Submitted Photo In this photo credited to Amanda Armstrong, Tommy “No Joke” Roque, center, poses after defeating Derek Perez by technical knockout in a Dec. 16 welterweight boxing match in Westminster, Colorado.

WESTMINSTER, Colo. — Tommy “No Joke” Roque has done it again.

After an impressive outing in his professional boxing debut — knocking out 147-pound Seville Hasan in three rounds — the Dunkirk native was eager and ready to fight again in his quest to become a champion. This past weekend, Roque followed up that performance with a powerful display, literally beating his opponent into his own corner in a technical knockout.

At Seasons Beatings, held Dec. 16 at the Imperium Center in Westminster, Colorado, Roque squared off against Derek Perez in a welterweight bout. And if knocking out the physically larger Hasan wasn’t proof enough, this fight displayed just how formidable “No Joke” Roque could potentially be..

Perez wasted no time going at Roque in Round 1. Perez pushed Roque against the ropes swinging away with haymakers, body shots and high-low combinations.

“I wanted to control the round better, but he was just bum-rushing me the first round. I couldn’t keep him away with just my jab, so I just covered up and kept my defense tight,” Roque said. “When he threw, I just tried to punch in between his punches with some hard shots to slow him down. It seemed to do the job, but he also got tired. In my mind I was thinking ‘there’s no way he can keep this up for four rounds.'”

About halfway through the round, Perez couldn’t hold his pace, and even though he was the aggressor to begin the fight, the majority of his punches were ineffective, or just plain missed due to Roque’s tight guard and swift head movements.

Roque capitalized on the slower pace by pounding Perez with straight right hands. Two of them he threw to the abdomen, which physically forced Perez from the middle of the ring to bouncing off the ropes.

Roque had the power punches going for him in the first round, but Perez wasn’t backing down.

The first 40 seconds of Round 2 were pretty even, however, Roque physically dominated the rest of the way.

Standing head-to-head, Roque nailed Perez with a straight right to the face, followed by another right to the face. He then followed that up with a quick 1-2 combination to the dome of Perez. At the point, the referee paused the fight as Roque had knocked the mouth piece right out Perez’s mouth.

The two stood firm in the middle of the ring, and Roque dodged a right hook from Perez and landed a head shot. Roque later socked him with another right hook that took Perez off-balance. Roque then popped the jab to his face, then two consecutive rights hard to the dome, rushing Perez to the ropes. Roque followed up with hard left hand to the face, and then unleashed a barrage of punches on Perez, reminiscent of his third-round knockout in October. Perez wasn’t going down, and stayed on his feet. Then Roque hit him with a haymaker from the right and then another haymaker from the left, knocking Perez off balance again, but he was still on his feet.

Perez fought back hard, throwing body shot after body shot to hold Roque off, but Roque hit him with another heavy-handed hook from the left side.

Roque stood firm head-to-head and landed a few more power punches to the head of Perez. Perez backed up and Roque hit him again, this time with two powerful shots to the gut.

Perez began to tire, but Roque was just warming up.

“No Joke” dodged Perez’s punches with easy head movements. Roque’s punches were landing, and it was clear who had the advantage. The two squared up in the middle of the ring for the last time, and Roque was looking for the kill. A right uppercut to the body, a right cross to the face, two more uppercuts to the body, and Roque was landing everything, pushing his opponent back to his corner. In the final seconds, Roque blasted Perez with at least 10 power punches to the face.

The bell finally rang, and Perez plopped down into his corner. Roque then stood up ready for Round 3, but Perez would remain sitting.

Call it a TKO for “No Joke” Roque.

“(Perez) took the punches well, just because I hit him with some hard shots and he just put his hands up like, ‘Is that all you got?,” Roque recalled. “… A lot of guys I hit like that — they would drop — but he was one tough guy, and he could take one hell of a punch. … It usually takes me a little bit to get warmed up. Once I’m warmed up I’m ready to fight. I don’t like to waste punches. I don’t like to waste time, but I like to be smart and stay sharp. When I’m warmed up, you can see I turn it up.”

CLOSE CALL

Roque dominated the fight on the scorecard, but early on the Dunkirk prodigy had a bit of a scare when Perez cut him open under his right eye.

“I was a pretty bad cut. … I didn’t know I was cut until obviously I felt the blood,” he said. “I felt his head hit my cheek under my right eye, I felt my eye swell up and I was like, ‘Oh great, this is going be interesting.’ … I just told myself to keep my hands up and keep chipping away, because it’s only a matter of time before he gets knocked out, or they stop it.”

UNDEFEATED

“I turned pro expecting for the best,” Roque said of his 2-0 start. “I want to fight for a world title, I just got to wait my turn. Wait for my time, keep winning, take one fight at a time and perform the best I can. If I do that, I know one day my dreams will come true as far as getting the chance to fight for a world title. It’s going to take some time … but it’ll be here eventually.”

NEXT UP

After his second victory as a pro, Roque plans to take the next step in his career by advancing on to six-round fights. He’s expected to fight again Feb. 24.

“I feel like I can hold my own in there with the best. As long as I go into the the fight in shape, which I will … I can hold my own with anyone in there. I’m ready to showcase my talent against better competition and just show that I belong,” he said.

Tommy Roque fights out of Hustle Hard Boxing & Victory MMA in Colorado Springs. Follow him on his Facebook page: Tommy “No Joke” Roque.

Twitter: @jh32_futw