Eloy Perez’s Coming Out Party:  A Star is Born

Ana Julaton Defends Her Title

By:  Jeff Townsend, Boxing writer
Bayareasportsdrive.com
12-05-09

Eloy Perez Puts It All Together

There have been glimpses of a great future for Eloy “The Prince” Perez (15-0-2, 4 KOs) of Salinas, CA and last night at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California showed that Perez has what it takes to be a real talent in the junior lightweight (130) division.   Perez possesses very good boxing skills and is very good at controlling the action.  The key weapons for Perez are fast hands, quick reflexes, effective footwork and working behind the jab.  His opponents have had a difficult time landing very many hard punches since Perez is very effective at moving away after throwing his punches.  The one downside to Perez’s ‘box-and-move’ style is that it is difficult to score many knockouts this way.  Hence, before last night, he only had 3 wins via knockout in 17 fights.   

However, Perez finally put it all together and looked like a complete fighter in a TKO win against Juan Santiago (11-3-1, 7 KOs) of Denver, CO in a scheduled ten round bout, becoming the NABO super featherweight champion in the process.   Physically, it looked like Perez was in for a long night, being at least three inches shorter than Santiago.  Perez began to work behind his jab in the first round while crouching a little in order to get as small as possible.   

In the second round, Perez began to throw three and four punch combinations while being able to move away and avoid being hit.  The hand speed mesmerized Santiago to the point where he was forced to cover up and just take the punches.   He simply did not know what was going to happen.  Perez mixed it up by throwing lead right hands, working behind a stiff jab or simply firing off a quick combination.  Even when Santiago would throw some punches, Perez would counter with crisp punches that always would find their mark.    

By the fourth round, all of the punches that had landed on Santiago’s face were causing  some swelling under one of his eyes.  The combinations were coming fast and furious from Perez and the disparity in talent was very obvious.  Near the end of the round, Perez landed some solid punches to Santiago’s body that must have taken something out of him.  Perez does not possess one-punch knockout power but hitting an opponent repeatedly with combinations take their toll.  At the end of the fifth round, the ringside doctor went into Santiago’s corner and recommended to the referee that the fight be stopped.  

Perez is trained by Max Garcia and managed by Salinas’ Garcia Boxing which has a great reputation for managing and training fighters.  It seems that Perez’s management team feels that he is ready for the next step in his career.   Perez’s last fight was against undefeated Dannie Williams (12-0, 10 KOs).  Despite being knocked down twice in the early rounds, Perez went on to win a ten round unanimous decision.  Santiago become the opponent in this fight only after tough Arturo Quintero (15-4, 9 KOs) was bumped from the card by the California State Athletic Commission.   

Ana Julaton Retains Her IBA Title; Picks Up Vacant WBO Title

There was some serious bling around Ana “The Hurricane” Julaton’s waist at the conclusion of her fight against durable Donna Biggers (19-9-1, 16 KOs) of Boiling Springs, NC.  In winning a ten round unanimous decision, Julaton (6-1-1, 1 KO) of nearby Daly City, CA defended her IBA super bantamweight title that she won in her last fight against Kelsey Jefferies while winning the vacant WBO super bantamweight title in the process.   Julaton could leave the ring with two title belts around her waist, all the while only having fought in eight professional fights.  

This fight was all about the jab – Julaton consisting working behind hers while Biggers was constantly being hit with one jab after another.  From the first bell to begin the fight to the last second of the bout, Julaton controlled the action by throwing a jab or two and then taking a small step back to maintain a good distance.  This pattern repeated itself throughout the entire fight.  Julaton has pretty good hand speed and effective foot movement which became evident from the second round on.  Biggers suffered a cut outside her right eye in the second round which was probably due to an accidental headbutt.   

Julaton mixed in some decent right hands here and there but it was really all about her jab.  There was some good toe-to-toe action in the eighth round which provided some excitement for the 3,943 fans in attendance, many of whom had come out to support Julaton.  A cut developed over Bigger’s left eye in the ninth round and it was flowing pretty good by the end of the fight.  It is clear that Julaton has some good boxing fundamentals but it remains to be seen if she can add any excitement to her gameplan.   

Undercard results

San Jose-based cruiserweight Tony Johnson extended his undefeated record to 4-0 by winning a four round unanimous decision against Ron Simmons (3-4, 2 KOs) of Lewiston, ID.   Johnson is a highly-touted prospect that provides a lot of excitement for fight fans due to his tendency to slug it out with opponents.  This may be due to the fact that he has transitioned from fighting in MMA events. 

Johnson wobbled Simmons with some hard punches near the end of the first round and hurt him again in the third round with left hooks to the body when Simmons was on the ropes.  The fourth round saw a lower punch output from both fighters but they continued to exchange punches in toe-to-toe action.   You can always expect Johnson to be throwing ‘punches with bad intentions’ with an eye towards knocking out his opponent.  

Jonathan Alcantara (2-1-1) of Novato, CA defeated Aaron Alafa (3-2, 1 KO) of Visalia, CA via split decision in a four round super bantamweight bout.   

Melissa McMorrow (3-1-2) of San Jose, CA and Gloria Salas (1-3-1, 1 KO) of Riverside, CA fought to a four round majority draw.

 Email Jeff with questions or comments at jtownsend@bayareasportsdrive.com 

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