Mauricio Herrera edges Johan Perez to claim interim WBA super lightweight championship

On Saturday night, boxing fans were treated to a stacked four-fight Showtime pay-per-view card live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event was headlined by a junior middleweight bout between Mexican star Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Cuba’s Erislandy Lara.

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Before we could get to the main card, we had three undercard bouts to attend to.

On the opening bout of the pay-per-view, Johan Perez and Mauricio Herrera squared off for Perez’s interim WBA super lightweight title.

During the pre-fight show, Tomoki Kameda delivered a brutal body shot KO to retain his WBO bantamweight title, so the tone was set for a great night of fights.

Herrera came out as the more aggressive of the two fighters, while Perez was forced to back up and pick his shots. Herrera was using his jab well to close distance on the taller fighter to get off to a solid start to the bout.

The action slowed throughout the early rounds with a lot of clinching and patient striking. The most effective strikes continued to be Herrera’s jab, with Perez eating a number of clean shots.

Herrera’s eye was beginning to swell from Perez’s counter shots, but that is nothing new for the California product.

At the midway point of the fight, the action started to pick up from both fighters with Perez beginning to find his rhythm.

Herrera hurt Perez badly in the eight round with some straight punches that were beating the looping shots from Perez, but Herrera was able to stay on his feet and avoid being knocked down for the first time of his career.

The ability of Herrera to mix up his shots to the head and body — along with his defense — was a real difference maker as he continued to find success throughout the bout.

Perez did attempt to finish the bout strong, but it wasn’t enough to hang on to the belt as Herrera came away with the upset.

Official result: Mauricio Herrera def. Johan Perez via majority decision (114-114, 116-112, 116-112)

Be sure to stay tuned to FanSided.com throughout the night for the full results and blow-by-blow coverage of tonight’s Canelo vs. Lara event.