Boxers Butt Heads, Hernandez Keeps WBA Title

Genaro Hernandez and Raul Perez, both prepared to go 12 rounds in their world title fight before 5,699 at the Forum on Monday night, instead settled matters in 28 seconds.

Settled? Well, not really.

In one of the quickest title fights on record, Hernandez and Perez butted foreheads in the opening seconds of Round 1, and Perez came out of it with a gash over his left eye.

The match was stopped after 28 seconds and declared a technical draw. But Hernandez, under World Boxing Assn. rules, retained his championship.

Hernandez, who was defending his 130-pound championship for the fourth time, was hurt but unbloodied by the collision. He clutched his forehead, winced in pain, and staggered to a neutral corner.

‘It was just one of those freaky things,” Hernandez, of Mission Viejo, said later.

“He was coming in on me with a jab, I was trying to slip it and come in on him with a right. We just came into each other. It was no one’s fault.

“I worked really hard to get in great shape, I was ready to give the audience a good fight. He’s a good guy, a good fighter. I hope there’s a rematch.”

California Athletic Commission physician Robert Karns, who ordered the bout stopped, said the head butt severed a facial artery above Perez’s left eye.

“There was no way he could continue,” Karns said. “In fact, he was still bleeding badly when we got him to his corner. He was cut to the bone.”

Another state ringside physician, Pearlman Hicks, closed Perez’s wound with 25 stitches.

Hernandez, who earned $125,000, now is 27-0-1. Perez, former bantamweight champion from Tijuana, earned $15,000. He is 50-3-3.

Hernandez’s manager, Nori Takatani, said a rematch was “probable” after Hernandez has a June mandatory defense against Frankie Warren.