Vera outworks Mora to majority decision win in heated rematch

Brian Vera’s relentless pressure and volume punching once again proved to be too much for Sergio Mora as the rugged Texan beat the former WBC 154-pound titleholder via majority decision in their Telefutura-televised rematch on Saturday.

Vera (21-6, 12 knockouts), a Ft. Worth native who lives in Austin, won the Solo Boxeo main event in San Antonio, Texas, by scores of 118-110, 117-111 and 114-114.

He won the rematch the same way he won their first bout – which was televised on ESPN2 last February – by outworking Mora.

The 30-year-old pressure fighter missed with most of his jabs and with many of his wide arm-punches, but he worked hard for three minutes of almost every round of the entertaining fight and he pounded any part of Mora’s body that he could find whenever he cornered the cagey Angeleno against the ropes.

Mora (23-3-2, 7 KOs) was game and fought well – in spots. The 31-year-old veteran made Vera miss and countered the lunging slugger with lead right hands and hooks to the body and head. However, there were significant stretches in each round when Mora was content to work his unorthodox defense, taunt Vera and showboat for the loud and hostile crowd.

And while most of Mora’s right hands landed flush on Vera’s jaw, the inactive fringe contender lacked the power to seriously hurt his iron-jawed antagonist. Two of the three official judges would not give Mora credit for his clean punching. They obviously favored Vera’s consistent offense and aggression, even though it wasn’t always effective.

The third judge who scored the bout a draw obviously credited Mora for his ring generalship and gave him the few rounds in which he put enough power shots together to back Vera up. It happened enough to make the fight a compelling one.

The two rivals went tit for tat in the early rounds. Vera took over the middle rounds but just when it seemed that he would overwhelm Mora, the crafty boxer surged in the late rounds – landing a series of flush rights in the ninth and even buzzing Vera against the ropes with a few well placed hooks in the 10^th.

However, Vera worked non-stop in the 11^th to stop Mora’s momentum and he soundly outworked "The Latin Snake" in the 12^th.

In the co-feature of the Telefutura broadcast, El Paso’s former junior featherweight contender Antonio Escalante (28-4, 19 KOs) knocked out limited Mexican puncher Leonilo Miranda (32-5, 30 KOs) in the second round of their scheduled eight-round junior lightweight bout.