WBA Bantamweight Champion, Sandoval, ‘Too Quick, Too Smart’ : Duarte’s Comeback Derailed in Sacramento

Frankie Duarte was frustrated.

Richie Sandoval was mad.

And the 2,000 fans in attendance Tuesday night at Sacramento Memorial Auditorium were disappointed.

It seemed that nobody went home happy after Sandoval, the World Boxing Assn. bantamweight champion, won a split, 10-round decision over Duarte in a non-title fight.

“He was too quick,” Duarte said. “He was too smart. But he wouldn’t stop and fight.”

Sandoval used an effective jab and his superior quickness to stay away from Duarte, the stronger puncher, while piling up the points.

But he didn’t pile up enough to gain a unanimous decision. He won on two cards, 97-94 and 98-93, but lost on the other card, 96-94.

“I don’t know what fight they were watching,” Sandoval said. ‘I was really surprised (at the split decision). I followed my strategy and got the guy out on points. That’s the way I had to fight. He’s stronger than me. He’s really a featherweight.”

The crowd booed at times when Sandoval’s tactics resulted in more footwork than glove work.

The last time Duarte was in this town to fight, he was a loser. That was back in 1974 when he lost both a 12-round decision and his state bantamweight crown to Joe Guevara. He had entered the ring that night 17-0.

Five years later, Duarte was a real loser.

A bout with alcoholism caused him to retire prematurely from boxing at 24, Sandoval’s current age.

Duarte tells anyone and everyone who asks that it was a life of drinking and partying that drove him out of boxing.

But he couldn’t drive the sport out of his mind. He couldn’t walk past a mirror without shadow boxing.

And finally, under the guidance of Ten Goose Boxing, the organization of North Hollywood’s Goossen brothers, Duarte began his comeback.

“I had been drinking since I was 17,” he said, “but it didn’t start showing until I was older. I had to make a choice between fighting and drinking and I chose partying.

“Finally, I got disgusted with myself. I had gotten four 502s (drunk driving offenses). I had gotten into a car accident--I was a passenger, but the driver was drunk--where I suffered a broken ankle and three broken ribs. I wasn’t getting anywhere.

“I quit drinking and, once I saw what willpower could do, I decided to go back to fighting even though people told me I was too old.”

Having licked his drinking habit, Duarte began to lick opponents. It’s been a little over a year since he began his current comeback after a three-year layoff. In that time, he had won three fights prior to Tuesday night.

He knocked out two of those opponents, then barely decisioned Carlos Conchola of Mexico last November in a six-round fight. In the second round, Conchola landed a blow that badly bruised Duarte’s left eye--and nearly closed it.

There have been no such dark moments in Sandoval’s career. He entered the ring Tuesday night with a 25-0 mark, including 17 knockouts. He won the WBA crown by knocking out Jeff Chandler in the 15th round of their title fight a year ago. Since then, Sandoval has defended his title twice, getting a decision over Edgar Roman in September and an eighth-round knockout of Cardenio Ulloa in December.

Duarte received $5,000 for Tuesday night’s fight, plus expenses. Sandoval, in an unusual move for a champion, agreed to take 30% of the gate as his total wages for the night.