Perales prevails over Perez to remain undefeated

It wasn't a knockout, but Sergio Perales was satisfied just the same.

Perales improved to 6-0 with Friday night's four-round unanimous decision over Roberto "Tratorcito" Perez of Matamoros in the main event of a Marines Promotions boxing show at Jacob Brown Auditorium in Brownsville.

Perales, a 20-year-old Brownsville native and 2006 Los Fresnos High School graduate, did everything he could to record his fourth straight knockout at Jacob Brown, but his stout, bantamweight opponent just wouldn't cooperate. Perales landed several punches that appeared to jolt Perez and almost had him reeling, but the Mexican fighter always managed to stay on his feet.

"I've got to give a lot of credit to him (Perez)," Perales said. "I landed lefts, I landed hooks and I landed body shots, but he kept coming and he stayed on his feet. I had him hurt and I saw the opportunity for a knockout. I was going for it, but I could never get it.

"Now I know why they call him ‘Tratorcito,'" Perales added.

All three judges scored it 40-36 for Perales.

Perez, now 0-2 in his pro fights north of the border, has had more than 20 fights in Mexico and is the Tamaulipas bantamweight champion, said Robert Campos, Perales' trainer.

"If the fight would have been more rounds than four, I think we would have taken him out," Campos said. "He didn't hurt Sergio or anything like that, but he was able to take all of Sergio's punches, and I give him credit for being able to do that. He hung in there.

"It was a good workout for Sergio to go four rounds," he added. "We hope he can have a six-rounder in his next fight."

The six-bout event was billed 2008 Texas Cup Series Budweiser Boxing Blowout 3. It featured boxers representing the Rio Grande Valley going against fighters representing Dallas. The Valley fighters won five of the six bouts. One was a draw.

In the scheduled six-round, semi-main event, Raul "El Tigre" Casarez of Edinburg ran into a similar situation against his middleweight opponent, Seve Verdin of Louisiana. Casarez (13-2, 10 KOs) is used to winning his fights on early round knockouts, but he had to go five rounds before Verdin's corner asked for an end to the bout before the sixth-round bell.

Verdin (8-15) absorbed numerous blows from Casarez, but never appear to waver. Still, the referee suggested the fight end after the fifth round and Verdin's corner agreed.

"That's a tough guy," Casarez said. "He must of eaten his Wheaties this morning."

Humberto "El Terror" Ramos of Edinburg (8-0, five KOs) won his rematch against Ramiro Torres of San Antonio (3-14) on a four-round unanimous decision. The result was the same when the two lightweights met last March 22 at Jacob Brown.

Also on the undercard, Brownsville's Isidro "El Conejo" Arreola (3-2, 2 KOs) prevailed over Donald Harris of Austin (0-1) on a four-round unanimous decision in a super middle weight bout.

In the other two undercard bouts, Kingsville's Homer "Oso" Fonseca (4-2-1, 2 KOs) and San Antonio's Matt Thompson (1-1-1) fought to a heavyweight draw, while Guadalulpe Sanchez of Edinburg won his pro debut against Arturo Herrera of Mexico City (5-14) in a lightweight matchup.

Julio Marines of Marines Promotions said he plans to stage another boxing show at Jacob Brown in late October with Valley fighters taking on boxers from Mexico.