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As a highly successful amateur boxer, Abraham Perez was a jet setter. He fought in Spain, France, Bulgaria and at least nine U.S. states.

He fought opponents from India, France, Spain, Peru and Ukraine.

As a pro, he has yet to have a fight that required a plane ticket.

Now, he鈥檚 ready, more than ready, to widen his horizons and catch up with his amateur peers.

Perez is fighting on Saturday in El Paso, performing for the first time as a professional outside his home state of New Mexico. So, yes, it鈥檚 a new experience.

Then again, it鈥檚 not. Texas is his home state, and El Paso his hometown, as much as New Mexico and sa国际传媒官网网页入口 are. He was born in 鈥淓l Chuco鈥� 26 years ago before his family came north 鈥� first to Roswell, then to sa国际传媒官网网页入口. He still has relatives in El Paso and visits often.

Thus, while he prepared for his eight-round flyweight main event against Mexico鈥檚 脕ngel Geovanny Meza Morales at the El Paso County Coliseum, Perez said he senses no difference in the process than for any of his previous 11 pro bouts 鈥� all victories, six by knockout, seven of them promoted in sa国际传媒官网网页入口 by his father and head trainer, Aaron Perez.

Saturday鈥檚 card is being promoted not by his dad鈥檚 company but by Marshall Kauffman, a Pennsylvanian who stages most of his events in his home state.

For Perez, it鈥檚 all the same. The promoter could be Kauffman, his father or Hobbs鈥� Isidro Castillo. The site could be El Paso, sa国际传媒官网网页入口 or Sofia, Bulgaria.

鈥淭o me,鈥� he said in a phone interview, 鈥渋t鈥檚 just, 鈥楢ll right, cool. It鈥檚 another fight. Let鈥檚 get it done.鈥欌��

Yet, while the process is the same, he acknowledges there鈥檚 a heightened urgency created by time and circumstances, not location or logistics.

A year ago, Perez was preparing for an Aug. 10 fight against fellow sa国际传媒官网网页入口an Matt Griego-Ortega at Tingley Coliseum. A victory that night in a fight to be streamed on ESPN+, on a card promoted by Top Rank, Inc., could have taken his pro career to a new level and led to still greater opportunities.

Instead, days earlier, Perez lost consciousness while doing breathing-control exercises in the Perez family swimming pool and nearly died. While he鈥檚 grateful to his family and to the medical professionals who saved his life, he鈥檚 acutely aware of the career opportunity and the potential career momentum he forfeited.

He鈥檚 fought only once since then, a victory by second-round KO over Jos茅 Rodr铆guez Montemayor on April 19 at the Embassy Suites. Perez has had only the Montemayor fight in the past 15 months.

鈥淚鈥檓 just trying to get back in the swing of things,鈥� he said, 鈥渁s far as getting those types of fights again, like getting two to three fights within this year.

鈥淛ust trying to get back into the motion of that routine I used to be on.鈥�

As an amateur, Perez fought on cards alongside the likes of Ricardo Torrez Jr., Delante 鈥淭iger鈥� Johnson, Keyshawn Davis, Duke Ragan and Bruce Carrington.

Torrez, Davis and Ragan won Olympic silver medals in Tokyo in 2021. Johnson was an Olympian.

Now, all five are Top Rank contract fighters with a combined record of 66-0. They鈥檝e all fought on ESPN and/or ESPN+. Several of them are closing in on world title shots.

Perez is not an Olympic medalist, nor is he an Olympian. But he could have been. He won the flyweight title at the U.S. Olympic Trials in 2019 鈥� only to have USA Boxing replace him with a fighter, Anthony Herrera, whom Perez had beaten twice at the trials.

鈥淚 was pretty hurt at the time,鈥� he said. 鈥溾�� All those people that I was with, it feels like at some point I was kind of left behind.鈥�

To this point, Perez has had more and wider exposure as an amateur than as a pro. USA Boxing national events almost always are streamed. International events like the Strandja Cup International Tournament, staged annually in Bulgaria, are streamed and/or televised.

Initially, it was thought that Saturday鈥檚 card in El Paso would be carried on DAZN, a popular international streaming service. Instead, Aaron Perez said, promoter Kauffman told him it will be streamed by , a service with far less penetration than DAZN, on a pay-per-view basis ($19.99).

Even so, given the streaming, Perez鈥檚 El Paso roots and the presence of several El Paso fighters on the undercard, Saturday likely will provide more exposure than did any of Perez鈥檚 previous 11 pro fights.

Exposure without a victory, of course, is a negative. Meza Morales, Perez鈥檚 opponent, presents an undefined but significant threat.

Undefeated through his first nine fights, three of them draws, Meza Morales is 3-3 since then as the level of competition improved. His losses have come against opponents with a combined record of 27-1-1.

Two of those losses were by split decision, and all three were competitive on the scorecards.

Perez said he hasn鈥檛 watched video of Meza Morales鈥� previous fights, relying on his team, and on the resourcefulness and ring intelligence he鈥檚 developed over the course of a boxing career that began in the Perez family鈥檚 backyard when he was 7 or so.

Should those qualities produce a victory on Saturday, and should it lead to at least one more fight this year, Perez might start catching up to those amateur contemporaries.

鈥淚 would like to think so,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 like to stay optimistic.鈥