BOXING AT THE IRVINE MARRIOTT : Perez Loses a Point, Then Loses Decision to Seguera

Francisco Seguera won a close decision that left Evelio Perez thinking about retirement after the main event Thursday at the Irvine Marriott.

Perez, of Santa Ana, was much more active during the 10 rounds, but Seguera’s accuracy was rewarded with a 96-93, 96-94, 96-94 decision.

Perez also lost a point for a low blow in the eighth round. Referee Burton Gilliam had warned Perez (9-5-5) earlier in the bout about keeping his punches up.

Gilliam cautioned Seguera (15-4) three times about holding or hitting behind the head of Perez, but no points were taken away.

“Losing that point really hurt me,” Perez said. “But he was hitting me in the back of the head the whole fight and until I said something about it, he was never warned. Now I will take some time to talk with my trainer Jackie McCoy and see if I should quit or keep going.”

Perez, 25, is 1-2 since coming back after taking four years off. He also lost to Ben Lopez in the main event in June at the Irvine Marriott.

In Thursday’s fight, neither boxer was in danger of going down. Seguera, of Coachella, scored mostly on the inside with short jabs and uppercuts. Perez spent most of the time trying to push him back and get room to throw longer punches.

On the undercard:

Frank Riano, a lightweight from Buena Park, ran his record to 3-0 with a four-round, unanimous decision over Ramon Villaneuva (2-5) of Oxnard.

Riano won by scores of 39-38, 39-37, 39-37.

The semi-main event between lightweights Charles Wilson and Vincent Black, both of Los Angeles, was called off because Wilson had the flu.