Perez claims title as Ibarra opts out

When you can make a fighter quit on his stool — a professional fighter, not a bum — you’ve done something.

Albuquerque’s Abraham Perez did just that Friday night at the Kiva Auditorium, defeating Adrian Ibarra by fifth-round TKO when the Mexican fighter opted not to come out of his corner for round No. 6.

With the victory on a Legacy Promotions card, Perez (13-0, seven KOs) became the North American Boxing Federation flyweight (112-pound) champion.

What comes next? Too soon to say, Perez said in his dressing room after the impressive victory

But, whatever, whenever and against whom, he’ll be available.

“Just stay ready for a phone call,” he said, “because anything can happen.”

What happened to Ibarra (10-4, eight KOs) was a dazzling display of precision and power.

“I was able to see from round one, immediately, that I was the better, quicker opponent,” Perez said.

Perez dropped Ibarra with a right-left combination in round two, though Ibarra was off balance and appeared unhurt. But as the round progressed, Perez staggered Ibarra several times.

“Whenever he made mistakes, I made him pay,” Perez said.

In the the third, it appeared it was Perez who might have made a mistake — becoming over-aggressive and exposing himself to Ibarra’s power. An Ibarra right hand staggered Perez at one point, and the Journal scored the back-and-forth round for Ibarra.

Perez was back in control in the fourth — moving, staying off the ropes, picking his shots.

“I listened to my coach (Aaron Perez, his father and the evening’s co-promoter) say ‘a hurt animal is also a dangerous animal,’” Perez said. “And he was.”

In what proved to be the final two rounds, Perez said, “I was making him miss, cutting angles, slipping, countering … just anything I could throw at him, I threw.”

Afterward, Ibarra said he was concerned about aggravating an existing eye injury, for which he’d had surgery.

 “I was just thinking about my health,” he said.

Regardless, it was clear the punches he was taking from Perez had him in progressively more trouble — and that the fight was slipping away from him.

In a six-round co-main event, Albuquerque’s Josh Torres, fighting for the first time in 18 months and against the heaviest opponent he’s faced in his 37 pro fights, blasted out a victory by unanimous decision over Salt Lake City’s Christian Aguirre. 

Torres (28-7-2, 15 KOs) dropped Aguirre (9-13, four KOs) with a right hand in the first round but was forced to go six hard rounds in his return to the ring at age 35.

The judges scored the bout 60-54, 60-54 and 59-55, though none of the rounds other than the first, owing to the knockdown, were truly one-sided.

Torres, however, landed the cleaner shots throughout. 

Aguirre had weighed in on Thursday at 159.4 pounds. Torres normally fights at the welterweight limit of 147 pounds.

In undercard bouts:

• Cristian Cabral (10-2-2, five KOs), Albuquerque, 159.6 pounds, defeated Derick Bartlemay (2-14-3, 1 KO), Eugene, Ore., 158, by third-round TKO.
• Leonid Grachev (7-0-2, 3 KOs)), Albuquerque, 213.6, defeated Manuel Eastman (3-10-2, 1 KO), Albuquerque, 209.6, by six-round unanimous decision. 
• Elija Martinez (6-1, 1 KO), Kirtland, 154.6, defeated Damian Muñoz (3-2, 2 KOs), Levelland, Texas, 155.2, by four-round unanimous decision. 
• In a bloody, brutal, four-rounder, Austin Lewis (1-1), Albuquerque, 116, defeated Quentin DeLeon (1-1, 1 KO, Albuquerque, 116.2), by unanimous decision.
• Codi Chavez (1-2, one KO), Albuquerque,138.8, defeated Ashton Royal (1-15, 1 KO), Omaha, Texas, 145, by third-round TKO.

Cabral, one of New Mexico’s more skilled and athletic fighters — hence the nickname “El Puma” — had his way with the overmatched Bartlemay from the start. After a dominant second round that the Journal scored 10-8 for Cabral despite the absence of a knockdown, Bartlemay was essentially defenseless amidst a furious Cabral assault when referee David Rios stepped in to halt the bout at 2 minutes, 35 seconds of the third. 

Grachev, literally a head taller than Eastman, controlled their bout with his left jab, mixing in the occasional right hand. A Grachev right and a follow-up left each staggered Eastman in the sixth.

Eastman had some good moments in the fourth and fifth, doing enough to win a round on two of the three official scorecards. The cards read 60-54, 59-55 and 59-55.

In a rematch of a June 2025 bout won by Martinez in Amarillo, Texas, Muñoz focused almost completely on a body attack. But Martinez, while not ignoring the body, regularly snapped Muñoz’s head back with precisely aimed shots from both sides. 

All three judges scored it 40-36. The Journal had it 39-37, scoring the third for Muñoz  in what was Martinez’s least active round.

The Lewis-DeLeon fight was an ophthalmologist’s nightmare. 

Action was interrupted in the first round after DeLeon suffered a cut near his left eye. Blood streamed down his face throughout the fight.

By the fourth, Lewis, whose left eye was almost closed, was bleeding from a cut near his right eye.

When the bleeding and the bruising was done, judges scored the slugfest 40-36, 39-37 and 39-37, all for Lewis. 

Royal (yes, there is an Omaha, Texas) didn’t get to be 1-15 by not trying. But after a spirited, competitive first round, Chavez’s superior technique and hand speed began to tell. 

As Chavez’s blows became more frequent and Royal’s less so, referee Rios called a stop to the bout at 1:09 of the third.