After delivering a stirring upset over previously undefeated Cain Sandoval in his previous outing, Julian Rodriguez learned Sunday that the only thing tougher than meeting such a big challenge may be topping it.

Rodriguez bested his third consecutive unbeaten foe by taking a wide decision over James Perella at the Meta Apex in Las Vegas, though it somehow felt like a bit of a letdown in a fight that featured long stretches of inactivity and a few too many missed opportunities on the part of Rodriguez.

Although Rodriguez managed a knockdown of Perella in the third round, he failed to capitalize and mostly coasted to a decision he won by scores of 98-91 (twice) and 100-89.

“I just wanted to secure the victory,” said Rodriguez, a 31-year-old from Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey, who improved to 26-1 (15 KOs). “You know, my corner was getting mad at me. They were holding the belt like Joe Jackson, waiting for me to get to the corner to whip me for not stopping this guy. But it is what it is, a learning experience. I could have closed the show.”

Rodriguez admitted after the fight that his opponent had power, and he felt it almost right away when a Perella jab split open a cut in the corner of his right eye in the first round. 

But Rodriguez one-upped Perella in the third, following a right hand with a jab that dropped him to the canvas. Perella, a 33-year-old from Mansfield, Massachusetts, got to his feet, and he didn’t so much ride out the storm as kick back while the waves subsided. Rodriguez showed too little urgency in pressing the issue, and Perella was happy to hop off the hook. 

It was more of the same for much of the fight, as the 5ft 8ins Rodriguez seemed to overthink whatever danger Perella’s 6ft 2½ins frame and long reach advantage posed. Rodriguez would have a moment – such as in the sixth, when he landed a stinging right hand to Perella’s midsection that opened up his opponent to combinations upstairs – that would quickly pass.

It was hardly a wasted effort for Rodriguez. In the end, he handed the first career loss to his third straight opponent, knocked down Perella, 21-1 (15 KOs), and outlanded him by a wide margin. But even Rodriguez acknowledged that, given the circumstances, it wasn’t quite enough.

“That's something I have to outgrow, you know what I mean? This is about making the show exciting,” Rodriguez told Zuffa’s Max Kellerman, invoking a famous recent boxing showstopper in Gennadiy Golovkin. “You know, Max: drama show.”

Jason Langendorf is the former Boxing Editor of ESPN.com, was a contributor to Ringside Seat and the Queensberry Rules, and has written about boxing for Vice, The Guardian, Sun-Times and other publications. A member of the Boxing Writers Association of America, he can be found at LinkedIn and followed on X and Bluesky.