa's attention in the first round.

The taller Sosa seemed to find a rhythm midway through the fight, continuing to walk down Perez and beating him to the punch. Perez would catch Sosa with an occasional uppercut, but not enough to keep Sosa off of him.

Perez's punch output began to drop in the two rounds. Perez looked tired, most likely from backing away from Sosa the entire fight. Sosa was warned a few times for hitting Perez in the back of the head, but was not deducted a point.
All three judges scored the bout in favor of Sosa, 59-55 59-55, 58-56.

Sosa goes to 10-0, 6 KOs, while Perez drops to 3-2, 1 KO.
 

Francisco A. Salazar has written for RingTV since October of 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. He also covers boxing for the Ventura County (CA) Star newspaper, Boxingscene.com, and Knockout Nation. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing