Luis Coria is moving his career in the right direction.

Coria overcame a knockdown to defeat Jesus Ramon Perez by technical decision late Saturday night at the Orange Show Events Center in San Bernardino, California. All three judges scored the bout 38-37 in favor of Coria, who improved to 15-5, 7 knockouts.

Early during the first round, Perez dropped Coria to the canvas. Coria was not hurt from the flash knockdown, beat the count, and outboxed Perez throughout the rest of the fight.

An inadvertent clash of heads produced a cut over the eye of Perez early in the fight. During the fourth round, another clash of heads caused Perez to claim he was light-headed. After the action stopped to check with the ringside physician, the fight was stopped, and because the fight entered the fourth round of a scheduled six-round bout, the fight went to the scorecards. 

The 25-year-old Coria previously fought on August 19, defeating Herbert Acevedo by unanimous decision. 

Coria, who is trained by Robert Garcia and resides in nearby Perris, has won his last three fights after losing his previous three bouts to Adam Lopez, Robson Conceicao and Enrique Vivas. The losses to Lopez and Conceicao took place during the pandemic in ‘The Bubble’ at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Perez, who resides in Culiacan, Mexico, falls to 14-17-1, 8 KOs. The 33-year-old has now lost five of his last seven bouts.

In welterweight action, Felix Soria of nearby Riverside defeated Isaac Freeman (5-12-2, 4 KOs) of Los Angeles by decision. All three judges scored the bout 60-54 in favor of Soria, who improved to 6-0, 3 KOs. 

In featherweight action, top prospect Albert Gonzalez of Perris improved to 6-0, 2 KOs, defeating Mexico’s Juan Hernandez Martinez (2-3-2) by decision. All three judges scored the bout 60-54 for Gonzalez.

Junior welterweight Art Barrera, Jr. (2-0, 2 KOs) of Paramount, California knocked out Darek Costilla (0-2) at 1:18 of the opening round.

In lightweight action, Leonardo Rubalcava of Jurupa Valley, California defeated 19-year-old Juan Molina (1-2, 1 KO) by unanimous decision. All three judges scored the bout 40-35 in favor of Rubalcava.

The card on Saturday was the first for House of Champions Promotions. Robert ‘Pita’ Garcia, Jr. recently received his promoters’ license from the California State Athletic Commission. 

Francisco A. Salazar has written for BoxingScene since October 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing