SKOWHEGAN, Maine — Brandon Berry would have preferred not to injure his left shoulder last November.
But if his return to the boxing ring Saturday night is any indication, the 27-year-old junior welterweight from tiny West Forks made the most of the respite.
The fighter known as “The Cannon” came out for scheduled six-round bout against Mexican veteran Engelberto Valenzuela more aggressively than in any of his previous nine professional contests — and he never let up in winning by a second-round technical knockout before a crowd of 750 at the Skowhegan Community Center.
“A lot of times it’s a feel-out process,” said Berry. “Everybody gets after me about it but it’s what I like to do and (Saturday night) my feel-out process just happened to be in the next gear.”
That next gear also allowed Berry to answer any lingering questions about his repaired shoulder, which was injured while throwing a missed punch during the first round of his Nov. 15 bout against undefeated Freddy Sanchez in Portland.
“It was so nice letting those punches go tonight,” said Berry after the fight. “I missed a few, but there was (no pain) there and that was a win it itself.”
It took just a few more minutes of aggression before referee Mike Ryan stopped the contest at 2:20 of the second round as Berry improved his record to 9-1 with six knockouts by stopping the 31-year-old Valenzuela — now 9-6 with his losses to opponents with a combined 55-1 record.
While body punches, including a hook to the liver that sent Valenzuela to one knee for a second-round knockdown, provided the exclamation point, Berry’s overall speed opened up his opponent’s defenses.
“I feel like I was fast and accurate,” said Berry. “Anybody can throw fast punches, but accurate is a whole other thing and I felt like I was accurate.”
Berry was most accurate with his left jab, which landed enough to bring Valenzuela’s arms up and set up several punishing body blows.
“That jab was better than it’s ever been,” said Berry’s trainer, Ken “Skeet” Wyman of Wyman’s Boxing Club in Stockton Springs. “It didn’t matter who the opponent was, and I think (Valenzuela) was a qualified opponent. Brandon came out firing on all eight, and when that jab left its post it made its mark or if it didn’t it retracted to its post without any lollygagging like it had in the past.”
While Berry may not choose to return to the frenetic pace of his early professional career — his first nine fights came within an 18-month span — his camp’s inclination in the immediate aftermath to his performance against Valenzuela on the heels of an eight-month layoff is to return to action soon.
“I don’t want to wait long at all,” Berry said. “That’s up to Skeet, of course, but I’m ready to go. I hope we get a call tomorrow for something. I want to fight now.”
That next fight probably will come sometime this fall, against an opponent who likely will provide a healthy and reinvigorated Berry his most challenging test to date.
“We’re going to stay active, and if the right fight comes along we’ll be right back at it,” said Wyman. “We’re not going to get stale, I can guarantee you that. There’s no time for that. Brandon’s 27 years old and we cannot let time get away from us.
“But it’s one step at a time and that’s how we’re going to build him. Nobody starts at the top, it’s one rung at a time. Eventually we’d like to get to the top. That’s our goal.”
