Lateef Kayode KOs Ed Perry

Posted by Ramon Aranda on 12.04.2010

Plus, Luis Franco remains unbeaten but wins by disqualification.


Photo by Tom Casino / Showtime

Lateef Kayode (16-0, 15 KOs) kept his knockout streak alive as he defeated a game Ed Perry (18-5-2, 11 KOs) at the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, Calif. in a cruiserweight bout.

Kayode, who had 14 straight knockouts coming into the fight looked to box from the onset, using a stiff jab and solid body attack to keep Perry at bay. Perry however, came in with plenty of confidence and was willing and able to mix it up with the much larger Nigerian, while his solid head movement made Kayode miss plenty of big shots.

In the 6th round however, Kayode landed a perfect left hook to the body, underneath Perry's right elbow that put him on the canvas. In obvious pain, Perry remained down until he was counted out, giving Kayode his 15th straight knockout.

"It was a good fight for me," said Kayode, who is trained by Freddie Roach. "I waited a round or two to gauge what he had. He took some shots. Normally guys would have fallen after some of those shots but he had a good chin and stayed in there.

Roach however was unable to make it to the fight, due to his commitments with Amir Khan who faces Marcos Maidana next weekend in Las Vegas.

""He tried to rush me and rough me in the fifth round. He came at me, so I didn't go with my jab anymore," added Kayode in reference to his opponent. "I went with my straight right because he was bending to my right side and then I got him with the left uppercut."

In the co-featured bout, Luis Franco remained unbeaten with a dominant performance over Eric Hunter. However, Franco (8-0, 5 KOs) got more than he bargained for in the illegal punching category.

The fight was action packed, with Franco consistently moving forward and landing combinations while Hunter (15-2, 8 KOs) was eager to fire back, including a low blow that earned him a warning from referee John Schorle. Midway in the 2nd, Franco landed a counter left hook that stunned Hunter who managed to survive, though a second low blow connected, resulting in a point deduction.

Hunter, throwing effective body shots on the inside was warned yet again in the 4th round with a third low blow. With both fighters still slugging it out, Hunter landed yet another low blow, to go along with a few minor low blows in the previous two rounds that finally forced Schorle to call off the bout, disqualifying a distraught Hunter.

"It looks like he was looking for a way out," said Franco, who won every round in the dominating win. "My body shots were just hurting him and he didn't want to get knocked out. He knew he was going to get knocked out in the ninth round and so he decided to take the disqualification. I out-jabbed him and out worked him and finally got the DQ."