Oscar Perez

Miguel Flores has Homecoming on P4P Promotions Card

Houston native and world-class featherweight Miguel Flores returns to the ring as he tries to get himself back into the world title picture as he headlines a P4P promotions card at the Bayou Event Center in his hometown. It's the first time Flores has fought in his hometown in three years. He outpointed Diuhl Olguin at the Toyota Center in the summer of 2021 on the Jermall Charlo vs Juan Montiel card. Flores last fought in Australia in 2023 and was outpointed by Sam Goodman before the Flores fought ring legend and likely hall of famer Abner Mares to a draw in 2022. At 32, the Houston native will take on Michael Chaise Nelson, 21-2-1 (8), of Mansfield, Ohio. Nelson is coming off a split-decision win over Nestor Gonzalez in Venezuela. 

The card also features a loaded undercard as Undefeated southpaw lightweight and Houston native Oscar Perez puts his "0" on the line against St Louis, Missouri native Derrick Murray, a veteran of nearly 30 pro bouts and sports a respectable record of 19-9-1 (6). 

The card also features a title fight as San Antonio-based fighter Reina Tellez, 9-0-1 (5), takes on Jermesha Poke, 5-0 (2), in a battle of unbeaten for the NABF 122 pound title in a scheduled eight-rounder. 

The card also features two highly touted prospects. Fabian Arrendondo, 5-0 (1), also a Houston native, and Bryan, Texas native Chase Martinez, 1-0 (1), a junior middleweight, both prospects will be in four-round affairs.

Texas 6 -Shooters! Six Texans Who Can Take a Huge Step Forward in 20024

Texas has run boxing for quite some time now. The pound-for-pound lists have been littered with Lone Star State natives. The following six fighters could potentially carry that load and be the next era of elite, world-class Texas fighters.

1. David Cardenas- San Antonio. San Antonio has produced a heck of a lot of great little men, and Cardenas could certainly be the next guy. Cardenas turned pro this summer in Mexico and shook off a jittery opening round to score a second round and has dominated every moment of every round since. He scored three consecutive KO's and then dominated Richard Hernandez, a veteran of 14 professional fights in December. Cardenas will be back in the ring in his home city on March 1st. Cardenas has solid pop for the weight, a sky-high ring IQ, and world-class feet. He is also best friends with San Antonio Spurs superstar Keldon Johnson, who can be seen in his entourage at each of his fights. Cardenas won multiple national championships in multiple weight classes as an amateur.

2. Felix Garcia- Laredo "El Gatito" the son of solid professional fighter. Garcia has already accumulated a record of 8-0 (1) and has just turned 18 years old. He turned pro in nearby Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. The 18-year-old is being moved quickly and has already fought eight rounders. He has also headlined cards. At just 17, the youngester headlined the Sames Auto Arena in his home city, and scored a unanimous decision over Jose Casiano. The Laredo nativ then followed that up with a points victory over undefeated Joseph Johnson and ended the year by fighting an eight-rounder in Mexico. The single KO in his eight pro fights is not indicative of his power. Garcia is still growing into his weight division (super featherweight), has tremendous agility and moves well is an excellent combination puncher who likes to march forward. Gatito is also fundamentally very sound and defensively responsible for an aggressive, action fighter

3. Joel Martinez- Fort Worth, "The Owl" is a bit of a unicorn, 6'1, southpaw, featherweight with tremendous one-punch power. After watching the hard-hitting Southpaw make his pro debut in November of 2021, I told him his biggest challenge was going to be hetting quality fighters to fight him. While, inactivity has played a part in his development. Martinez has secured four professional fights and expects to be back in the ring in February in Fort Worth. He is trained at FHG, the same gym as Edward Vazquez and John Vera, with coach Ray Berrera. He settled for a draw in July against "Gusto" Sean Brewer, and all things considered, that's not so bad. Outside of that, the consistent jab and massive left hand that the Fort Worthian sports has been unstoppable. He sports a 3-0-1 (2) record.

