Williams fights to a draw; Perez drops decision

By CES Boxing - 08/03/2013 - Comments

UNCASVILLE, Conn. (Aug. 3rd, 2013) – Hartford, Conn., super featherweight Joseph “Chip” Perez came up short in his quest to rebound from his knockout loss in January while nearby New Haven native Jimmy Williams fought to a draw Saturday on the undercard of the NBC Sports Network’s Fight Night card at Mohegan Sun, co-promoted by Main Events and Jimmy Burchfield’s Classic Entertainment & Sports.

In arguably the most entertaining bout of the undercard, Perez (10-3) fought tooth and nail against unbeaten Long Island southpaw Michael Brooks (10-0), who outworked the scrappy Perez to earn the 57-56, 59-54, 60-53 unanimous-decision win.

Brooks was originally supposed to face lightweight Karl Dargan, but Dargan was forced to withdraw the day before the weigh-in. Perez, who typically fights at super featherweight, was supposed to fight Chris Green, but Green was also forced to withdraw the week of the fight, so Perez and Brooks agreed to fight at a catch weight of 134 pounds and staged a classic, six-round battle.

Brooks, the taller, bigger fighter, was the aggressor early, catching Perez flush on several occasions through the first two rounds, but Perez withstood Brooks’ best and kept plugging away. Perez picked up the pace in the middle rounds, effectively landing clean right hands on the inside and then dipping back to the outside to avoid standing toe-to-toe with his taller opponent. Brooks’ reach, however, was too much for Perez to overcome; Perez also lost a point in the sixth round for leading with his shoulder, limiting his chances of winning scorecards. Perez made a last-ditch effort in the closing seconds to finish Brooks, urging his opponent to trade, but Brooks withstood the flurry to earn his 10th win and first of 2013. Perez dropped his second consecutive bout; he lost via knockout to Jason Sosa in January.

Also on the undercard, Williams (4-0-1) fought for the fifth time in 2013 in attempt to keep his perfect record intact, but he couldn’t break through against elusive Philadelphia welterweight Greg Jackson (3-0-1), who ducked and dodged his way out of trouble through four rounds. Judge Carlos Ortiz scored the bout 39-37 in favor of Williams, but Glenn Feldman and Frank Lombardi each ruled it 38-38, resulting in a majority draw. Williams was the aggressor, but failed to cut off the ring against the speedy Jackson, who seemed content with trying to counterpunch and land the occasional haymaker.

In the opening bout, unbeaten light middleweight prospect Tony Harrison (14-0, 11 KOs) of Detroit remained unbeaten with an impressive second-round knockout win over Camden, N.J., veteran Gilbert Alex Sanchez (2-3). The taller, leaner Harrison utilized a stiff, left jab to keep Sanchez at bay before peppering him with short right hooks to the body and head to open the second round. Sanchez hit the canvas halfway through the round courtesy of a hard right upstairs, but rose to his feet and kept fighting. Sanchez actually landed a few clean shots of his own during a brief exchange before a vicious body blow by Harrison dropped Sanchez for good, prompting referee Dock Harvey to wave it off at the 2:10 mark.

Unbeaten Ukrainian heavyweight Vyacheslav Glazkov (15-0-1, 11 KOs) kept his perfect record intact, pulverizing the overmatched Byron Polley (25-16-1) in less than two rounds. Polley outweighed Glazkov by more than 30 pounds, but Glazkov’s height and sheer punching power were too much to withstand. Glazkov dropped Polley twice in the opening round and again 28 seconds into the second before Harvey stopped the bout. Glazkov also earned his first win of the year after his February bout against unbeaten Malik Scott ended in a draw.