Loss to Perez Keeps Franco Heading in Reverse

The once-promising career of Raul Franco is suddenly not so promising.

After 14 consecutive victories, Franco lost his second consecutive bout Thursday night. He was defeated by Danny Perez of El Cajon in a unanimous 10-round decision before a sellout crowd of 1,410 at the Irvine Marriott.

Perez (19-2, 12 knockouts) started cautiously, but he took control in the third round and had Franco in trouble several times in the last five rounds. In the seventh round, Perez opened a cut under Franco’s left eye. In the last three rounds, Franco seemed willing to simply survive.

Judge Chuck Hassett had Perez winning by the widest margin, 98-93. Jose Cobian scored it 97-93; Gwen Adair had it 96-94.

“He was a good amateur fighter,” said Perez, who claimed the vacant California welterweight title with his victory. “We came up together. But I punch a lot harder than he does now. I thought he was going to hit me hard. But he didn’t, so I went right at him. We knew we wanted to put pressure on him.”

Franco, who lost a unanimous eight-round decision here three months ago to Miguel Avila, said Perez was his best opponent yet.

“He was picking his combinations well and catching me by surprise,” Franco said. “He was giving me some awkward angles.”

Franco moved well most of the night, but he had trouble connecting with any of his power punches. Perez, who had Franco on the ropes for most of the 10th round, had no such trouble.

Although he was dejected, Franco didn’t seem to be thinking about getting out of the sport.

“I’ll probably head back to the gym, look at the tapes and do some thinking,” he said.

On the undercard, junior welterweight Eduardo Martinez of Riverside scored a unanimous four-round decision over Tony Ojeda of Santa Maria; light heavyweight Librado Andrade of La Habra KOd Bernard Temple of Sacramento in the fourth round; middleweight Enrique Ornelas of La Habra beat Richard Gonzalez San Fernando on a split decision; and junior middleweight Charles Blake of Detroit scored a unanimous decision over Victor Valenzuela of West Covina.