FanHouse Alexis Arguello

After 13 months of inactivity, 31-year-old former two-time IBF world champion, Luis Perez, will return to the ring against Sergio Gomez on Saturday night in both fighters' native Managua, Nicaragua,.

Coming off of two straight losses and boasting a record of 25-3 with 16 knockouts, Perez will see action for the first time against Gomez (13-5, nine KOs) since Sept. 18.

In his last bout, Perez was unsuccessful in his bid to become a titlist in a third weight class when he lost a 12-round, WBA, super bantamweight (122 pounds) unanimous decision to Panamanian Ricardo Cordoba.

It was Sept. 29, 2007, and there were many within the boisterous crowd of 10,127 who packed into Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall who wondered if their hometown hero, Kelly Pavlik, would go down in the first defeat of his career.

Pavlik estimated that close to 8,000 of his faithful had traveled from his native Youngstown, Ohio, to support him. Pavlik could hear them as they screamed encouragement, even as he woozily sank to his stool, having been blasted to the canvas by nearly 20 unanswered punches from Jermain Taylor.

"Are you OK? Can you continue?" asked cornerman Jack Loew, Pavlik's trainer since he first laced up the gloves at age 9.

International Boxing Federation light flyweight (108 pounds) titlist Ricardo Lopez sat on his stool before the eighth round of the last fight of his illustrious professional career.

Seemingly in trouble despite having dominated his opponent, Lopez's cut man dabbed a vaseline-like substance into a deep gash near the furthest, outside corner of the Mexican's left eye -- even as a thick river of blood spilled from another chasm over the right eye on his forehead.

"You're the champion of the world," the cornerman told the aging champion. "You're the best."

With that, the 35-year-old veteran went out and executed as he had so many times before.

More than eight weeks have passed since boxing legend Alexis Arguello allegedly shot himself in the chest with a 9mm pistol. It was a suicide, declared Nicaraguan government officials, and they closed the case almost as quickly as they shut his casket.

But in an exclusive interview with FanHouse, Alexis Arguello, Jr., the son of the Hall of Fame great, says he plans to fight the government's findings and prove that his father was the victim of foul play.

Hours after the death of boxing great Alexis Arguello, his greatest rival in the ring, Aaron Pryor, recalled Arguello as a great champion.

Alexis Arguello, the former boxing world champion who in 2008 was elected mayor of his hometown of Managua, Nicaragua, was found dead on Wednesday. He
was 57.

The newspaper El Nuevo Diario reported that Arguello's death appeared to be a suicide.