Jesus Perez came out with the win against Joseph Diaz on Thursday, February 15 at The Commerce Casino & Hotel in Commerce, CA. The super lightweight bout served as the main event of Golden Boy Fight Night live on DAZN.
The pair went head to head for 10 rounds at super lightweight. In the fifth round, Diaz was deducted a point for pushing Perez out of the ring. In the end, one judge scored the fight 95-94 in favor of Diaz, while two other judges had 96-94 and a questionable 99-90 score for Perez.
With the victory by split decision, “Ricky” Perez returned to winning ways after suffering a pair of losses. The 26-year-old native of Tijuana, Mexico improved to 25-5, 18 KOs.
“The work was shown tonight,” said Perez. “I – like all fighters – had to push through difficult times, but we were able to push through to be able to get the victory tonight. My ultimate respect to JoJo Diaz, he is a warrior. I thought because he was the favorite, that he was going to win this close fight, but we didn’t stop and we fought for our dreams to come true.”
“JoJo” Diaz dropped to 33-5-1, 15 KOs. The 31-year-old former IBF super featherweight champion of South El Monte, California wasn’t happy with the decision.
“I won the fight,” Diaz said. “This is getting unfair now! I train so hard for my fans. Thank you all!”
In the co-main event, Eric Tudor (9-1, 6 KOs) of Fort Lauderdale, Florida defeated Puerto Rico’s Luis Caraballo Ramos (7-2-1, 7 KOs) by unanimous decision. After eight rounds at super welterweight all three scores were 80-72.
Among other results, Jorge Chavez (9-0, 7 KOs) of San Diego earned a unanimous decision against Mexico’s Diuhl Olguin (16-34-7, 10 KOs) in a six-rounder at featherweight. The scores were 60-54, 58-55 and 58-55.