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The Life and Mysterious Death of World Title Challenger Eloy Perez
![The-Life-And-Mysterious-Deayth-of-World-Title-Challenger-Eloy-Perez](https://tss.ib.tv/boxing/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/eloy.jpg)
Eloy Perez had 27 pro fights and lost only one. That came in his final bout when he challenged Adrien Broner for the WBO world super featherweight title. The bout aired on HBO from the big hockey arena in St. Louis. Deontay Wilder and Keith Thurman appeared on the undercard.
A week ago, Oct. 11, Perez was found dead in Tijuana. When he was remanded to the Mexican border town, it was like being packed off to a foreign country. Perez was born in Mexico but came to the U.S. as a toddler. He wasnât fluent in Spanish.
Eloy Perez grew up in Rochester, Washington, a place where there were relatively few people who identify as Hispanic or Latino. He grew up poor. The family lived in a trailer that was eventually moved to the property of Eloyâs boxing coach, Jim Douglas, who let the Perez family live there rent free. With the money they saved, Eloyâs parents were able to purchase a house in the neighboring town of Rainier where Eloy spent his last two years of high school.
The best way to become popular with the Anglo crowd was through the medium of sports and Eloy was very good at it. He excelled at soccer and as a running back on the football field although he stood only five-foot-five. Where he really excelled, however, was in boxing, a sport he took up at the age of 13.
The highlight of Perezâs amateur career came in an international tournament in Kansas City. There were 32 fighters in his weight class. Perez came out on top, defeating a 27-year-old man in the finals.
Cameron Dunkin, a scout for Bob Arum, was in attendance. Dunkin encouraged Arum to sign him, but Arum backed off, ostensibly because Perez was still in high school. In recent years, the Top Rank honcho has signed boxers as young as 16 to professional contracts, but back in those days Arum drew a harder line in the sand.
As an amateur, Perez could only go so far. The governing body of amateur boxing in the United States had a rule that once a boxer reached the age of 17, he had to prove citizenship. The process, from application to acceptance (or denial), was tedious. Pursuing it would have meant a substantial gap in Eloy Perezâs amateur timeline.
When Perez turned pro, he didnât have to leave home. Rochester was home to an Indian casino, the Lucky Eagle, which ran club fights on a regular basis. The promoter and matchmaker there was none other than Bennie Georgino. (A fabled fight character in Los Angeles during the glory days of the Olympic Auditorium, Georgino, who died in 2016 at age 95, had managed or co-managed three world champions: Albert Davila, Jaime Garza, and Danny âLittle Redâ Lopez.)
There were very few pro boxers residing in the vicinity of the Lucky Eagle. Georgino filled his cards with fighters from California and Canada. Eloy Perez was a godsend. Georgino didnât have to dip into his thin budget to feed him or pay his travel expenses. More importantly, Eloy was a big draw right out of the box. For a grassroots promoter, there is no commodity more prized than a hometown hero.
Perez was a junior in high school when he made his pro debut. To be on the safe side, Georgino made him fudge his I.D., making a year older than his actual age.
At this early stage of his career, boxing didnât pay the bills. Perez took a job working at a warehouse owned by the Fred Meyer company, the operator of a chain of Walmart-like stores in the Northwest. It was there that he had his first brush with the law.
Security caught him leaving work with a packet of batteries in his pocket, an $11 item, and turned him over to the police. He pled guilty to a charge of third-degree theft, receiving a fine and a suspended sentence.
There came a day when Perez had to fly the coop, go somewhere where he could refine his skills with world-class trainers and good sparring partners. He hooked up with Max Garcia, a prominent Northern California trainer and small-time promoter whose base was in Salinas. Garcia had good contacts and it wasnât long before Eloy was fighting under Oscar De La Hoyaâs Golden Boy umbrella.
In September of 2009, Perez won a regional belt with a 10-round decision over fellow unbeaten Dannie Williams at the Playboy Club in Beverly Hills. (The photo shows Perez displaying the belt shortly after winning the fight.) He was 23-0-2 with 1 NC entering his title fight with Adrien Broner and riding a 15-fight winning streak.
Broner was too quick for him. In the fourth round of the one-sided fight, Perez was knocked down and the referee waived it off as Eloy was struggling to get back on his feet.
Things got worse for him. His post-fight urine test revealed the presence of cocaine. His California handlers were so disgusted they wanted nothing more to do with him. With only one defeat blemishing his record, it would seem that Eloy Perez had a lot of boxing left in him, that maybe he could claw his way back to another title fight, but he would never fight again. He drifted back to the state of Washington and got in more trouble.
