33-year-old John Vera of Fort Worth looks to make the last run at the world title shot. "The Phenom" as he is known sports 20-1 (12) record and is set to return to the ring on January 22nd in his hometown of Fort Worth Texas. He will headline a card loaded with Fort Worthians and metroplex natives at the Rail Club Live.
Vera turned pro back in 2012 and scored a sensational second-round knockout of Cedric Shepard in Fort Worth on his way to winning his first 18 pro bouts and ripped through the rankings. In 2018 the Texan earned a WBA final eliminator bout against Michel Soro of France with the winner earning the right to be the mandatory challenger for the winner of the Erislandy Lara vs Jarrett Hurd in a junior middleweight unification bout the was scheduled for later that year. Vera traveled to Soro's home nation of France and came up short and dropped a tough decision to the hometown fighter.
Vera has fought sporadically since, having fought just once in 2019, taking a six-round decision over Ravshan Hudaynazarov, at the Thomas & Mack Center in las vegas. He did not fight at all in 2020 and fought just once in 2021 when he did score a sensational first-round knockout over a rugged, veteran opponent in Cleotis Pendarvis at the Civic Center in Biloxi Mississippi. Pendarvis had previously been the distance and lost a very close majority decision to former world title challenger Mauricio Herrera.
Vera's last fight was back in March of last year and it will be close to another year out of the ring for the Phenom, who is still young enough and still possess the skills to challenge anyone at the 160-pound division. A division in which another Texan, Jermall Charlo, holds one of the major belts. The bout is scheduled for six rounds and will be the main event, however, no opponent has been named yet. The card also features Fort Worth fan favorite "The Fort Worth Wolf" Tony Lopez, who is coming off a spectacular decision victory over veteran Diuhl Olguin. Lopez scored a career-best win at the Staples Center back in 2019 on the undercard of Spence Porter when he scored a W for Fort worth in the Dallas-Forth Worth rivalry by upsetting Fernando Garcia. Also on the card is hard-hitting southpaw "Marvelous" Jarvis Shepard who will put his undefeated record on the line in a super welterweight bout.