REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – Lightweight Jalan Walker confronted the ghosts of his past while writing a new story Thursday night.

Walker defeated veteran Jerry Perez of Oak Hills, California, via an eight-round unanimous decision at the Fox Theater in Redwood City, California. Scores were 78-74, 79-73 and 80-72.

A year ago, Walker, a 23-year-old from Los Angeles, was stopped by Alejandro Guerrero – a loss that could have derailed his professional progress before he ever really got started.

Since the loss, Walker returned to the ring to defeat Andrew Rodgers – a 9-13-3 fighter who had won only two of his previous six fights. Perez would be the test Walker needed to pass to prove he had left a knockout defeat behind him.

In the first two rounds, Walker boxed well while Perez pressured. That changed in the third when Perez, 32, landed an overhand right that shook Walker as he sat on the ropes. Perez would press forward in the following rounds, but Walker regained his composure, maintained it and fought on to victory.

Walker improved to 14-1-1 (10 KOs), while Perez fell to 14-6-1 (11 KOs).

Walker is on a two-fight win streak since signing with his new promoter, Westside Promotions.

Elsewhere on the card, Junior welterweight Julian Bridges, of Antioch, California, stopped Jose Esquivel, of Ciudad Saucillo, Mexico, in the third round.

Bridges, 23, overwhelmed Esquivel, 38, who was unable to respond to referee Michael Margado's clear instructions. Margado then halted the bout at 32 seconds.

Bridges improved to 7-0 (3 KOs), while Esquivel’s record dwindled to 10-10 (2 KOs).

Heavyweight Jett Blackwell, of Fresno, California, made it a short night with a first-round knockout of Mario Jaquez of Chula Vista, California. Blackwell, 23, landed a left hook that was ruled a knockdown by referee Edward Collantes. Seconds later, the fight was waved off at 1 minute, 16 seconds of the first round as the 36-year-old Jaquez wasn’t able to defend himself against Blackwell’s onslaught.

Blackwell, now on a two-fight knockout streak, improved to 5-0-1 (2 KOs). Jaquez fell to 3-2 (2 KOs).

Featherweight Sachery Sam, of Stockton, California, won a four-round majority decision over veteran gatekeeper Diuhl Olguin. The scores were 40-36 on two cards and 38-38 on the third. Sam, 24, entered the contest with only seven rounds of professional experience, compared to 392 rounds for the 36-year-old Olguin.

Sam is now 4-0 (2 KOs), while Olguin’s record dropped to 17-45-1 (10 KOs).

In the opening fight, Detroit super middleweight Abdullah Kedar won a four-round unanimous decision over Mario Hernandez of Reno, Nevada. All three scores were 40-36.

Kedar, 25, improved to 7-0 (5 KOs), while Hernandez dipped to 2-2-1. Kedar is signed to Mayweather Promotions and was previously listed as Erick Kedar Gainous.

Lucas Ketelle is the author of “Inside the Ropes of Boxing,” a guide for young fighters, a writer for BoxingScene and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Find him on X at @BigDogLukie.