Boxing: Dmitry Mikhaylenko Impressive In Tearing Through Johan Perez

As he bore in, hands held tight like earmuffs to his head, Dmitry Mikhaylenko wasn’t afraid of any angle or distance as he flew at Johan Perez Saturday night on the HBO Latino show from the Fantasy Springs Casino, in Indio, Calif.

With just over two minutes left in the fifth round, Mikhaylenko appeared to leap at Perez with a right. It was awkward, unexpected, but it was also Mikhaylenko. He was relentless, aggressive and very effective after the first couple of stanzas. It all translated into Mikhaylenko (20-0, 9 KOs) remaining undefeated with a welterweight victory by forcing a stoppage of Johan Perez (20-3-1, 13 KOs) at 1:21 of the eighth frame.

Asked if he was slowed by rehydrating to 156 after making 147 the day before, Mikhaylenko said through an interpreter, “I didn’t feel any difference. He caught me a couple of times with a shot, but I didn’t think I was hit very hard. So basically, I didn’t feel any difference [in the weight gain]. Right now, I’m not thinking too far ahead. I have an ill mother at home in Russia and Russia is my home.”

Perez may have had one good round, the second. Otherwise, Mikhaylenko was all over him.

In the eighth, Mikhaylenko started as he usually did, attacking the body, and then went up top and landed a left hook on Perez’s chin. That seemed to stun Perez, because Mikhaylenko came barreling forward and sent Perez into the ropes. The Russian followed the assault with left hooks to the body and head. At around the 2:12 mark of the round, Mikhaylenko landed a right on the back of Perez’s head, which sent the Venezuelan reeling backwards. Then, it was a matter of time, as referee Ray Corona began looking closely at Perez.

With blood dripping from his nose, and no ability to fight back, Corona stepped between the fighters as Mikhaylenko had him pinned against the ropes.

Though Mikhaylenko won the first round, he was the one who had a cut over his left eye. The Russian’s wild swings in the early rounds form what seemed like half way across the ring became far more accurate in the third and fourth rounds.

In a scheduled 10-round super bantamweight, Manuel Avila (18-0, 8 KOs) remained undefeated by coaxing 29-year-old Yoandris Salinas (21-2-2, 14 KOs) to retire after the sixth round. Avila, 23, had dominated the fight when Salinas quit.

Avila did a nice job of countering Salinas each time he came into punching range. With 1:26 left in the second, Salinas leaned in and Avila connected perfectly with a short, blunt right that dropped him. Salinas rose with a smile on his face, but he was hurt. Fighting for survival, the rest of the round was action packed. Avila was looking to close, and Salinas was fighting to survive the round.

By the sixth, both of Salinas’s eyes were bracketed by red. A dejected Salinas came back to his corner after the sixth and referee Jack Reiss waved it over. Salinas said he could not continue, because he had hurt his right hand, which the ringside doctors looked at after the fight.

On the first televised undercard fight, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania super featherweight Tevin Farmer (20-4-1, 5 KOs) won for the 13th-straight time by taking apart Daulis Prescott (30-3, 22 KOs), and stopping him at :52 of the eighth round. Farmer controlled the action from start to punishing finish, scoring knockdowns in the fourth, sixth and eighth rounds. Referee Ray Corona took a point away from Farmer in the sixth on the second knockdown. The point deduction was the result of Farmer hitting Prescott when he was down.

The end came courtesy of a textbook left hook to the jaw that felled Prescott at :52 of the eighth round. Corona didn’t bother counting. He immediately waved it over once Prescott hit the canvas.

Joseph Santoliquito is the president of the Boxing Writer's Association of America and a frequent contributor to Sherdog.com's mixed martial arts and boxing coverage. His archive can be found here.