Lenier Pero won’t win any extra points for winning pretty, but he did well Saturday to slog through the ugly moments and continue his climb through the heavyweight ranks.

Pero, 13-0 (8 KOs), stayed the course to earn a 10-round unanimous decision over Jordan Thompson at the Caribe Royale Resort in Orlando, Florida, weathering a middle-rounds lull, a point deduction and a respectable heavyweight debut from his opponent.

“I think I showed tonight that I can improve on things, but also I managed the three different ranges really well,” Pero said through an interpreter in the ring after the fight.”

Officials’ scores came at 97-93 and 96-93 (twice) for Pero.

“I thought it was a competitive fight,” Pero said.

It was, though it took some time to get the juices of both fighters flowing. To be fair, Thompson had been out of the ring for more than two years and weighed 44 pounds heavier than he had for his previous fight – a stoppage loss to Jai Opetaia in September 2023 at cruiserweight. A 32-year-old from London, Thompson showed up for Saturday in incredible shape – a buff 242¼lbs on his 6ft 7ins frame – but may have needed an adjustment period to the new weight and 25 months of ring rust.

Meanwhile, Pero, a 32-year-old Cuban southpaw now living in Miami, put in work from the jump, consistently beating Thompson to the punch and targeting his long torso. In the second, Pero caught Thompson with a hard right hook to the flank as the larger man stumbled trying to back out along the ropes.

Thompson, looking for his own openings, fired from distance at Pero’s arms – shelled up to protect his head – but Pero timed him with effective counters. A Pero body shot on the belt line gave Thompson occasion to turn to referee Christoper Young, who warned Pero and granted Thompson a breather.

In the third, Thompson landed a sharp body shot from distance that looked like it might slow his opponent for a moment, but Pero answered back with his own. When Thompson again looked to the ref, he got no help. “That’s legal,” was Young’s answer. Pero punctuated the round with a pair of long left hooks that landed upstairs.

Thompson flashed a solid jab and mostly took Pero’s shots well, but his activity level early on fell short. He was oddly chatty in the ring – talking to his corner, to heavyweight Jarrell Miller at ringside and to Pero himself – as he lost rounds. Rather than open himself up to Pero counters, Thompson seemed to try to get by more on wiles and optics than beating his opponent outright.

He opened up a bit to start the sixth, though Thompson didn’t exactly take the fight to Pero. Single jabs and the occasional right hand didn’t faze Pero, who continued to find a home for his left hand – often on Thompson’s midsection.

To his credit, Thompson never wilted under Pero’s power and was undoubtedly the better-conditioned fighter. He started putting his punches together more often in the seventh as Pero’s activity slowed and countered a bit less frequently. A legitimate low blow from Pero cost him a point in the round and gave Thompson an opening back into the fight.

The fighters settled in at close range in the eighth, trading body shots and occasional blows up top – an uppercut and short cross from Thompson, a piledriving straight left from Pero. Both men swallowed it all.

That changed in the ninth, when, in the final minute, Pero landed a game-changing combination – a left hook and a clubbing right hand to the head – that sent Thompson sideways into the ropes. Thompson held on, clinching and even sticking out his tongue, but it was the clearest sign of damage to either man in the fight. He had his wits about him again in the 10th, and may have even landed a greater number of punches, but Pero had the cleaner, more punishing blows.

Asked what’s next, Pero smiled, turned his gaze ringside and called out in English: “Jarrell Miller, come inside! Come inside! I’m ready for you whenever you want.”

Miller – a 37-year-old who hasn’t fought since August 2024, when he drew with Andy Ruiz – obliged him, climbing into the ring for a friendly faceoff with Pero.

“Listen, man, you know I don't run from nobody,” said Miller, 26-1-2 (22 KOs). “So I’ll cook him, turn him into a Cuban sandwich real quick. So DAZN, Eddie [Hearn], sign this boy up for an ass-whooping.”

Jason Langendorf is the former Boxing Editor of ESPN.com, was a contributor to Ringside Seat and the Queensberry Rules, and has written about boxing for Vice, The Guardian, Chicago Sun-Times and other publications. A member of the Boxing Writers Association of America, he can be found at LinkedIn and followed on X and Bluesky.