Frankie Gomez cruises to victory over Mauricio Herrera in welterweight bout

Frankie Gomez’s road back from the embarrassment of one year ago brought him Saturday to a place of joyous validation.

The East Los Angeles fighter who missed his weight limit by a staggering 61/2 pounds last May in Houston, forcing the cancellation of his Canelo Alvarez undercard bout and a $50,000 purse, was brilliant in his second chance, cruising to a resounding unanimous-decision victory over Riverside’s Mauricio Herrera in a welterweight bout at T-Mobile Arena.

Judges Steve Weisfeld, Robert Hoyle and Burt Clements each scored the bout 100-90 in Gomez’s favor.

The 24-year-old Gomez (21-0) pounded former junior-welterweight title challenger Herrera (22-6) with so many power punches, the veteran was cut under his left eye in the second round and black-and-blue under both eyes by fight’s end.

Gomez darted out of trouble when the situation provided, but was mostly steadfast in meeting Herrera’s aggression with punishment of his own.

Compromised last year by a court fight to obtain primary custody of his daughter, who is now 5, Gomez was needed in court three days a week during training camp and missed out on an HBO date against former lightweight champion Humberto Soto.

His recommitment to the sport included two victories by unanimous decision under seven-time trainer of the year Freddie Roach at Hollywood’s Wild Card Boxing Club, and his elevation to another pay-per-view card on Saturday, in which the Nevada State Athletic Commission reported his purse as $90,000.

The bout preceded the night’s main event, Alvarez’s first World Boxing Council middleweight title defense against former 140-pound champion Amir Khan in a 155-pound catchweight bout. See latimes.com/sports for full coverage.

In Herrera, 35, Gomez confronted a veteran who gave unbeaten welterweight world champion Danny Garcia possibly his most difficult fight yet just two years ago.

But Gomez was clearly refreshed by his discipline, saying before the bout, “It feels good. I feel happy, and usually I feel angry and all dehydrated,” Gomez said. “The key to making weight was staying active in the gym, eating right.

“I trained really hard and it paid off. “

Gomez for years struggled to manage his troublesome lifestyle in East Los Angeles, where he was charged twice in theft cases between 2012 and 2014, saying he’s now separated from the friends who facilitated his trouble.

He grew up engaging in street fights.

“I had a lot of energy so my brother would tell me, ‘Hey, this kid will fight you … for five bucks apiece, we’d fight,” Gomez said. “You could make a lot … by 5 or 6, I was in the gym.”

Former six-division world champion Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy Promotions learned of the power-pounching kid who was from De La Hoya’s hometown and was even born on his same birthday, and signed him.

The patience with the adversity paid off against Herrera.

Gomez landed 183 punches on Herrera, who responded with 106, often forced to take breathers from the attack, including resting both arms on the top rope in the eighth round.

Gomez’s combinations and flurries weakened Herrera, who sought to rush Gomez in the sixth round, only to be met by a painful attack that subdued any such follow-up.

Gomez said he next seeks a move down to the 140-pound junior-welterweight limit to be in position to fight “the best in the division,” which includes his stablemate Viktor Postol of Russia, who’ll fight a July 23 title-unification bout against fellow unbeaten Terence Crawford in Las Vegas.

Former middleweight champion David Lemieux, in his first bout since losing his belt to Gennady Golovkin in October, threw punches without the hesitation that comes with fighting “GGG,” and stopped Glen Tapia 56 seconds into the fourth round.

“I saw some openings and I took them,” Lemieux (35-3) said, adding that he would like next to fight “the winner of the [Alvarez-Khan] main event.”

Tapia (23-3) had never been dropped, but Lemieux found him with a sudden short left, then threw a right behind the head that sent Tapia head-first to the canvas, which convinced his trainer Roach to throw in the towel.

“I was kind of mad at Freddie,” Tapia said after being consoled by the respected trainer.