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Antonin Decarie wasn't supposed to be the puncher tonight, and he wasn't booked to be the showcased fighter. But he dominated Alex Perez over five rounds, and stopped him at 2:54 of the sixth with a final blitz of shots that included a knockdown and then a referee staring at Perez being further pummeled upon return to action, before the hook finally came.
Decarie (27-1, 8 KO) just couldn't miss with his right hand in this one, as Perez (16-1, 9 KO) was pretty well exposed in a step up in class from previous opposition. It was a matter of technique for the most part, and Decarie had plenty of it, while Perez just didn't have any. Perez never got any momentum, never had a consistent attack, and was never really in it save for a couple of brief solid moments here and there.
Decarie landed 99 of 150 power shots for an astounding 66% connect rate on the HBO on-screen stats, which pretty much tells the story of the fight. He was just way too good for Perez, whose prospect bubble got busted at Foxwoods.
Our live coverage of HBO Boxing After Dark continues here with the discussion thread, and the StoryStream for the full fight card is over here.