Smashing return: Perez defeats Montemayor by 2nd-round KO

It was vintage velvet Hammer.

Albuquerque’s Abraham Perez, flashing the same precision and power that had been his signature before his near drowning in August and a 13-month boxing hiatus, defeated overmatched Jose Rodriguez Montemayor by second-round knockout Saturday in the main event of a Legacy Promotions boxing card at the Embassy Suites.

If it looked as if he’d never been gone, he said, that’s how it felt.

“Once you’re in there, it’s go time,” he said. “You don’t really pay attention to anything that’s out there or (pointing to his head) in here.”

Perez, nicknamed “Hammer,” easily controlled the feeling-out first round, once stunning Montemayor with a sharp left hand.

In the second, Perez (11-0, six knockouts) dropped Montemayor with a left-right combination. Montemayor got up, only to be dropped again moments later by a perfectly timed, perfectly placed left uppercut. Referee Robert Velez reached the count of 10 before Montemayor could get to hs feet.

The short duration of the scheduled eight-round fight, Perez said, was the only disappointment.

“I felt like I wanted to go that eight rounds, just to get everything out there that’s been idle for eight months,” he said. “… But I do feel like I was nice and stationary. I was calm, I was collected. Body shots, head shots, nothing too severely landed (from Montemayor).”

Going the distance is not a specialty for Montemayor (7-10, six KOs), who took the fight on short notice after Perez’s original opponent fell out. All 10 of his losses have come by knockout or TKO.

Still, Montemayor has been in the ring against some talented fighters — among them Nico Hernandez, a 2016 Olympic silver medalist.

He likes Perez’s potential. “He‘s a good fighter,” he said. “He has a lot of talent.”

Montemayor, a native of Mexico who lives and trains in Wisconsin, said he was more stunned than hurt by the blows to the head that put hm on the canvas. It was Perez’s body shots, he said, that really hurt.

Despite the middling opposition Perez faced in his return bout, he said, no baby steps will be necessary from here on.

“I’m ready to move forward,” he said. “… Clean slate. Got my feet wet..”

All 11 of Perez’s pro fights thus far have taken place in New Mexico, all but three promoted by hs father, Aaron, who runs Legacy Promotions with business partner Gabriel Carlln.

“I’m more than likely going to be fighting more out of state,” Perez said. “That’s what I want to do. That’s the plan.”

Saturday’s card, originally planned for eight bouts, was reduced to five after four fighters failed to make the contracted weight and another boxer fell ill.

None of the five bouts went to the scorecards, and none lasted past the third round.

In the co-main event, Albuquerque lightweight Fidel Maldonado Jr.‘s return to the ring after a five-year hiatus ended with neither a win, a loss or a draw — an official result of no contest.

Maldonado (27-5-1, 20 KOs) was having his way with Mexican journeyman German Ivan Meraz (65-72, four KOs, no typo) into the third round of a scheduled six-round bout when a clash of heads resulted in a cut below Meraz’s right eye.

After the cut was examined by the ring physician, the bout was stopped. Though Maldonado was almost certainly ahead on the scorecards, the bout, by rule, needed to have gone four rounds for him to have his hand raised.

There was no damage to Meraz’s eye itself and no danger of blood flow into the eye. But Stephanie Jaramillo of the New Mexico Athletic Ccmmission said the doctor‘s judgment was that the cut was too deep to allow Meraz to continue.

In other bouts:

Xavier Madrid (6-6, three KOs) 154.2 pounds, Albuquerque, defeated Derick Barlemay (2-13-2, one KO), Eugene, Oregon, by second-round TKO.

Andres Rey (5-0, one KO), 134.4, Albuquerque, KOd Ernesto Hernandez (2-13, two KOs), El Paso, at 1:07 of the first round.

Elija Martinez (4-1, one KO), 154, Kirtland, defeated Gabriel Martinez (0-2) 154, El Paso, by second-round TKO.

Madrid, a former St. Pius X and UNM football running back, has made a career of fighting talented young up-and-comers — usually on their home turf and usually, though not always, losing.

Saturday, fighting at home against a fighter of lesser skills, Madrid was impressively in control throughout — pummeling Barlemay with blows from both sides.

Barlemay, who took the fight on barely 24 hours notice afer Madrid’s original opponent fell out, hung in gamely until his corner literally threw in the towel. It ended at 2:07 of the second.

At the outset, the Rey-Hernandez fight looked like an evenly matched scrap that might well last the full four rounds.

Suddenly, Rey landed a left-right combination that dropped Hernandez to the canvas. Clearly stunned, he tried but failed to beat referee Rocky Burke’s count.

For Elija Martinez, Gabriel Martinez was target practice. The latter’s remarkable ability to withstand punishment did not prevent referee Velez from stepping in and halting the onslaught.