Boxing at the Irvine Marriott : Puente Comes Back With Convincing Victory

Greg Puente thought he threw enough strong punches to score a knockout Thursday in the main event at the Irvine Marriott, but he had to settle for a 10-round unanimous decision.

Puente, fighting for the first time in 18 months, won a convincing, 99-92, 99-91, 97-93 victory over Hugo Anguiano of Los Angeles in front of 1,138.

Puente of El Monte had been working full time and stopped training for most of the last year and a half.

He decided to return to boxing and had to lose 20 pounds in the past three months.

He showed almost no loss of quickness but couldn’t knock out Anguiano despite several strong flurries.

“It was a little distracting when he didn’t go down,” Puente said. “But I wanted to conserve some energy. I was getting a little tired. I didn’t think I was going to be able to go 10 rounds.”

Puente (14-3) took over in the second, using a quick left jab and an overhand right to keep Anguiano away.

Puente, a former California super-featherweight champion, landed a combination at the end of the third round that appeared to hurt Anguiano (16-8-1). Puente then attacked for most of the fourth, landing an impressive series of rights, but Anguiano didn’t fall.

Puente continued to dominate the fight by throwing jabs to the head of Anguiano in the later rounds.

Anguiano’s only two strong rounds were the ninth and 10th, but Puente was able to cover and avoid what few punches were thrown at him.