By Adrian Hernandez: Last night, Brownsville, TX, native Jerry Guevara (7-0, 5 KOs) pulled off a minor upset against previously unbeaten Filipino Featherweight Juan Miguel Elorde (10-1, 4 KOs) on the non-televised portion of the TOP RANK Live event at the Islander Ballroom of Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, NV.
In what was slated to be a showcase bout for Elorde, the Rio Grande Valley resident took the bout on short notice and made the most of his golden opportunity.
“This was a busy and hard fight,” stated the hard punching featherweight. “It was either win big or die trying for me. Thanks be to God; he gave me the strength and I came out with the victory.”
In the large Filipino and Top Rank executive filled crowd, Guevara knew he had to dominate the scheduled 4 round contest in order to bring home the winning decision.
“I know my opponent was the favorite to win, and all I had in my mind was to be aggressive and stay active, and that’s what helped me in the end.”
Although knowing the fight was going to be difficult at times, the humble Hispanic fighter’s trainer ultimately had faith that his man could pull off the hard fought victory.
“In the second round the guy came straight to us so we pulled back with combos after starting off a bit too strong in the beginning,” stated trainer Robert Campos. “Going into the third, Jerry went back to boxing working off the jab. When he came back to the corner I told him just keep moving and boxing and we got it.”
“Our opponent had most of the fans, so I told Jerry not to leave it in the hands of the judges to make a decision off of the fans’ excitement. Luckily for us we won impressively. We came over here to beat this guy and that’s what we did.”
Judges at ringside scored the bout 39-37 and 40-36 twice.
“Over all I was very happy with the way things turned out,” professed Campos. “Jerry did exactly what I instructed him to do. Our combos were great, and we boxed in and out. I feel we represented the Rio Grande Valley quite well tonight.”
The undefeated Texas fighter hopes that this victory will open the door for bigger and better opportunities.
“I feel great! This is the very first bout that I fought like this. At first I came out really aggressive, but I stuck to the game plan and came out victorious. When it comes down to it, there were a lot of reasons why I came out so strong.”
“I was fighting for the Valley, Matamoros, and all of the people who support and believe in me. Last night’s fight was also dedicated to my mom and I didn’t want to lose. I promised her I would win and that’s what helped me out in the end.”