Career
He reached a peak ranking of number seven at bantamweight by The Ring magazine. Although born in Colombia, Pérez 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.
Pérez made a winning start to his career, knocking out Steve Lozoya in the first round.
Pérez 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. Despite trailing on all three scorecards, Pérez was able to knock Mabuza out in the final round.
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 Pérez via a unanimous decision. One judge scored the bout 115–113 in favor of Mares while the other two scored it 114–114 even, resulting in Pérez 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.
Perez versus Agbeko II
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.