His second arrest for driving while intoxicated landed him at an immigrant detention center in Tacoma where he languished for more than a year. Purportedly given the choice of prison or deportation, he chose the latter so that his girlfriend in California could visit him unfettered by prison constraints. ICE dumped him in Tijuana.
The authorities say that Eloy Perez took his own life. His sister Emma will never believe it. She is certain that he was murdered.
Her theory is actually more plausible. Back in the days of Prohibition and even before, Tijuana was a popular playground for American tourists looking to let their hair down. In those days, words like âdusty” and âsleepyâ were invariably used in descriptions of Tijuana by travel writers.
That place doesnât exist anymore. Tijuana has grown into a city of nearly 2 million people, many of whom migrated here from other parts of Mexico. It is also one of the most violence-plagued places on the planet. In 2018 there were 2,519 homicides, the highest number per capita of any city in the world, the bulk of it attributed to turf wars between low-level drug dealers.
Itâs likely that the true cause of Eloy Perezâs death will never be known. Whatever the cause, these bare facts wonât change: He was a high school sports hero in a small town in Washington, was a professional boxer good enough to fight for a world title, had legal problems that caused him to be evicted from the country where he had resided since he was scarcely old enough to walk, and he drew his last breath in Tijuana.
Upon learning of his death, fight publicist Rachel Charles wrote that Perez might be one of the greatest âwhat ifâ stories in boxing. There are a whole lot of âwhat ifsâ here.
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Avila Perspective, Chap. 289: East LA, Claressa Shields and More
![Avila-Perspective-Chap-289-East-L.A.-A-Fight-Town-Claressa-Shields-and-More](https://tss.ib.tv/boxing/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Lina.png)
Avila Perspective, Chap. 289: East LA, Claressa Shields and More
East Los Angeles has long been a haven for some of the best fighters around if you can keep them out of trouble. For every Oscar De La Hoya or Seniesa Estrada there are thousands derailed by crime, drugs or drinking.
Boxing has always been a favorite sport of East L.A. Every family has an uncle or two who boxes.
On Friday, 360 Promotionsâ Omar Trinidad (15-0-1) fights Viktor Slavinskyi (15-2-1) in the main event at Commerce Casino, in Commerce, CA. UFC Fight Pass will stream the fight card.
The City of Commerce used to be part of East L.A. until 1960 when it incorporated. Itâs still considered to be part of East Los Angeles, but informally.
Plenty of fighters come out of East L.A. but few make it all the way like De La Hoya and Estrada. Will Trinidad be the one?
The first world champion from East L.A. or âEast Losâ as some call it, was Solly Garcia Smith back in the late 1800s. Others were Richie Lemos, Art Frias and Joey Olivo. There is also 1984 Olympic gold medalist Paul Gonzalez.
Once again 360 Promotions brings its popular brand of fights to the area. On this fight card includes two female bouts. One features Roxy Verduzco (1-0) the former amateur star fighting Colleen Davis (3-1-1) in a featherweight fight.
All that action takes place on Friday.
Elite Boxing
The next day, also in East L.A., Elite Boxing stages another boxing card at Salesian High School located at 960 S. Soto Street in the Boyle Heights area of East Los Angeles.
Elite Boxing has promoted several successful boxing cards at the Catholic high school grounds. The area is saturated by many of the best eateries in Los Angeles. Donât take my word for it. Check it out yourself and grab some of that delicious food.
Boxing has long been a favorite sport of anyone who lives in East L.A. Itâs a fight town equal to Philadelphia, Brooklyn or Detroit. Thereâs something different about the area. For more than 100 years some of the best fighters continue to come out of its boxing gyms. Some will be performing on these club shows.
For tickets or information go to www.eliteboxingusa.com
Claressa Shields in Detroit
Speaking of fight towns, pound-for-pound best Claressa Shields who won two Olympic Gold Medals in boxing, moves up another weight division to tackle the WBC heavyweight world champion Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse on Saturday, July 27, at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan.
DAZN will stream the heavy-duty fight card.
Shields (14-0) cleaned out the super welterweight, middleweight and super middleweight divisions and now wants to add the big girls to her conquests. She will be facing Canadaâs Lepage-Joanisse  (7-1) who holds the WBC belt.
The last time Shields gloved up was more than a year ago when she fought Maricela Cornejo. Donât blame Shields. She loves to fight. She loves to win. The last time Shields lost a fight was in the amateurs and that was three presidential administrations ago.
Shields doesnât lose.
I wonder if Las Vegas even takes bets on her fights?
The only fight she may have been an underdog was against Savannah Marshall who was the last opponent to defeat her. And that was in 2012 in China. When they met as pros two years ago, Shields avenged her loss with a blistering attack.
