As the manager of an up-and-coming young fighter, Jim Douglas would like his man, Eloy Perez, to be as focused as possible for each and every fight in his budding career.
But that's going to be pretty tough come Saturday night at Fight Night 53 at the Lucky Eagle Casino for a variety of reasons.
Perez's bout, his first-ever 6-rounder, will take place about 8 p.m., approximately 25 hours after Perez graduates from Rainier High School.
Perez is like any other prep student, which means this week has been full of senior activities like a trip to Wild Waves and a cruise.
"I just hope he doesn't fall off the Ferris wheel," said Douglas with a laugh.
The mixture of senior activities and a late test that had to be passed has made for a "very tense week," according to Douglas.
Throw on top of that the fact Perez's original foe, southpaw Daniel Gonzalez, a Montana native, just pulled out of the fight Thursday, citing a sprained ankle.
So, the scrambling began … and it gets worse.
Lucky Eagle fight promoter, Bennie Georgino of Los Angeles, reportedly was admitted to an LA-area hospital Wednesday for undisclosed reasons, and now the Eagle's fight people are really scrambling, trying to keep the show intact.
They quickly hired a fill-in promoter, Richard Jackson, also of LA, and he's working hard to get Perez a fight.
As of press time today, Perez is tentatively set for a rematch against his last foe, Cesar Olmedo of Colorado Springs.
Perez won by majority decision at the last Fight Night, but there's another catch for Perez.
"Olmedo is a right-hander," said Douglas. "We just focused on 50 rounds of sparring, gearing up for a southpaw."
Even though Douglas was tempted to pull Perez from the card due to all the distractions and the new fighter, he thought it through and reconsidered.
"We'll come and keep the card going out of respect for Bennie," Douglas said.
The only sure thing at this moment is that Perez will graduate and then he can focus full time on his boxing career.
Even with school, the past year has been a successful one, professionally, for Perez, who will take a perfect 5-0 record into Saturday's bout.
"Eloy's definitely ready to fight," said Douglas. "He was at 135½ earlier this week and the fight limit is 135, so he'll be ready."
The big test this week, in addition to his studies, will be the move up from 4- to 6-rounders.
"That's a big change," said Douglas. "Each round you go up after four rounds is a big deal."
Perez's "new" opponent is a good one.
When Perez last fought Olmedo, Perez got him in trouble early, but Olmedo regrouped and went the distance in the 4-rounder.
It surprised most ringside observers that one of the three judges had Olmedo winning by a narrow margin.
"The kid talked a lot after that fight, too," said Douglas. "He said he didn't think Eloy hit that hard and that he could beat Eloy in a 6-rounder. I guess we'll find out."
Whoever Perez fights should provide a good learning tool as far as stamina goes.
"This fight will tell us if Eloy is ready for the next level," Douglas said.
Welliver in must-win
While the Perez fight holds major interest for local fight fans, it isn't the main event, which should be an outstanding pressure-packed battle.
One of the Lucky Eagle favorites, Spokane heavyweight Chauncy "Baby Face" Welliver (29-3-3, 11 knockouts), will be fighting the biggest fight of his career to date when he takes on Ohio's Chad Van Sickle (21-3-2, 12 KOs) in a 10-round bout for the Northwest Boxing Association's heavyweight title.
How big is this fight for Welliver?
A world title shot depends on his winning the bout.
It was announced Wednesday that Welliver has agreed, in principle, to fight for the vacant WBC Continental Americas heavyweight title against veteran Frank Wood on the undercard of a Roy Jones Jr. pay-per-view card in July.
That card would take place in Boise, Idaho, on July 29 at Boise's Qwest Arena.
The main event on that "Hold Nothing Back" card would be five-time world champion Jones (49-4, 38 KOs) challenging North America Boxing Organization light heavyweight champion Prince Badi "The Boxing Prince" Ajamu (25-2-1 14 KOs) in a 12-rounder.
Welliver is on a roll lately, carrying a 10-fight winning streak into Saturday night.
Welliver's brother, Dewey, is also on Saturday's card, taking on Candy Robertson in what should be another great match.
Other bouts include Rudy Valdez Jr. vs. TBA (4 rounds); Vili Bloomfield vs. Brian Skunkcat (4 rounds, Hvy); Brad McPeake vs. Wayne Tyler (4 rounds), and Ray Perales vs. Matthew Halvorsen (4 rounds).
Tickets, priced at $45, $35, and $25, are available at Ticketmaster, the casino (800-720-1788) or at Twin Cities Fullers stores.
