By Allan Fox: #4 WBC heavyweight contender Mike Perez (20-1-1, 12 KOs) could be fighting on January 9th against an opponent still to be determined at the Chumash Resort in Santa Ynez, California.
Perez might not fight on this date if they can’t find an opponent for him. There’s only six days left before January 9th, so it’s quite possible that his management may not be able to find an opponent for him.
The Perez fight, if it takes place, will be on the undercard of the lightweight clash between Darleys Perez and Jonathan Maicelo on ESPN2’s “Friday Night Fights.” According to Dan Rafael of ESPN, the 29-year-old Perez’s fight won’t be televised on ESPN2. This is unfortunate because Perez is a good heavyweight, and any fight involving him is sure to be an interesting fight to watch for boxing fans.
Perez’s fight would be a warmup for him to get ready for a potential WBC eliminator bout against former WBA champion Alexander Povetkin. The winner of the proposed fight between Perez and Povetkin would then face the winner of the January 17th clash between WBC champion Bermane Stiverne and Deontay Wilder.
There’s no word yet whether Povetkin would be interested in facing Perez in an eliminator bout to get a shot against the Stiverne-Wilder fight.
In Perez’s last fight in July, he was beaten by Bryant Jennings by a 12 round split decision. Perez dominated the smaller Jennings with his superior size and strength in the first half of the fight, but in the last six rounds, Perez gassed out and allowed Jennings to take the fight with his superior work rate.
In his previous fight against Carlos Takam in January of 2010, Perez fought to a 10 round draw. It was more of a gift draw though because Takam really outworked him through most of the fight. Perez looked tired from the 4th round on, and this enabled Takam to win a lot of rounds based on his aggression.
In 2013, Perez was involved in a fight with Magomed Abdusalamov that left the Russian fighter hospitalized with serious injuries. The fight tragically ended Abduslamov’s career.
In coming back quickly from that fight, Perez faced Takam only two months later in January of 2014. It was a very quick turnaround for Perez, given the amount of punishment he absorbed in the Abdusalamov fight. Ideally, Perez should have taken off five or six months before fighting rather than jumping back inside the ring so soon.
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