Donât get Shields mad.
Perhaps her toughest foe as a pro was in her pro debut when she clashed with Franchon Crews-Dezurn in Las Vegas. It was four rounds of fists and fury as the two pounded each other on the undercard of Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev in November 2016.
That was a ferocious debut for both female pugilists.
Assisting Shields on this fight card will be several intriguing male bouts. One guy you should pay special attention is Tito Mercado (15-0, 14 KOs) a super lightweight prospect from Pomona, California.
Many excellent fighters have come out of Pomona including Sugar Shane Mosley, Shane Mosley Jr., Alberto Davila and Richie Sandoval who just passed away this week.
Sandoval was best known for his 15-round war with Philadelphiaâs Jeff Chandler for the bantamweight world title in 1984. Read the story by Arne K. Lang on this link: https://tss.ib.tv/boxing/featured-boxing-articles-boxing-news-videos-rankings-and-results/81467-former-world-bantamweight-champion-richie-sandoval-passes-away-at-age-63 .
Fights to Watch
Fri. UFC Fight Pass 7 p.m. Omar Trinidad (15-0-1) vs Viktor Slavinskyi (15-2-1).
Sat. ESPN+ 12:30 p.m. Joe Joyce (16-2) vs Derek Chisora (34-13).
Sat. DAZN Â 3 p.m. Claressa Shields (14-0) vs Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse (7-1), Michel Rivera (25-1) vs Hugo Roldan (22-2-1); Tito Mercado (15-0) vs Hector Sarmiento (21-2).
Omar Trinidad photo by Lina Baker
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Arneâs Almanac: Jake Paul and Womenâs Boxing, a Curmudgeonâs Take
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Jake Paul can fight more than a little. The view from here is that he would make it interesting against any fringe contender in the cruiserweight division. However, Jakeâs boxing acumen pales when paired against his skill as a flim-flam artist.
Jake brought a 9-1 record into last weekendâs bout with Mike Perry. As noted by boxing writer Paul Magno, Jakeâs previous opponents consisted of âa You Tuber, a retired NBA star, five retired MMA stars, a part-time boxer/reality TV star, and two undersized and inactive fall-guy boxers.â
Mike Perry, a 32-year-old Floridian, was undefeated (6-0, 3 KOs) as a bare-knuckle boxer after forging a 14-8 record in UFC bouts. In pre-fight blurbs, Perry was billed as the baddest bare knuckle boxer of all time, but against Jake Paul he proved to have very unrefined skills as a conventional boxer which Team Paul undoubtedly knew all along. Perry lasted into the eighth round in a one-sided fight that could have been stopped a lot sooner.
Jake Paul is both a boxer and a promoter. As a promoter, he handles Amanda Serrano, one of the greatest female boxers in history. That makes him the person most responsible (because the buck stops with him) for the wretched mismatch in last Saturdayâs co-feature, the bout between Serrano and Stevie Morgan.
Morgan, who took up boxing two years ago at age 33, brought a 14-1 record. Nicknamed the Sledgehammer, she had won 13 of her 14 wins by knockout, eight in the opening round. However, although she resides in Florida, all but one of those 13 knockouts happened in Colombia.
âWe found that in Colombia there were just more opportunities for womenâs boxing than in the United States,â she told a prominent boxing writer whose name we wonât mention.
The truth is that, for some folks, Colombia is the boxing equivalent of a feeder lot for livestock, a place where a boxer can go to fatten their record. The opportunities there were no greater than in Hot Springs, Arkansas, in 1995. It was there that Peter McNeeley prepped for his match with Mike Tyson with a 6-second knockout of professional punching bag Frankie Hines. (Six seconds? So it would be written although no one seems to have been there to witness it.)
Serrano vs Morgan was understood to be a stay-busy fight for Amanda whose rematch with Katie Taylor was postponed until November. Stevie Morgan, to her credit, answered the bell for the second round whereas others in her situation would have remained on the stool and invented an injury to rationalize it. Thirty-eight seconds later it was all over and Ms. Morgan was free to go home and use her sledgehammer to do some light dusting.
The Paul-Perry and Serrano-Morgan fights played out in a sold-out arena in Tampa before an estimated 17,000. Those without a DAZN subscription paid $64.95 for the livestream. Paulâs next promotion, where he will touch gloves with 58-year-old Mike Tyson (unless Iron Mike pulls a Joe Biden and pulls out; a capital idea) with Serrano-Taylor II the semi-main, will almost certainly rake in more money than any other boxing promotion this year.
