Having suffered his share of misfortune during his promising heavyweight career, Cuban southpaw Mike Perez, 21-2-1(13) is currently looking in fantastic shape as he gets ready for his drop down to cruiserweight. The Irish-based 31 year old will face Tommy McCarthy, 9-1, on June 10 in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Perez showed real talent at heavyweight, but at 6’1” maybe he always was going to be a little too small to be expected to be able to deal with the absolute giants.
Having said that, it was a “small” heavyweight who stopped him via surprising 1st round stoppage; as Alexander Povetkin shocked “The Rebel” back in May of 2015, in what was Perez’ most recent fight. Aside from that loss, Perez had only been beaten by Bryant Jennings, who managed a split decision win over him in 2014.
Perez, who beat tough contender Magomed Abdusalamov in late 2013 – the unbeaten Mago suffering terrible injuries in the ten-rounder; still fighting to recover as we speak – suffered demons due to the bout; never really being in the same frame of mind he had been upon entering the fight in New York. The question now is, has Perez exorcised his demons and is he ready for a fresh start down at 200 pounds?
If he has/is, Perez could really add something to the cruiserweight division. There are some fine fighters doing their stuff at the weight and there are some good world champions. Oleksandr Usyk is by general opinion the best at the weight, while warriors such as Mairis Breidis, Yunier Dorticos, Dmitry Kudryashov, Denis Lebedev and others are helping to make the weight class exciting. Might Perez, if he’s mentally right, have a real shot at defeating any of them?
The Povetkin loss aside, Perez has always shown a good chin, and his power, fitness and overall experience served him well up a weight class. If he looks good against the 26 year old McCarthy, who is no slouch and has never been stopped, Perez might get cruiserweight fans talking.
Right now, it’s good to see Perez, a good guy of the sport, back in action in an intriguing fight.