Prospect Frankie Gomez punishes Mauricio Herrera with shutout in biggest fight yet

LAS VEGAS - Frankie Gomez, an enigmatic welterweight prospect from East L.A. whose rising career has been stalled at times by legal problems and missing weight, showed why he's such an intriguing up-and-coming fighter, and why his trainer, Freddie Roach, is so high on the the 24-year-old.

Gomez (21-0, 13 KOs) took it to veteran Mauricio Herrera early and demonstrated the heavily offensive style of Roach in the inaugural fight card at the new T-Mobile Arena here.

Gomez relentlessly pressured Herrera, working him over against the ropes and unloading accurate combinations to the body and head that were hurting his opponent. Gomez cut the light-hitting Mexican-American below both eyes early on.

Gomez outlanded Herrera 183-106 in total punches, and landed 42.1% of his power punches, landing 174 punches to Herrera's 84.

All three judges scored it 100-90 for Gomez.

"It feels good to get this victory," said Gomez, fittingly nicknamed "Pitbull.". "I trained really hard and it paid off. I'm ready to take on my next challenge and take on the best at 140. I want to thank my fans, and I'm glad I was able to put on a good show for them."

This was Gomez's first time fighting on HBO since his scheduled fight vs. Humberto Soto last May, also on a Canelo Alvarez undercard, was canceled after he came in almost six pounds overweight.

At the time, then-HBO pay-per-view boss Mark Taffet said Gomez would never fight on HBO again. But with Taffet now gone from HBO, Gomez was back and made the most of his return.

Herrera (22-6, 7 KOs), has fought some of the top fighters at welterweight and junior welterweight, but on this night was no match for the youngster.

"It wasn't my night," said Herrera. "I never give up and my fans know that. I hope to be back in Vegas soon because I'll go anywhere for a fight."

(Photo by David Becker/Getty Images)