4 Oscar Perez- Houston, The lone Houstonian on the list, may be the closest to taking that big step forward and fighting on a massive stage. The southpaw lightweight, sports an 8-0-2 (6) record and ended 2023 with KO's of John Herrera and before that scored a second-round TKO of Yesner Talavera in his own backyard. The 24-year-old already has a win over rugged journeyman Clay Burns of Fort Worth. Perez knocked out, KO artist Omar Urieta of Tyler in the second round and went in as the B-Side to fight Anthony Cuba in Los Angeles at the Crypto Arena on the undercard of Andy Ruiz VS Luis Ortiz and settled for a disputed draw in a fight that must observers that he won. A fight with 2023's winner of this award, RGV native Fabian Diaz, would be an intriguing fight and an interesting test for both men.

5. Guillermo Guiterrez- San Antonio, the second Alamo City native, just missed making our list last year and was certainly a part of it this year. The 25-year-old made rapid improvements and should be in line for a big-time fight in 2024. In 2023 his three opponents in 2023 had a combined record of 10-1-5. He beat Jaden Burnias. The lack of power that the Alamo City's native suggests may help Guiterrez out in securing a big-time fight. San Antonio produced two recent world champions in the super flyweight division in recent years with Josh Franco and Bam Rodriguez. Given his skills and combination punching, Guiterrez has a legitimate chance to join them as 115-pound world champions

6-. Travis Crawford- Corpus Christi. Corpus Christi has produced some good fighters in recent years: Xavier Nunez, John Rincon, and emerging amateur Julian Delgado, who will make his professional debut shortly, all top that list. 21-year-old lightweight Travis Crawford wasn't supposed to be among them. However, the massive leap he took in 2023, going 5-0 (2) and moving his current win streak to six, combined with his all-action, fan-friendly style, made Crawford, who started his career off at 0-2, become one of the top young fighters to watch. His career started with losses to hard-hitting monster Xavier Bocanegra, who is the prized pupil of legendary hall of fame traineer Ronnie Shields, and then a controversial loss to Joe DeGuardia promoted prospect Ronny Reyes in Reyes's backyard in a fight that Crawford probably deserved the nod. Crawford brings his all-out, fan-friendly stlye back to the ring on January 20th in Tennessee.

Igbokwe and Two San Antonians Shine in Sugar Land

In the evening's main event, promising young super flyweight prospect Guillermo Gutierrez of San Antonio put on a high-level performance in moving his record to 9-0 (1), capturing the ABF Atlantic title and handily winning the battle of unbeaten prospects and handing Hector Valdes his first career loss. Gutierrez showed off his complete bag, worked behind a southpaw jab, and picked Valdes apart from the outside. He seamlessly switched between the southpaw and conventional stances, scoring with uppercuts on the inside and landing well-placed right hooks when in the southpaw stance. Switching between stances is something Guitierrez says "comes naturally to me." In complete control throughout, Guiterrez outworked and outlandered his outgunned opponent. A head-butt opened a cut above the eye of the Alamo City native, but it had no impact on him as the San Antonian shook it off, remained in control, and closed the show like a champ. A beautiful right hook rocked Valdez early in the final round. Gutierrez stayed on the attack and ripped beautiful body shots to the body of Valdes. Never letting off the gas, the unbeaten Guiterrez cruised to a unanimous decision victory by scores of 60-54 X3.

Fellow San Antonian Jason Limon also picked up an impressive victory, bringing the fight to unbeaten southpaw prospect Christian Foley, of Bryan. Limon used his jab to back Foley up, a southpaw who is known for his power, worked predominantly off the jab and was losing the battle of the jabs. In addition to winning the battle of the jabs, Limon was able to score with the occasional lead left hook and was putting rounds in the bank. The highlight athletic Foley was using movement to negate the pressure of Limon and avoid much of his artillery but didn't offer up much offense, refusing to open up at times. With the fight slipping away, Foley picked up the pace a bit in the sixth and final round and scored with some flurries, one of which caught the attention of Limon, who answered right back and tagged Foley with a left hook. The competitive scrap ended without a bang, and Limon picked up the ABF Welterweight title as well as the Texas State title, taking a majority decision by scores of 59-55, 58-56, and the third judge handing in an ever 57-57 card.

