Albuquerque boxer Abraham Perez’s recovery from a brush with death some 27 months ago, a near-drowning in his family’s swimming pool that briefly stopped his heart, sapped his strength and robbed him of his stamina, has been nothing short of remarkable and little short of miraculous.
Boxing
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Who: Abraham Perez vs. Yankiel Rivera, Josh Torres vs. Jose Luis Sanchez, several other bouts
Where: Kiva Auditorium, Albuquerque Convention Center
When: Saturday, 2:30 p.m. (preliminary card, Sanchez-Torres), 6 p.m. (main card, Perez-Rivera)
Tickets: $60-$185, 505-877-5725 or ticketmaster.com
Streaming: Wynn Records Network (prelim card), DAZN (main card)
Since that day in July 2024, Perez has come back to fight five times and win all five, the most recent victory earning him the WBA interim world flyweight title.
And yet, his father and trainer said on Friday that he hadn’t seen his son at peak performance and at full strength since that incident — until their training camp for Saturday’s title defense at the Kiva Auditorium against Puerto Rico’s Yankiel Rivera.
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“He’s gonna be a hundred percent, for sure,” Aaron Perez said.
In all likelihood, 100% is what the younger Perez will need to defeat Rivera, a 2020 Puerto Rican Olympian who’s highly motivated to win the WBA interim flyweight title he lost to Puerto Rican countryman Jonathan “Bomba” Gonzalez last January.
That title belt now belongs to Perez, who defeated Gonzalez by split decision on June 14 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Perez, having beaten Gonzalez, who’d beaten Rivera, surely rates as a favorite on Saturday — especially in his hometown. Oddsmakers agree, seeing Perez as a minus-200 favorite.
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Never tell Rivera the odds, whether in English or his native Spanish.
The Triangle Theory, as in “he beat the guy who beat you,” was of no interest to him.
“The fight against Bomba was (a robbery),” Rivera said at Thursday’s news conference through a translator (though the decision was unanimous). “… I’m gonna be a world champion, because that’s what I’ve been fighting for my whole life.”
Perez appears to like the matchup, partly because Rivera’s amateur background reminds him of his own. He sees a tactical fight likely to last the entire 12 rounds.
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Perez, a U.S. Olympic Trials champion, fought as an amateur in Bulgaria, Spain and France. Rivera campaigned in Japan, Serbia, Colombia, Peru, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic.
“We both have had international experience,” Perez said. “We both have seen many different styles, and it’s really going to come down to a really nice chess match.”
But nice for whom?
Aaron Perez, his son’s trainer, said he respects Rivera and will continue to do so — before and after.
“When the bell rings, there’s no respect,” the elder Perez said. “That’s the beauty of the sport, because at the end of the fight, the respect comes back.
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“It’s a gentleman’s sport, for sure.”
Both gentlemen weighed in just inside the 112-pound flyweight limit — Rivera at 111.4 pounds, Perez at 111.2.
TORRES-SANCHEZ: Josh Torres (31-7-2, 17 KOs) weighed in at 146 pounds for his 10-round bout against fellow Albuquerquean Jose Luis “Guero” Sanchez (14-7-1, four KOs. The vacant WBA Continental USA welterweight title is at stake.
Sanchez initially weighed in at 147.2 pounds, two-tenths of a pound over the welterweight limit. Sanchez, screened from the attendees by a sheet, doffed his shorts and weighed in again at precisely 147.
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THE CARD: So extensive is Saturday’s lineup that it’s been divided into two halves.
The prelim portion is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. and will be streamed on Wynn Records Network. The Torres-Sanchez fights is the semi-main event of the preliminary card, to be followed by a 12-round IBF mini-flyweight (105-pound) title fight between challenger Brandon Moreno (16-0, five KOs) of Madrid, Spain and champion Pedro Taduran (20-4-1, 14 KOs) of the Philippines.
Former Albuquerquean Leroy Clark’s four-round cruiserweight bout against Virginia’s Brock Walker (1-2, one KO) is billed as a walk-out bout, meaning it could be placed anywhere on the card if early finishes in other fights leave time to be filled.
Clark (pro debut), taller than his opponent by perhaps nine inches, weighed in at 199.4 pounds, Walker at 199.6. Clark now lives in San Antonio, Texas.
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The co-main event that will precede Perez-Rivera is 10-round light heavyweight bout between Deon Nicholson (23-1, 19 KOs) of Tuscaloosa, Alabama and Atif Oberlton (17-0, 14 KOs) of Philadelphia.
Wynn Records Network and DAZN are both subscription services, but at different prices: $24.99 per month for DAZN, $5.99 for Wynn Records.
A total of 10 bouts are scheduled — 11, if an opponent can be found for Moriarty bantamweight Austin Lewis.
SPECIAL GUESTS: Salita Promotions, which is staging Saturday’s card with Albuquerque’s Legacy Promotions, announced on Friday that former world champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. and current world champion Claressa Shields will attend Saturday’s card at the Kiva Auditorium.
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It’s not the first visit to Albuquerque for either of them.
The second fight of Mayweather’s legendary pro career, a victory by four-round unanimous decision over Reggie Sanders, took place at Tingley Coliseum.
Shields, like Mayweather undefeated as a professional boxer, came to Albuquerque in 2021 to train in MMA at Jackson-Wink. She’s 19-0 as a boxer, 2-1 as an MMA fighter.
