On Friday night from the Coliseo Samuel Rodriguez in Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico, fight enthusiast were privy to an enthralling main event and co-feature on Solo Boxeo Tecate which was televised on Spanish Language Network’s Telefutura. In the featured bout undefeated prospect Michael Angelo Perez (11-0-1, 5KOs) of Lares, Puerto Rico, defeated 23-year-old Jose “Loco” Hernandez (10-4, 4KOs), in a back and forth slugfest scheduled for eight lightweight rounds..
The fighters came out unloading heavy artillery from the outset and were exchanging lefts and rights mainly to the head but weren’t ignoring the torso either as both gladiators were going downstairs with both fist. The undefeated hometown prospect Michael Angelo was getting the better of the exchanges and seemed to hurt Hernandez with a stiff jab on more than one occasion in the opening stanza. Towards the end of the round Perez caught Hernandez with some good left-hooks and overhand-rights to the jaw to which the 23-year-old Hernandez responded by opening up and the combatants went to-to-toe until the bell sounded in an entertaining 1st round that Michael Perez clearly won.
Perez continued to use a good jab following it up with stout left-hooks to the body and head of his adversary while he also dodged Hernandez counter strikes with good footwork and head movement. Jose Hernandez’ balance was suspect and he was standing straight up with no head movement which resulted in an easy target for the 20-year-old Puerto Rican. Hernandez attack consisted of soft jabs and a heavy dose of left-hooks to the jaw and torso alongside right crosses to the body of Perez and while he was being bested he was still landing heavy blows trying to hurt Michael Angelo.
As the fight progressed Hernandez began landing more and more with his jab and numerous crisp left-hooks, straight rights and uppercuts to the face of Michael as they were pleasing the fans with many powerful exchanges. In the 3rd round Hernandez pushed the Puerto Rican against the ropes unleashing a barrage of right and left crosses to the mouth, thunderous left-hooks to the body and hard left uppercuts that were doing major damage to Perez who was now worse for the wear. It got to the point that referee Roberto Ramirez Sr. was watching closely in case he had to step in and wave off the action but Perez’ mouthpiece came out giving him precious and need time to recover, to the dismay of Hernandez and the booing spectators. Hernandez seemed to have punched himself out and Michael Angelo capitalized connecting with hard left-hooks and solid right-hands coming back in the round.
Entering the 4th round both warriors were bleeding from the face due to blistering see saw action and the pace slowed a little as Perez began to take over. At 2:44 of the 5th round Michael Angelo cracked Hernandez with a double left-hook to the kisser that staggered the Fort Worth, TX., brawler. Perez battered Jose all over the ring until he punched himself out midway through the 5th and the storyline carried forward as this allowed Hernandez to once again come back right when it looked like he might be finished, to drop some bombs on the tired Perez.
The later rounds took on a more technical approach and when Michael Perez started boxing and moving inside of the ring he proceeded to dominate the 6th round. Not to be outdone Hernandez boxed nicely in the 7th round punishing Perez’ body and connecting upstairs with mighty right-hands. The 8th and final round was pretty uneventful until each man landed some sturdy blows up top giving the fans one final exchange to close out the fight in a round Perez seemed to win.
The scrap was a spirited and narrow affair and when the score cards were read Puerto Rican Michael Angelo Perez was awarded a split decision victory with scores of 78-74 and 77-75 for Perez while one judge saw 78-74 for Hernandez. With the victory Michael Angelo improves to 11-0-1 with five knockouts while Hernandez falls to 10-4 with four stoppages.
The eight round super featherweight co-feature was a swift one as 25-year-old undefeated prospect Luis “El Artesano” Cruz (17-0, 14KOs) of Las Piedras, Puerto Rico, dispatched of Managua, Nicaragua’s Wilfredo “El Zurdo” Acuna (13-8, 10KOs), inside of six minutes.
The scrap started with a methodical approach as both men were giving each other plenty of space while they snapped off jabs that were periodically followed up by each man’s respective power hand. El Artesano’s salvo consisted off a steady jab, left-hooks and overhand-rights while the 29-year-old southpaw Acuna stuck to his jab and a few right-hooks. Cruz connected with a couple overhand-rights and left-hooks to the dome of Acuna to close out and claim round one as his.
Wilfredo was utilizing nice head movement but could not get out of the way of Cruz’ laser beam jab that was finding it’s target with regularity. One minute into the 2nd round Cruz landed the first significant blows, two overhand-rights to the jaw line that got “El Zurdo” Acuna’s attention.
At 1:07 of the round “El Artesano” crushed Acuna with a left-hook straight-right combination that staggered the Nicaraguan then followed up with a crisp left-hook and lambasted Wilfredo with a right-uppercut to the whiskers that floored him and had the southpaw seriously wounded. After Acuna slowly made it to his feet Cruz accosted him with a flurry of rights and lefts until he caught Wilfredo with an enormous left-hook straight-right to the head in the corner of the ring, that prompted third man in the ring Ramon Pena to wave off the action at :33 seconds of the round awarding Luis Cruz with a 2nd round TKO as he improves to 17-0 with fourteen knockouts. With the defeat Wilfredo Acuna’s record now stands at 13-8 with ten knockouts.
To portion out the televised event 20-year-old prospect Jonuel Tapia (7-1, 5KOs) of Caguas, Puerto Rico, dominated Guaynabo, Puerto Rico’s 22-year-old Emil Gonzales (4-3, 3KOs ), in a four round super welterweight contest with scores of 39-37 and 40-36 twice.