Brian Vera (Courtesy Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Bryan Lee Vera (born December 28, 1981 in Fort Worth, Texas, United States) is a Mexican-American boxer in the super middleweight division. He trains in Cedar Park, Texas. He is best known for upsetting then-undefeated Middleweight prospect Andy Lee in 2008, as well as holding 2 notable wins over former WBC Super Welterweight Champion Sergio Mora (once in February 2011 and once in August 2012).

Personal

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.

Professional career

After an amateur career in which he competed in quietly out of the public eye for a majority of the time of his tenure fighting as an amateur, Vera began his professional career in 2004 and would go onto get some big wins over Etienne Whitaker and Samuel Miller.

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.

Life after The Contender

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. Though the TKO was questionable by many, Andy Lee's face was beaten and swollen compared to Vera's face which had no bruising whatsoever.

Following his big win over Lee, Vera was stopped and violently beaten by middleweight contender James Kirkland for eight gruesome rounds. Kirkland was busier than Vera and was landing the better and much more powerful punches. And in the eighth round Kirkland came out winging bodyshots ands Vera was throwing rights, Kirkland countered with punch combinations that sent Vera down for the third time of the fight. A few seconds later Kirkland was battering him in the corner and the referee jumped in to stop the fight.

Just 6 months later, he was easily outpointed for 10 rounds by the Scottish up-and-coming fighter Craig McEwan. In almost every round, McEwan would flash new stuff that made it difficult for Vera. One round it was lead lefts. Another round, it was fighting well with his back against the ropes. In another round, it was the uppercut from the outside. Although McEwan would trade with Vera in the 7th to try and give Vera a chance of winning, McEwan still got the better of the exchanges. By the tenth Vera was tired from all the punches McEwan landed and all the punches he'd thrown (regardless of whether they landed or not) but would survive the round and lose a easy-McEwan unanimous decision.

On a ESPN Friday Night Fights headliner, Vera scored a victory that helped determine his presence in the Middleweight division when he defeated fellow Contender participant and former World Champion Sergio Mora with a hard-fought 10 round decision. Mora was coming off of September's disputed, split-decision draw with 39-year-old three-division, five-time titlist Shane Mosley. His superior strengths were what gave him the advantage in this bout, with scores of 96-94 for Vera were all registered by all three judges.

Following weeks after the fight his promoter, Lou DiBella, reported that Vera would face Lee in a rematch when Lee defeated Craig McEwan. Vera was completely dominated from the 1st round onward in a practical shutout in the rematch against Lee, having also been dropped in the 2nd round and again in the 6th (however the referee ruled the supposed knock-down in the sixth round, a slip). He would then go onto to lose the rematch to Lee via clear unanimous decision. Then on April 21, 2012, Vera managed to bounce back and score his 20th career victory as a professional boxer, defeating Taronze Washington by unanimous decision after 8 rounds. He would then re-ignite his career in a tremendous manner, when he defeated Sergio Mora in a re-match by majority decision on August 11, 2012.

Professional boxing record

21 wins, 6 losses (12 knock-outs, 8 decisions)

Win(21-6): Sergio Mora

Win(20-6): Taronze Washington

Loss(19-6): Andy Lee

Win-(19-5): Eloy Suarez

Win-(18-5): Sergio Mora

Loss-(17-5): Max Bursak

Win-(17-5): Sebastian Demers

Loss-(16-4): Isaac Rodrigues

Loss-(16-3): Craig McEwan

Loss-(16-2): James Kirkland

Win-(16-1): Andy Lee

Win-(15-1): Max Alexander

Loss-(14-1): Jaidon Codrigton

Win-(14-0): Darnell Boone

Win-(13-0): Samuel Miller

Win-(12-0): Etianne Whitaker

Win-(11-0) : Antonio Garcia

Win-(10-0) : Marcus Hicks

Win-(9-0) : Antonio Garcia

Win-(8-0) : Jeremiah Chapman

Win-(7-0): Cardyl Finley

Win-(6-0): Freeman Taft

Win-(5-0): Trenice Brown

Win-(4-0): Javier Diaz

Win-(3-0): Juan Jose Ruiz

Win-(2-0): Bert Montez

Win-(1-0): Avien Cooper

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