Asked his opinion of so-called crossover boxing by a reporter for a college newspaper, the venerable boxing promoter Bob Arum said, âItâs not my bag but folks who donât like it shouldnât get too worked up over it because no one is stealing from anybody.â True enough, but for some of us, the phenomenon is distressing.
—
The next big womenâs fight happens Saturday in Detroit where Claressa Shields seeks a world title in a third weight class against WBC heavyweight belt-holder Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse.
A two-time Olympic gold medalist, undefeated in 14 fights as a pro, Shields is very good, arguably the best female boxer of her generation which makes her, arguably, the best female boxer of all time. But turning away Lepage-Joanisse (7-1, 2 KOs) wonât elevate her stature in our eyes.
Purportedly 17-4 as an amateur, the Canadian won her title in her second crack at it. Back in August of 2017, she challenged Cancunâs Alejandra Jimenez in Cancun and was stopped in the third round. Entering the bout, Lepage-Joanisse was 3-0 as a pro and had never fought a match slated for more than four rounds.
![Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse](https://tss.ib.tv/boxing/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Vanessa-300x263.png)
Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse
True, on the womenâs side, the heavyweight bracket is a very small pod. A sanctioning body has to make concessions to harness a sanctioning fee. Nonetheless, how absurd that a woman who had answered the bell for only 11 rounds would be deemed qualified to compete for a world title. (FYI: Alejandra Jimenez was purportedly born a man. She left the sport with a 12-0-1 record after her win over Franchon Crews Dazurn was changed to a no-contest when she tested positive for the banned steroid stanozolol.)
Following her defeat to Jimenez, Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse, now 29 years old, was out of action for six-and-a-half years. When she returned, she was still a heavyweight, but a much slender heavyweight. She carried 231 pounds for Jimenez. In her most recent bout where she captured the vacant WBC title with a split decision over Argentinaâs Abril Argentina Vidal, she clocked in at 173 ÂŒ. (On the distaff side, thereâs no uniformity among the various sanctioning bodies as to what constitutes a heavyweight.)
Claressa Shields doesnât need Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse to reinforce her credentials as a future Hall of Famer. She made the cut a long time ago.
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Former World Bantamweight Champion Richie Sandoval Passes Away at Age 63
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Richie Sandoval, who won the WBA and lineal bantamweight title in one of the biggest upsets of the 1980s and then, not quite two years later, suffered near-fatal injuries in a title defense, has passed away at the age of 63.
News circulated fast in the Las Vegas boxing community on Monday, July 22, the grapevine actuated by a tweet from Hall of Fame matchmaker Bruce Trampler: âBoxing and the Top Rank family lost one of our own last night in the passing of former WBA bantamweight champion Richie Sandoval. It hurts personally and professionally to know that Richie is gone at age 63. RIP campeon.â
Details are vague but the cause of death was apparently a sudden heart attack that Sandoval experienced while visiting the Southern California home of his son of the same name.
Richie Sandoval put the LA County community of Pomona, California, on the boxing map before Shane Mosley came along and gave the town a more frequently-cited mention in the sports section of the papers. He came from a fighting family. An older brother, Albert âSuperflyâ Sandoval, became a big draw at LAâs fabled Olympic Auditorium while building a 35-2-1 record that included a failed bid to capture Lupe Pintorâs world bantamweight title.
Richie was a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic boxing team that was stranded when U.S. President Jimmy Carter (and many other world leaders) boycotted the event as a protest against Russiaâs invasion of Afghanistan.
As a pro, Sandovalâs signature win was a 15th-round stoppage of Jeff Chandler. They fought on April 7, 1984 in Atlantic City. Chandler was making the tenth defense of his world bantamweight title.
Despite being a heavy underdog, Sandoval dominated the fight, winning almost every round until the referee stepped in and waived it off. Chandler, who was 33-1-2 heading in and had avenged his lone defeat, never fought again.
Sandoval made two successful defenses before risking his title against Gaby Canizales on the undercard of Hagler-Mugabi in the outdoor stadium at Caesars Palace. In round seven, Sandoval, who had a hellish time making the weight, was knocked down three times and suffered a seizure as he collapsed from the third knockdown. Stretchered out of the ring, he was rushed to the hospital where doctors reduced the swelling in his brain and beat the odds to save his life. This would be Richieâs lone defeat. He finished his pro career with a record of 29-1 (17 KOs).
Bob Arum cushioned some of the pain by giving Richie a $25,000 bonus and offering him a lifetime job at Top Rank which Richie accepted. And let the record show that Arum was good to his word.
A more elaborate portrait of Richie Sandoval was published in these pages in 2017. You can check it out HERE. May he rest in peace.
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