Magdaleno unfazed by early knockdown

Despite being knocked down by Alejandro Perez in the first round, the 24-year-old from Las Vegas retained his NABF super featherweight belt and improved to 20-0 with a 10-round unanimous decision on a Top Rank card Friday at Texas Station’s Dallas Events Center.

“I tried to give the fans a good show,” Magdaleno said, referring to the sellout crowd of 1,500. “I just tried to stay busy, keep the pressure on him, and I think I accomplished that.”

Magdaleno said he tried to extend his knockout streak late, and had Perez in trouble in each of the last three rounds. But he couldn’t put him away.

“I know the fans come to see knockouts,” he said. “But my main concern was making sure I won the fight.”

Long before winning, Magdaleno was lifting himself off the canvas after Perez hit him with an overhand right to the jaw about a minute into the fight. Magdaleno quickly rose to his feet and never seemed adversely affected by the blow.

“I give him credit; he got me with a good shot,” Magdaleno said. “Things happen in boxing. But I got right back on the hump.”

Magdaleno opened a cut over Perez’s right eye in the fourth round, and the gushing blood appeared to slow Perez.

“I could tell it was bugging him,” Magdaleno said. “He kept trying to wipe his eye, and it was probably a distraction for him.”

Magdaleno was in control by then and turned his focus to avoiding costly mistakes. Judge Dave Moretti had Magdaleno winning 99-90, Jerry Roth had it 98-91 and Dick Houck scored it 98-90. Perez (15-3-1) won only one round among the three after winning the first.

“He was trying to hit me with a lot of crazy shots, but I was able to get inside on him, and I think it worked,” Magdaleno said. “I thought other than the knockdown in the first round, my defense was really good.”

It was a good night for the other local fighters. Magdaleno’s 19-year-old brother, Jesse, dominated Esteban Nichol, winning a six-round unanimous decision in their super bantamweight bout to improve to 5-0.

“I think it was my best performance so far (as a pro),” the Durango High School graduate said.

Magdaleno knocked down Nichol in the fifth round and again with 20 seconds left in the fight. But it was a left uppercut in the first round that put Magdaleno in control.

“I knew I hurt him with that left, and it took a lot of fight out of him,” said Magdaleno, who nailed Nichol (3-1) with low blows in the third and sixth rounds, the latter costing him a point.

Las Vegas welterweight Anthony Lenk (12-1) won a tough six-round majority decision over Fernando Rodriguez, and Las Vegas welterweight Juan Heraldez (3-0) scored a first-round technical knockout over Guillermo Delgadillo in a four-round fight.

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow him on Twitter: @stevecarprj.