BOXING : IRVINE MARRIOTT : Lopez Rallies to Knock Out Perez, Retain Title

Ben Lopez, covered in blood and drained from 11 rounds of punishment, came up with an unlikely 12th-round knockout of Evelio Perez to retain his California super featherweight title Thursday at the Irvine Marriott.

Lopez, of Upland, started the 12th behind on points but many of the 962 spectators were up and cheering for him.

“I knew I had to knock him out,” he said. “I had let too many other rounds get away.”

Lopez (17-9) had knocked down Perez (9-4-5) of Anaheim in the first round, but that was about it for highlights until he seemed to wake up late in the ninth.

Perez opened the second with a stunning combination that started blood flowing from Lopez’s nose. Lopez’s lip was cut in the third and both wounds bled the rest of the bout.

Lopez seemed ready to go down at any moment from the third round until early in the ninth, as Perez pounded away.

“My confidence was going,” Lopez said of the middle rounds. “I didn’t know if I could keep going. In my mind I was ready to lose.”

Late in the ninth, Perez put a left jab on the jaw of Lopez and he started to fall back, but rebounded off his back foot.

“That was when I caught myself,” Lopez said. “I knew I had to turn this thing around at that moment.”

The 10th was one of the best rounds at the Marriott in the past five years. Lopez started to get the advantage after about a minute into the round.

The 11th belonged to Lopez as well and he punished Perez along the ropes with three-and-four punch attacks. Perez went down late in the round, but it was ruled that Lopez pulled him to the floor with his glove.

Lopez got Perez on the ropes right away in the final round with two strong, quick lefts.

Perez’s corner was getting ready to throw in the towel, when their fighter rebounded off the ropes. But Lopez landed a long right that sent the spinning Perez to the ground and referee Rudy Jordan signaled it was over 41 seconds into the round.

“I knew I could get the knockout,” Lopez said. “Even my jabs were hurting him. It was a great fight, but I’m tired. It took a lot out of me.”

On the undercard:

Frances Vivish of San Gabriel won a unanimous decision over Rogelio Sosa in the five-round bout at 120 pounds.

Vivish (5-0), who was born in Tahiti, came into the room in a cape covered with red feathers and dressed in trunks with a flower and island girl design. He was introduced as the “Tahitian Cyclone, “ which drew a small laugh from the crowd.

But he showed some polish in the ring and outboxed Sosa, who tried mostly to duck under Vivish most of he bout.

Sosa (0-1) was a former amateur champion in Mexico.