Perales gives fans their money's worth with 10-round victory at Jacob Brown

Brownsville bantamweight Sergio "Time To Shine" Perales is always content to win a fight by knockout during the early rounds. Even though that didn't happen Saturday night in his 10-round, main-event bout at Jacob Brown Auditorium against veteran fighter Jose Garcia Bernal of Colombia, Perales wasn't too terribly disappointed. Actually, he was kind of glad that it didn't end early.

Perales (13-0, eight knockouts) stopped Bernal (27-8-1, 18 KOs) on a technical knockout at the 2:06 mark of the 10th round after knocking his resilient opponent down four times.

"I'm happy that this fight happened here in Brownsville so that my fans could enjoy a good show, because when I've fought here before, I've usually won with first-round knockouts," Perales said. "I'm happy to win that way, but I've never been able to give them a longer show, so I'm glad that this fight took place here and we gave them a better show.

"I'm grateful that I went up against a warrior like him," Perales added. "He's easily the toughest opponent I've ever faced. He has a lot of experience and he knows a lot of tricks in the ring. I learned some of them from him tonight."

By winning, Perales, who went 10 rounds for the first time, captured an IBA Continental Americas title and a WBF North American belt.

"I'm very proud to win those belts," he said with a smile. "Maybe I'll take them to the mall and walk around."

Perales knocked down Bernal at the end of the second round, and again in the fourth, seventh and 10th rounds. Each time, except in the 10th, the Colombian boxer, who fights out of Miami, Fla., bounced right back up and waved his arms in the air to show the referee that he was ready to continue. But Perales' punches eventually took their toll. When Bernal, who began bleeding from the forehead in the third round, went down for the fourth time early in the 10th, he was sluggish in getting up. A few seconds later, a barrage of furious punches by Perales prompted the referee to step in and halt the match.

In the semi-main event matching super bantamweights, Jerry "Chicanito" Guevara (2-0, two KOs) of Brownsville defeated Marcos Vasquez (0-1) of Diaz Ordaz, Mexico, on a TKO at the 2:17 mark of the fourth round. Guevara had been eagerly waiting for more than a year to fight as a pro for the first time in his hometown.

"It feels pretty good to hear the fans shout your name," Guevara said. "I just want to thank everyone who is supporting me, especially my sponsors, my coach Robert Campos, my mom and God."

Saturday's "Unfinished Business" card presented by Marines Promotions opened with a pair of exhibition fights featuring Edinburg light middleweight Raul "El Tigre" Casarez (14-2, seven KOs) and Weslaco light welterweight Omar "Panterita" Figueroa (7-0, seven KOs).

Also on the undercard, Gerardo Alvarado (4-5) of Reynosa stopped Jordan Washington (0-1) of McAllen on a second-round TKO, Hector Garza (1-1) of Harlingen knocked out Manuel Urbina (0-1) of Brownsville during the first round and Jose Vasquez (3-1) prevailed over Ivan Rios (1-2) on a TKO during the second round in a matchup of fighters from Mexico.