By Jim Dower: Unbeaten #5 WBC heavyweight contender Mike Perez (20-0-1, 12 KO’s) suffered a shoulder injury while training, and he won’t be able to make his May 24th WBC heavyweight eliminator fight against unbeaten #4 WBC Bryant Jennings (18-0, 10 KO’s) on May 24th at the American Bank Center, in Corpus Christi, Texas, USA. This is a huge blow for the 28-year-old Perez and for boxing fans, because the Perez-Jennings fight had promised to be an exciting fight between two highly talented and unbeaten heavyweights.
The winner of the Perez-Jennings fight was then supposed to fight for a world title once the smoke cleared in the outcome of the Bermane Stiverne vs. Chris Arreola, and then the Deontay Wilder vs. the winner of the Arreola-Stiverne fight.
“I was floored when I got the call this morning from Perez’s manager Patrick Thomas that he injured his shoulder in sparring,” Tom Loeffler of K2 Promotions. “Mike is flying back to Ireland to see a shoulder specialist. I’m hoping to hear good news that the injury is not too serious and the fight can be rescheduled in the near future. I know Mike is devastated because of this setback but looks forward to continuing his dream of marching toward a WBC world title fight.”
There isn’t a time line for when Perez’s shoulder will be healed and for when their fight can be rescheduled. The Perez-Jennings fight needs to take place to at some point in the future.
The extra time for Perez to heal will help Jennings because it’ll give him additional time to get his game together to beat the tough Cuban fighter. Jennings, a late comer in boxing, has looked impressive recently in beating Artur Szpilka, Andrey Fedosov, Bowie Tupou and Chris Koval. Only 6’2″, Jennings has a freakishly long reach of 84″, which is three inches longer than the 6’6″ Wladimir Klitschko’s reach. Jennings’ long arms help him dominate his opponents.
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