Perez Rallies to Win State Super Welterweight Title

It wasn’t so much that Tomas Perez of Santa Ana won the vacant California super welterweight title at the Irvine Marriott Monday night, but rather how he did it.

With a cut opened over his eye and in danger of having Hewitt take advantage of it, Perez rallied to take the title, knocking out Hewitt at :18 in the seventh round of a scheduled 12-round title match.

Perez opened the seventh round by pummeling Hewitt, who did not respond to the challenge, forcing the referee to stop the match at that point.

That winning flurry wasn’t the best boxing that Perez displayed, however. The winning blows were just a continuation of a wild sixth round.

At the end of the sixth, Perez knocked Hewitt literally through the ropes with 10 seconds to go, sending a stunned Hewitt into the ringside seats.

Hewitt eventually crawled back into the ring to be saved by the bell ending the sixth round.

Perez’s point had been made and for a dazed Hewitt the fight was all but over.

The sellout crowd of 1,472 in the hotel’s ballroom didn’t agree with the referee stopping the fight in spite of Hewitt’s inability to respond.

Many in the crowd booed heartily when Perez was awarded his championship belt.

Hewitt had scored early and often, giving him hope that he might put away the tenacious Perez early. Hewitt had knocked down Perez 37 seconds into the first round, but Perez returned the favor by the two-minute mark.

Hewitt appeared to trail on points until the fifth round, when Hewitt’s jabs first started closing Perez’s eye.

Like the first-round knockdown, Hewitt’s jabs only served to anger Perez, who then went on to win the sixth and seventh rounds.

Perez was looking for the title to gain him some national recognition, possibly setting up a fight with the more seasoned Thomas Hearns.

On the undercard, Nacho Guerrero of North Hollywood knocked out Phil Brown of San Diego in the third round at 132 pounds. Lee Sentinella of Westminster also knocked out Kenny Larson of Redlands in the fourth round at 160 pounds.

At heavyweight, Dave Yonko of Long Beach knocked out Johnny Elacqua of Las Vegas in the first round.

Genaro Hernandez of Los Angeles won a unanimous decision from Larry Villareal of Fresno at 132 pounds. And Tony Paisano of Pasadena knocked out Drafton Bunch of San Diego midway through the fourth round.