Manny “Manos” Perez
Manny “Manos” Perez Friday July 25th 2014
Friday night was a huge night for Grudge Training Center’s stable of upcoming fighters as well as a couple of favorite veterans. Firstly, I have to say a gigantic CONGRATULATION to Josh Copeland for winning his second heavyweight championship belt, this one was the first title for the RFA and he won impressively on NATIONAL television. Josh explained to the audience in his prefight interview that he needed to win and “Win impressively!” Josh talked the talk and then walked the walk, and he did it in such dominate fashion one would think this had to be his best performance so far. His opponents like his fans see a very intimidating heavyweight who improves every time he fights, and he showed a total and complete arsenal in this, the biggest fight of his young career. If for any reason you were unable to see this fight, I highly recommend getting on line to find and watch what I consider to be a must see fight for any and all fans. Again, a huge congratulations to Josh, the Cuddly Bear now has two championship belts yet remains as kind and humble a person as you can find.
I watched that fight on tape for I was at Salon Madrid watching another one of Grudges favorite sons, Manny Perez as he won yet another unanimous decision over Daniel Calzada in a seven round bout that was the main event. Here’s how it went down. Calzada came out to George Thorogood while Manny and his corner men Jake Ramos, Steve Maestes, and Fidel Martinez all came out to Bob Marley so there was already a lot of contrast between the two fighters before the fight had begun.
Manny, as is always the case, came out aggressively, in typical Perez fashion. He opened up with two left jabs to the body and continued pounding his opponent’s stomach area throughout the seven round bout, showing his fans all we needed to see in the first two rounds to know what kind of fight Manny would treat us to, for me two things were immediately apparent. Firstly, the blazing quickness of Manny’s hands, his hand speed was absolutely lightning quick and on display the entire evening, and secondly that Danny Calzada is no slouch. The younger and less experienced Calzada proved to be a tough and worthy opponent for the veteran Perez.
Manny landed the first two punches of the evening, left jabs to the body and that proved to be a portent of things to come. He threw blow after punishing blow to Danny’s mid-section, taking advantage and capitalizing on what was there. He’d pretty much dominate the first four rounds of this fight not only by attacking his opponent’s body but by showing his many fans as well as his opponent, a defensive display as good as any I’ve ever seen. Manny deftly moved his body throughout this fight and that wide array of ducking, bobbing, and continual movement, coupled with his ability to make opponents miss, made him an extremely elusive and frustrating target, that for the vast majority of rounds was nearly impossible to hit or hurt.
His best defensive tactic in my opinion was not just his expert footwork but the way he would continually turtle up on the younger fighter. Manny would press his gloves tightly to his face while his elbows nearly reached his hip bones, then all his opponent could manage was to punch either his arms, shoulders, hips, elbows, or gloves, making it a lesson in futility. Danny surprisingly tried to break down this wall for six rounds and achieved little if anything, meanwhile, Manny would simply explode from this covered up and compact position with these nearly too-fast-to-see combinations that were mainly directed at his opponent’s belly. For the many Perez fans present it was an affirmation that Manny’s hand speed is as fast as it’s ever been and might have even been faster. Personally I was awed by that speed Manny still has and is still probably one of the fastest-handed boxers in the world.
Manny completely dominated the first four rounds of the fight in this same manner, beautiful defense, turtling up and letting his opponent throw all he wanted, like punching a brick wall and then he’d just pounce from that compact position with these beautiful four, five, and six punch combos of blinding speed, concentrating mainly on the body and midsection with the occasional headshot mixed in. When Danny struck back, Manny either made him miss or immediately covered back up into that compact defensive stance but it was still a position he could attack very well from.
Danny was throwing way more punches than Manny but Danny’s punches rarely scored. When not flailing away at the impregnable fortress Perez, he’d completely miss him as Manny would slip just out of his reach. I thought then that all those missed punches combined with Manny throwing body shot after body shot would have an effect on Daniel as the fight progressed. This is the way the first four rounds went, Manny pretty much dominated the first part of the fight so after four rounds it was Manny winning 4-0 and it appeared that Danny got rocked a little by a Perez right hand a minute into the third round but that was the only head shot of any significance by either fighter.
Danny came on a little more the last three rounds, fighting with more desperation than early on but fighting well and finally breaking through Manny’s impressive defense, if only a little here and there. Both men were in absolute top-notch shape and condition so it was non-stop action for all seven rounds. They rarely got locked up and there was little dancing or sizing the other guy up, they were getting after it and it was exciting. Danny had thrown a lot more punches but many were total misses while he continued to pound away at the turtle’s shell and it gained him nothing.
Manny continued to educate the crowd and his opponent on how to make the other fighter miss and that’s just something he’s very good at, avoiding punches. Although at this point of the fight Manny could have put it on cruise control and started grabbing and hanging on, all the stall tactics we as fans have learned to despise, and still won that’s not the way Manny does things. The more Danny challenged the more Manny opened up, not a lot just a little more than we’d seen in the first four rounds.
Danny would win this round but it was a close round and although he started landing and scoring a little he had to contend with Manny’s endless barrage of body shots. His attack on his opponent’s body never let up, it was relentless. Still, the young man won the round and it seemed to re-energize him somewhat, for in the sixth Danny came out the aggressor for the first time. I think all that body work Manny put in those early rounds was beginning to pay dividends at this point. His opponent’s punches didn’t seem to have nearly the power they should have, yet he continued to attack Manny, obviously aware of needing a knockout if not at least a couple knockdowns in these last two rounds to have any hope of victory. Unfortunately for Danny, Manny is too smart of a veteran fighter, and he knows what it takes to win and quickly got back into his defensive groove, and that pretty much neutralized and nullified Danny’s spirited attack.
Manny launched combo after combo from that turtle position, still attacking the midsection and with that same jaw-dropping hand speed we’d seen throughout the early rounds, fighting round six to a draw in my opinion but at this point it’s moot. Manny won’t lose this fight unless he gets knocked out and Manny doesn’t get knocked out, period!
The final round was a real treat to the fans. Both fighters let it all out and their fans were all screaming. Danny appeared to be a little bigger than Manny which is nearly a Manny Perez trademark. He always fights guys that are bigger than he is and this fight is no different. Manny, who loves a great fight as much as any of us, got away from that tight compact defensive fight and opened up a bit more in that final round, allowing the youngster to get in a few pretty good shots, Danny likewise had retained some of his hand speed, but the body shots and six rounds of fighting had stolen some power from him and even though he got a few nice shots in on the wily veteran, at this point they lacked the power needed for a miracle comeback.
Of course he had to likewise contend with Manny giving as good and as much as he got, so Manny landed several good and powerful blows in that last round as well. In the end it was too little, and too late for the youngster, even though he won that final round (another very close one) he couldn’t overcome the huge early lead Manny had crafted. Fans were treated to an exciting fight night with Manny, the obvious crowd favorite sending us all home happy, thanks Manny.