Bryan Vera | |
---|---|
Statistics | |
Real name | Bryan Lee Vera |
Rated at |
Super middleweight Middleweight Light middleweight |
Height | 6 ft 0 in (183 cm) |
Reach | 74 in (189 cm) |
Nationality | American |
Born |
Fort Worth, Texas, U.S. |
December 28, 1981
Stance | Orthodox |
Boxing record | |
Total fights | 34 |
Wins | 23 |
Wins by KO | 14 |
Losses | 11 |
Bryan Lee Vera (born December 28, 1981) is an American professional boxer who fights at super middleweight. He is best known for his memorable and notable victories over then-undefeated Andy Lee in 2008, former world champion Sergio Mora (twice, in 2011 and 2012) and Serhiy Dzinziruk in 2013. Vera currently trains in Cedar Park, Texas.
Bryan attended Westwood High School and lettered in football, a sport he had played since a child in Pop Warner. His brother, Gilbert "Boogie" Vera is also a professional boxer and his father was a two-time IBA champion in the heavyweight division.
Vera's amateur career saw him clash with (among others), Jonathon Banks (in a losing effort), and then saw him returning in December 2005 (after beginning his professional career in 2004), when he returned for one last amateur fight against Ivan Stovell (in a losing effort).
Vera began his professional career in 2004 with a four-round unanimous decision win over Avien Cooper. He would win his next thirteen bouts, including a decision victory over Darnell Boone (who would later knockout the future lineal light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson), before signing up with the ESPN television series The Contender.
He is one of the featured boxers on the third season of the boxing reality TV series, The Contender, which premiered September 4, 2007, on ESPN. Vera suffered his first professional loss in the opening fight of the contest to the shows runner-up Jaidon Codrington.
In 2008, Vera fought then-undefeated and highly touted prospect Andy Lee. In a fight that he was supposed to lose according to most critics, Brian Vera pulled up the upset win and would defeat Lee by TKO in the seventh round. Although the stoppage was regarded as controversial, Vera was behind on points up until that point, though Lee himself appeared to be battered and exhausted from Vera's relentless assault in the 7th.