By Elisinio Castillo
45-year-old former world cruiserweight champion Guillermo Jones (41-3-2, 30 KOs), now competing as a heavyweight, returned to the ring for the first time since last July, and won an eleven round split decision over Ytalo Perea (10-3-2, 6KOs) at Hotel Jaragua in Santo Domingo.
The victory gave Jones the vacant WBA Fedelatin heavyweight title. There are WBA regional title fights that only consist of eleven rounds and some are scored on a half-point system.
The scores were 107-102, 107-102 for Jones and 105-104 for Perea.
Jones was last in action back in July of 2016, when won a majority decision over Garrett Wilson. It will be the third fight since stopping Denis Lebedev in May of 2013. A rematch was canceled after Jones tested positive for a banned substance and then suspended. He would not fight again until November 2015.
In other action on the card, top rated junior welterweight prospect Alberto Puello (13-0, 8 KOs), who holds regional belts under the WBA and WBC, put away Ricardo Gutierrez (11-2-1, 6 KOs) in the first round. This was the third win of the year for Puello, picked up two other stoppage victories in 2017.
Highly regarded Carlos Adames (13-0, 11 KOs), who is inching closer to a world title shot in the welterweight division, took a fight at junior middleweight to batter Adrian Perez (7-3, 5 KOs) for a sixth round stoppage victory.
Adames has had a breakout year in 2017. He knocked out Jean Carlos Prada at the start of the year, and then got his biggest career victory to date in July when he won a clear decision over former world junior middleweight world champion Carlos Molina, who was now competing at 147.
Junior welterweight puncher Subriel Matthews (8-0, 8 KOs) demolished Patrick Lopez (25-10, 16 KOs) in two rounds. This was his fourth win of the year, by knockout, and his second in Santo Domingo. The rest were held in Puerto Rico.
