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Alex Perez Wins By Unanimous
Decision Over Edvan Barros;
& The Undercard Results From
The Prudential Center
By Tim Donaldson
Welterweight Alex Perez had nearly every conceivable
advantage over Edvan Barros in his fight Friday night. He
had height and reach. More importantly, he knew that he had
a fight coming up for months. Barros, for his part, took
this fight on short notice. Barros took the fight just six
days ago. However, Barros proved to be a better opponent
than might be expected. Even though Perez won, one could
imagine a different outcome if Barros had had more time to
prepare for this fight.
Perez might have been the taller opponent, but Barros used
that against him. Barros would crouch down to allow himself
to move inside. Perez was having trouble connecting when
Barros would do this, sometimes just glancing the top of
Barros’ head. The other thing that Barros had was movement.
Perez seemed to want to stand and bang, but Barros was not
about to let him do that in the first round.
Now Perez and his corner must have seen that Barros was
eluding Perez because he came out on the attack in the
second. However, Barros came right back at him. He was able
to get Perez on the ropes. But in this early round, one
could already see that when Perez landed a shot he was doing
more damage than Barros was doing to him. It was simply
Barros’ movement that was keeping this fight close. Judge
John McKaie and Judge Ronald McNair both scored the second
round for Barros.
But Perez was fighting in front of a hometown crowd and had
too much to lose to let this go on for much longer. He
started out the round chasing Barros around the ring. Then
they had some back and forth exchanges. Barros was beginning
to look tired. He was slowing down and he was no longer
crouching down, which was causing him to get caught by
Perez. Barros was able to get Perez on the ropes, but Perez
boxed his way out.
By the fourth round, Barros was trying with limited success
to use his body to push Perez to the ropes. The two were
fighting in close, leaning on each other as they swung.
Perez’s punches were obviously harder, and he seemed to be
wearing Barros down. This continued through the fifth round.
Barros started to crouch down again, once again making it
difficult for Perez. The sixth round started with a heated
exchange between the two fighters. Perez landed several
shots to the head of Barros. Barros responded with one to
Perez, and the round ended with another heated exchange.
The seventh round once again saw Barros trying to use his
body and head to push Perez around the ring. And although
Perez landed a hard right to the chin of Barros, Barros
shook it off and continued to fight. Barros seemed to be
gaining energy this round. Once again, judges McKaie and
McNair scored the round for Barros
The eighth round started with an exchange of combinations
that ended when the two fighters got tangled up in each
other’s arms. Then, as if both fighters thought they had
done enough to win the fight, they seemed to lack any will
to commit to anymore of those heated exchanges. Barros might
have had his moments, but it was Perez who would win the
unanimous decision.
Just like three was the magic number for Zab Judah, it too
was the magic number for Welterweight Sadam Ali. Ali fought
Julius Edmonds. Although Edmonds gave a good fight, it was
never enough to defeat Ali. Edmonds came out in the first
round wasting no time and trying to put Ali on the
defensive. Ali simply used his height. He knocked Edmonds
down with a right uppercut. He then turned up the pressure
but lost that momentum when time was called to put back
Edmonds’ mouthpiece. This gave Edmonds second life, and
there was a heated exchange at the bell.
Edmonds started out the second round much the same way, and
once again Ali capitalized on his height. Again he knocked
Edmonds down. In the third, Ali stunned Edmonds with a left
hook. Ali seemed confident, fighting with his hands down. He
could tell he had him at this point. Ali turned up the
pressure until referee Eddie Cotton stopped the fight at
1:44 in the third.
The night started with Light Heavyweight Angel Concepcion
winning by unanimous decision over Shannon Anderson.
Concepcion easily controlled the first two rounds. The third
round might have been Anderson’s best, but Concepcion threw
a right that caused Anderson to stumble. Concepcion went
after Anderson but never did enough to end the fight. By the
fourth round Concepcion was fighting with his hands down,
but even this did not cause him to lose the round. All three
judges gave all four rounds to Concepcion.
Cruiserweights Patrick Farrell and Newton Kidd fought to a
draw. In the first round, Farrell started out as the
aggressor, chasing Kidd around the ring. But Kidd was
crouching down, staying elusive. All three judges gave the
round to Kidd. The second round was more back and forth,
both fighters throwing wide hooks at each other. At time
Kidd seemed to be in control, and then Farrell would take
over. In the third, Farrell looked as though he were going
to knock down Kidd. However, Kidd refused to go down, and
even though he looked tired, he dug deep and the round ended
in a heated exchange. Farrell seemed to be out of energy by
the fifth, but Kidd was still connecting. The fight once
again changed in the sixth. Farrell was desperately trying
to take back control. He caught Kidd on the ropes, and even
though he was wobbly, he stayed the aggressor throughout the
round. The fight ended in a majority draw.
Heavyweight Adam Kownacki, fighting out of Brooklyn by way
of Poland, electrified the crowd with his second round
knockout of Damian Clement. From the beginning Kownacki was
the aggressor, and Clement was closed up in a defensive
posture. Kownacki would simply throw combination after
combination. Forty-two seconds into the second round, it was
all over. Kownacki knocked Clement down to the canvas with a
right hand.
The night ended with Lightweight Nicky DeMarco defeating
Jose Guzman. Although Guzman had the height advantage, he
was never able to capitalize on it. DeMarco used his speed
to win by unanimous decision.
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