By Ian S Palmer
Veteran Jayson Velez of Puerto Rico will be taking on unbeaten Ernesto Mercado of Upland, California for the vacant NABA Super Lightweight title this Saturday, October 22nd in Ontario, California. Velez was last in the ring in August when he dropped an eight-round majority decision to Wesley Ferrer. Mercado last fought in August as well when he stopped Alfredo Blanco in the second round.
The 34-year-old Velez enters the contest with a record of 30-9-1 with 21 Ko’s and has boxed 247 rounds since turning pro in 2008. He stands 5-feet-8-inches tall with a 68-inch wingspan and is a fan-friendly fighter decent power. Twenty one of his 30 wins have come by stoppage and he possesses a current knockout ratio of 52.5 per cent.
His pro losses have come at the hands of Wesley Ferrer, Gabriel Flores Jr, Oscar Valdez, Ryan Garcia, Jaime Arboleda, Alfredo Santiago, Rene Alvarado, Joseph Diaz, and Ronny Rios with seven of them coming by decision as he was stopped by Valdez in the 10th round in 2020 and by Flores in the sixth round in 2021. His lone draw came in an IBF World Featherweight title fight against former champ Evgeny Gradovich back in November of 2014.
Velez has a pretty good chin despite being stopped twice. His biggest wins have been against Victor Terrazas, Orlando Cruz, Juan Manuel Lopez, Alberto Mercado, Miguel Soto, Salvador Sanchez and Dat Nguyen. Since turning pro he’s captured the WBC USNBC, the WBC Fecarbox and interim WBO Latino Super Bantamweight Titles, the WBC Silver Featherweight Championship as well as the WBC Fecarbox, WBC Latino, and NABA USA Super Featherweight Crowns.
The 20-year-old Mercado enters the bout with a perfect 7-0 record with all seven wins coming by stoppage for a 100 per cent knockout ratio. He’s 5-feet-10 inches tall with an unlisted reach so comes into the ring with a two-inch height advantage on Velez. He turned pro in September, 2021 and has boxed just 10 rounds since, due to his knockout power.
Mercado has four first-round knockouts and three in the second round and so far has beaten Alfredo Blanco, Jose Zarazoga, Daniel Evangelista Jr, Marc Misiura Nathan Benichou, Osmel Mayorga and Christopher Johnson with two of his seven opponents entering the ring with losing records. Before turning pro, Mercado enjoyed an extensive amateur career.
He placed second at the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials, won the 2018 Youth National Championships as well as the 2018 Eastern Regional Open, the 2018 Youth Open Championships, the 2018 National Golden Gloves, the 2017 National Golden Gloves, the 2016 National Golden Gloves and the 2016 Junior Open Championships.
Prediction…
Velez has plenty of pro experience against upper-level opponents while Mercado has fought just 10 pro rounds, but had an extensive and successful amateur career. Mercado has stopped all seven pro opponents but proved in the amateurs that he also possesses fine skills. He’s also 14 years younger than Velez and Velez has lost four of his last five bouts. Velez has a ton of heart but this is going to be a difficult fight to win. I’m expecting the youngster Mercado to pull this one out.
