Heavyweight prospect Lenier Pero is following through on his promise of being an active fighter.
Pero will face Joel Caudle tonight at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida, not far from his adopted hometown of Miami. The eight-round bout will stream live on Showtime Sports YouTube and Facebook pages (6 p.m. ET/ 3 p.m. PT).
Tonight will mark Pero’s third fight this year. In his last bout on May 7, Pero stopped Hector Perez in the third round that resulted in him winning a regional title belt. The win over Perez took place over four months after defeating Geovany Bruzon by unanimous decision in a clash of unbeaten fighters.
Pero (7-0, 4 knockouts), who is originally from Camaguey, Cuba, is hoping to land a significant fight later this year. He hopes an impressive win over Caudle will open that opportunity.
“I am ready to return to the ring on Saturday night after an already active first half of the year,” Pero told Boxingscene Thursday. “Caudle is an experienced fighter who has been in the ring with some solid names and it’s just another test I need to ace in front of the U.S. fans on my way to becoming Cuba’s first heavyweight world champion.”
The 29-year-old southpaw is represented by Shane Shapiro.
Caudle (9-6-2, 6 KOs), who resides in Fuquay-Varina Marina, North Carolina, stopped unbeaten Robert Sabbagh after the third round of his last bout on February 26. The win over Sabbagh snapped a string of five consecutive losses, all against unbeaten fighters, including Johnnie Langston, Cassius Chaney, Sharet Delgado, George Arias, and, most recently, Sonny Conto.
In the other fight that will stream on the Showtime Sports YouTube and Facebook pages, middleweight Fiodor Czerkaszyn (19-0, 12 KOs), who is originally from Ukraine and now resides in Warsaw, Poland, will face Gilbert Venegas, Jr. (11-1, 7 KOs) of Des Moines, Iowa in an eight-round bout.
In the main event of the Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) card that will air on Showtime (8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT), Omar Figueroa (28-2-1, 19 KOs) will square off against late-sub Sergey Lipinets (16-2-1, 12 KOs) in a 12-round bout.
Francisco A. Salazar has written for BoxingScene since September 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing
