JuanMa Stopped in Rd 3; Mauricio Herrera Beats Johan Perez on Canelo Card

Mauricio Herrera and Johan Perez engaged in a spirited brawl to open the Canelo-Lara PPV event, on Saturday night, July 12. This bout was fought in Volume City, with both men being busy throughout. Herrera went 227-715 to 170-689 for Perez, and the stats told the story. Two of three judges nodded to Herrera, a MD10 winner by scores of 114-114, 116-112, 116-112.

Herrera (21-4) and his foe were both busy beavers, and were throwing with as much nasty intent early as late. Herrera, a slick hitter who many thought beat Danny Garcia in his last outing, snapped to the body in round nine, and it looked like his seasoning would pay dividends late. In the 10th, we saw that Steve Farhood had Herrera up 88-83. Perez went late lefty, and it worked, to an extent. But El Maestro had his man backed in a corner to close. In the 12th, the trend continued, and nobody went down. Herrera advanced, and had the loser, now 19-4, backing up. The went rock em sock to the final bell; damned solid scrap from two hungry pros.

Juan Manuel Lopez met Francisco Vargas in the second PPV scrap. The Puerto Rican JuanMa, now an old 31, was 130 Friday, 142 on fight night. Vargas, 29, was 129 and 143 1/2 in the dressing room pre-fight. This one could be last call for JuanMa, who simply isn’t able to shake off stiff blows. In the third, too much trading resulted in bad new for JuanMa. He went down, went to his corner, and then the plug was pulled. Vargas earned a TKO3 victory, upon advice of the corner.

The Mexican Vargas was 19-0-1 (13 KOs) had the NABF super feather crown with him. JuanMa (34-3 with 31 KOs) had held junior feather and featherweight titles.

In the first, the lefty JuanMa moved more than he often does. In the second, the right hook got closer by JM. But he ate a nasty left hook. This came when he was caught back to the ropes. In the third, Vargas was in advancing mode. His straight shots got JuanMa cooking, and now he was trading. Bad idea..he was down at the end of the round, with 23 seconds left. A right sent the buzzed man to the mat. His corner didn’t let JuanMa go out for the next round.

Postfight, Vargas told Jim Gray that he is ready for anybody at 130. He said he knew the fight wouldn’t last much longer when he sent JuanMa to the mat. Next? The manager and promoter will decide, and he will be ready, he said. JuanMa told Gray that he didn’t agree with the corners’ decision, he wanted to keep fighting. Is this the end? He isn’t sure, he said. He will talk with family and management, and then decide.

Tomoki Kameda scored a TKO7 win over…and this will be in our next spelling bee, friends…Pungluang Sor Singyu at the MGM in Las Vegas on Saturday night. A left to the body spelled ultimate doom for the challenger. Kam is now 30-0 and holds on to the WBO bantam crown. The loser dropped to 46-3, and here’s hoping his liver doesn’t stay bruised more than a week.