Houston native Raphael Igbokwe survived a tough scrap from a game and rugged Imaud Louis. Igbokwe, a southpaw, got off to a fast start, scoring with a three-piece combination that drove Louis back into the ropes. Igbokwe landed clean power shots while on the inside. He scored with a straight left that again drove his opponent into the ropes late in the opening round. Louis was game throughout and bounced back in the second and third rounds. He was able to land his jab and score the occasional flurry to Keep Igbokwe honest. He scored with a clean right hand that stopped his opponent in his tracks. Late in the round Louis landed another three-piece combination and followed it with a wide right hand that landed cleanly. Likely his best shot of the night, Igbokwe ate in well though, and kept coming forward. As the scheduled six-rounder seemed fairly even at the midway point, it was Igbokwe that seemed much fresher as Louis was breathing heavily. Igbokwe stayed aggressive and on the front foot. He dominated the second half of the fight. Getting the fight to where he wanted it on the inside. Igbokwe mixed up his head and body shot and scored with a vicious left uppercut that was able to consistently split the guard of his opponent. A fun, high-action contest ended in a clear-cut unanimous decision for Igbokwe by scores of 60-54, 59-55, and 58-56. He moved his record 17-5 (7) as Louis, also of Houston, dropped to 6-1 (4).

Dickinson native and son of nearby fan-favorite Eugene Hill, Eugene Hill Jr was given a tougher-than-expected scrap with Marcelo Fabian Bzowski. originally of Buenos Aires, Argentina, now fighting out of San Antonio. Bzowski hadn't won since 2019 and lost 13 fights in a row against a lot of quality opposition. He showed up to win and pushed Hill to the limit. Hill brought the pressure and mixed up head and body shots that took some steam out of his Argentine opponent. However, Bzowski would not go away and landed straight lefts and mixed up head and body shots well. Bzowski came on strong in the second half and it negated the early success, and the two combatants had to settle for a three-way draw. The draw ended the losing streak of Bzowski and put the first minor blemish on the record of the Dickinson native.

A star was born in Houston native Oscar Perez, who moved his record to 7-0-2 (5). The young, southpaw, lightweight worked patiently behind a jab against his veteran opponent, Yesner Talavera, 15-8-1 (4), until his opening arrived, and it did at around the 2-minute mark in the opening round a swift, counter right hook dropped Talavera. Talavera made it to his feet, but Perz stayed on the attack, driving his outmatched opponent backward with a barrage of power shots. He scored with another solid right hook right before the bell sounded to end the first lopsided round. Perez got back to work in the second, just past the minute mark, a left hand from the Houstonian found its target and buckled Talavera. Perez unleashed about half a dozen power shots that mostly landed cleanly and dropped his opponent once again. Talavera again beat the count, but his corner rushed in to stop the fight and give Perez the second-round KO stoppage victory.

In a four-round affair, Malik "One Punch" Calhoun, who trains out of FHG Gym in Fort Worth, picked up a thrilling split decision victory to move his record to 3-1 (2), the 6'4, southpaw shook off a slow first-round and knocked Bruno Pola down in the second round. He kept the momentum going in the early stages of the third round, but Pola, who trains out of San Antonio, redirected the momentum late in the third and had Calhoun in a bit of trouble late in the third and the fourth. The judges however favored the early work from Calhoun by scores of 38-37 X2, with the third judge favoring Pola by the same 38-37 score.

Also on the card was John Atiles, of Cypress, who moved to 5-0-1 (0) with an impressive points victory.