 Perez then lost a narrow split decision to Bryant Jennings on 26 July 2014, with the judges’ scorecards reading 114-113 and 115-112 for Jennings, and 114-113 for Perez.Referee Harvey Dock controversially deducted a point from Perez in the final round for hitting Jennings on the break.On 22 May 2015 Perez was brutally knocked out by Alexander Povetkin 91 seconds into a WBC heavyweight title eliminator.