By Ryan Songalia

Lightweight prospect Michael Perez is closing in on his first TV appearance as a professional boxer this Friday at the Paradise Theater in the Bronx, NY. His opponent, like him, is undefeated. Francisco Reyes of Seattle, Washington is 5-0 (2 KO) and goes by the nickname of "El Elegante". All of that information was compiled using Boxrec; Perez knows little more than I do about his opponent.
 
"I just know that he's Mexican, his name and his record," says Perez, 7-0-1 (3 KO), with a chuckle.
 
Perez isn't phased, however. Growing up in Newark, NJ, "The Artist" currently known as Michael Angelo Perez is used to the unexpected happening. A culture of gang violence has surrounded him his whole life, engulfing many of those he grew up alongside of. Boxing was an escape for him, just as it was for so many inner-city youths that had limited facilities to occupy their idle time.
 
Perez's father Jesus, who is now his manager, wanted boxing around his son from a young age. Jesus Perez bought his three-year-old son a punching bag and a set of gloves at an age when most children are playing with Play Skool and Barney toys. For Mike's seventh birthday, the elder Perez brought him to a boxing gym to ply the fundamentals he had instilled in him since he was a toddler.
 
While it's clear his father wanted his son to follow boxing, Perez said he was never forced into it.
 
"[My Dad] used to always tell me that if I didn't feel comfortable with the boxing, I don't have to do it. I really like contact sports so I just fell in love with boxing. He used to always stay on me to keep going to the gym when I was little."
 
By the age of ten, he lost the man that most compelled him to succeed. Jesus Perez was convicted of distributing cocaine and was sent to prison where he ultimately served ten years. The only contact that they would have would be through phone calls and letters from prison. That's when his older cousin, Alex, stepped in.
 
Alex Perez, who is eight years Michael's senior, lived with Michael for half of his life. Like Michael, Alex was deeply into boxing and won a few NJ Golden Gloves titles. They were more like brothers than cousins. They trained together, they did their running together.
 
Michael was even there the night Alex was shot.
 
"We were walking towards our house and the guy came from across the street and just started letting loose. I think he shot about 8 times. Alex pushed me out the way and I hit the wall. I ran straight down the wall and hit the corner. Alex ran the opposite way. I ran around the corner and as I came back Alex ran into me. He's like, 'What are you doing, you should've ran into the house.' I was scared, I didn't know what had happened or anything. At the time I didn't know he had been hit. We come into the house and the first thing he does, he checked me to see if I was shot.
 
"I said 'Nah, nah I'm good. how about you?'"
 
"He said, 'Nah, I'm hit.' He laid down. I was 14 years old when that happened. I was the one putting pressure on his wound."
 
Alex Perez suffered gunshot wounds to the chest and ribs but survived. He's still an unbeaten pro at 10-0 but hasn't fought in over a year. He was one of the lucky ones in Mike's life. Some weren't so lucky.
 
"A lot of my friends died growing up. Seeing that, that lets you know that there's nothing in the streets.
 
"The streets and boxing don't mix. There's a lot of distractions out there for anybody, especially coming out of Newark. It's up to you to overcome those distractions and stay focused. At the end of the day, I'm not letting the streets dictate my life. I could be boxing or be like everyone else and do nothing.
 
"I chose to be somebody."
 
Perez continued to listen to the exhortations to follow boxing and it paid off, leading to many of the United States' highest amateur accolades. Perez took home the 2008 National Golden Gloves title in the lightweight division, as well as National Silver Gloves honors.
 
Perez turned pro in late 2008 and has kept busy. His fight against Reyes will be his third six-round assignment and will co-headline the "Solo Boxeo Tecate" card alongside Adrien Broner vs. Walter Estrada (Telefutura, 11:30 ET/PT). The show will be promoted by Star Boxing and Perez's promoter Golden Boy Promotions.
 
For the last year he has trained with Aroz "Terrific" Gist, a NJ-based former amateur star-turned young trainer that made his bones working with former junior-welterweight champion Kendall Holt. Gist too has limited knowledge of the opposition.
 
"What I hear he's a body attacker. When you fight someone from Mexico you have to expect a tough fight. Them guys come to fight. They start really young. I hope he comes to fight because Mikey's well-prepared.
 
"Training for these last couple of months, he's been really stepping it up. He improved in a lot of ways. He's sparring top guys. The core of guys that he's surrounded himself with, there's no easy sparring. [Junior-middleweight champion] Yuri Foreman, [junior-middleweight contender] Pawel Wolak, [junior-featherweight prospect] Victor Valenzuela. We get good work around this area all the time."
 
After scoring knockouts in his first two fights, Perez has only finished off one opponent in his last six fights. Gist says that the problem is due to his youth moreso than his power.
 
"He just turned 20 years old so he's still learning. He just needs to learn how to finish these guys when he drops them. He's putting them down with body shots, hooks. When he gets the experience to learn how to finish them, then he'll get it. Mikey is more of a slick boxer-puncher. He's been facing some really tough vets for a guy with eight fights, he's coming along well. I told him though, don't worry about knockouts because the knockouts will come."
 
Just a few days removed from Mother's Day, perhaps the sentiments are still in the air. Or perhaps Perez is moved by the memories of his mother working two jobs to support a family, having to gaze helplessly into her tired, bloodshot eyes when she came home from a tough day at work. Either way, he says his goal is to buy his mother a house so she doesn't have to work anymore.
 
He has one other motivation, however.
 
"I want to break the cycle. I don't want my kids to go through what I went through." -RS

Ryan Songalia is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. An archive of his work can be found at www.ryansongalia.com . You can contact him via email at ryan@ryansongalia.com and follow him on Twitter at Twitter.com/ryansongalia .