Rebel Perez enters Prizefighter arena

MIKE “The Rebel” PEREZ is facing what promises to be the biggest pay day of his career to date after joining the line-up for the first International Heavyweight Prizefighter tournament in London in May.

The Cork-based Cuban — the first of the Cubans to defect to Ireland — will also face the most difficult assignment of his career as the Prizefighter series enters a new realm.

Up to now the Prizefighter tournaments have been basically domestic affairs but now the Americans join the contestants.

Willie “Big Bang” Casey launched himself into the international arena by winning the super-bantamweight tournament. Perez could follow a similar route when he goes in against the likes of Sam Sexton, the British Commonwealth champion, who won the second Prizefighter tournament held in Newcastle, with talented US heavyweight, Kevin Johnson, among the big hitters taking part.

Johnson, who lives in Atlanta those days, went the distance with Vitali Klitschko for the WBC world heavyweight title in 2009 and, in January of this year, had Julius Long on the floor twice in the final round en route to a unanimous points win.

The Cuban southpaw’s manager, Hamish Thomas, insists that Perez, a former world junior champion, is ready for the assignment and was primed for it in his most recent outing when he won every round against Ismael Abdoul at the Doncaster Dome on March 4.

“Abdoul went the distance with David Haye and, to be brutally honest, Mike could have taken him at any time, only just that we wanted to get some rounds into him,” said Thomas who also has the other two Cork-based Cubans, Alexei Acosta Collada and Louis Garcia, at his Watergrasshill gym.

“Mike is in the shape of his life and he just can’t wait to get into this tournament. He has won all of his contests to date and all but three inside the distance but he has never faced competition like this before.

“Multiple fights on the same night is nothing new to him. He fought and won two fights on an Andy Lee undercard in Limerick last May.

“But we have to judge him on his most recent fight against Abdoul who was a serious opponent. That was a big stepping stone for him.”

The tournament will take place on May 7, the night of the Manny Pacquiao-Shane Mosley fight, and will be live on Sky Sports. Hasim Rahman and Michael Sprott are other stars in the mix, according to promoter, Barry Hearn, who said there are about 20 names listed with the likes of Evander Holyfield, James Toney and even Roy Jones Jr rumoured to appear. The line-up will be completed today.