Irvine Boxing : Garcia Proves Too Tough for Puente

Super featherweight Rocky Garcia of Placentia used an effective bobbing-and-weaving defense and punishing body blows to score a unanimous 10-round decision over Greg Puente in Thursday’s main event at the Irvine Marriott.

Garcia (28-7) was never seriously threatened for most of the fight against Puente (8-4).

Garcia, fighting at 130 pounds, connected with solid hooks to the body that took their toll on Puente, also 130 pounds.

“You will notice how Puente slowed down after he had a brief flurry (in the eighth round),” said Jackie McCoy, Garcia’s manager. “He was never able to sustain the movement he was able to generate in the early part of that round. Rocky’s body blows had a lot to do with that.”

Puente, who backed Garcia into the ropes for brief spans of the fifth and sixth rounds, did not manage any effective flurries until the eighth round. He circled the ring for the first minute, scoring with a series of body blows.

Puente never could keep up that movement for the rest of the round as he was forced to go back into his flat-footed style. That enabled Garcia to return to scoring with body blows and some shots to the head that left Puente bloodied under the left eye.

“He was just trying to psych me out in the eighth round,” Garcia said. “He thought he could get me to believe that he still had some strength left (when he circled the ring), but I didn’t fall for that. I knew he was tired, and he couldn’t hide that fact.”