| Name |
Yonnhy Perez |
| Height |
5 ft 6 in |
| Naionality |
Colombian |
| Date of Birth |
18-January-1979 |
| Place of Birth |
Cartagena, Colombia |
| Famous for |
Boxer |
Yonnhy Perez is a professional boxer who resides in Santa Fe Springs, California. He is the former IBF Bantamweight champion. Ring Magazine currently rates Perez at number seven in the bantamweight division. Although born in Colombia, Perez has fought all but one of his professional fights in the United States. He made his debut on 30 July 2005 in Tucson, Arizona at the age of 26. Perez made a winning start to his career, knocking out Steve Lozoya in the first round.
Perez faced his biggest challenge on 29 May 2009, when he travelled to Johannesburg, South Africa to fight Silence Mabuza in an IBF Bantamweight title eliminator. Mabuza, a native of Johannesburg, was a former world champion and had only lost to the renowned Mexican Rafael Marquez. Despite trailing on all three scorecards, Perez was able to knock Mabuza out in the final round. In his first world title fight Perez successfully challenged the IBF champion, Joseph Agbeko from Ghana. Agbeko, who in his previous fight defeated Vic Darchinyan, suffered a knockdown (a result of an unintentional headbutt) in the tenth round en route to losing his title to Perez via a unanimous decision. On 22 May 2010, Perez, defending his IBF title for the first time, fought to a majority draw against the unbeaten Mexican Abner Mares. One judge scored the bout 115–113 in favor of Mares while the other two scored it 114–114 even, resulting in Perez retaining his title. After the fight both boxers claimed that the decision should have gone their way and have both expressed interest in a rematch.
Rather than an immediate rematch with Mares, Perez will be facing Joseph Agbeko for the second time in the first round of Showtime's upcoming bantamweight tournament while Mares faces Vic Darchinyan live from Guanajuato, Mexico on 11 December. The winners of both fights will face each other sometime in early 2011.
