Puello crushes Gutierrez, Jones wins

By Robert Coster

A good crowd showed up at the luxury Jaragua Renaissance Hotel and Casino in Santo Domingo to watch Shuan Boxing Promotion’s last card of the year, a marathon event which ended at 2AM. In the main event, WBA #11 jr welterweight Alberto Puello (13-0, 8 KOs) gave the best performance of his young career by annihilating Ricardo Gutierrez (11-2-1, 6 KOs) of Mexico in 1’28” of the first round. The stylish Puello is generally known to take his time but not on this night: a vicious right hook to the body sent the visitor to the canvas on his back for the full count – a quick, spectacular victory for the young Dominican who retains his WBA Fedelatin and WBC Latino belts.

The co-main event had former WBA cruiserweight world champion Guillermo Jones (41-3-2, 30 KOs) of Panama battle former amateur star Ytalo Perea (10-3, 6 KOs) of Ecuador for the vacant WBA Fedelatin heavyweight title. The contest was an exciting give-and-take rumble for 11 rounds. Perea – a former Pan American Games gold medalist – started off well but the latter portion of the fight saw the veteran Jones take command. The 45-year-old Jones was awarded a split decision (107-102, 104-105,107-102). Fightnews had Jones winning 106-103.

The Dominican Republic’s top prospect Carlos Adames, ranked 5th in the Welterweight class by the WBA, moved up to the jr middleweight division to face Adrian Perez of Venezuela. Adames (13-0, 11 KOs) threw everything but the kitchen sink at the gritty and game Perez (7-3, 5 KOs), a much better boxer than his record would indicate, but could not get the Venezuelan off his feet. At the end of the 6th round with Perez bleeding and battered, his corner did not let him out for the next round. All and all, a somewhat sluggish performance by the usually spectacular Adames.

Top Puerto Rican jr welterweight prospect Subriel Matthews (8-0, 8 KOs) looked very impressive battering veteran Patrick Lopez (25-10, 16 KOs) of Venezuela, knocking him down twice in the first round and forcing the referee to stop the slaughter in the 2nd round.

Other bouts: Abigail Soto TKO 5 Frank Mola (for the vacant Dominican heavyweight title ); Lenin Castillo KO1 Andy Perez, light-heavyweight; William Encarnacion K0 2 Julio Cesar Cruz, jr featherweight; Yomar Medina TKO 6 Abelardo Ramos (lightweight); Eridson Garcia W8 Jose Luis Galvez (jr lightweight); Jackson Marinez W8 Alfonso Perez (lightweight); Luis Salazar W6 Nestor Gonzalez (jr Lightweight); Great Cayman TKO 1 Elvin Javier Liberato (super-middleweight).