Poll Takes NABF Title by Decision

LAS VEGAS — Paul Percifield didn’t have to wait for the final, unanimous 12-round decision to be announced.

He knew his fighter, North American Boxing Federation super bantamweight champion Louie Espinoza, was in trouble as early as the fifth round against challenger Jesus Poll of North Hollywood on Friday night at the Caesars Palace Sports Pavilion.

The fight was still tight at that point, but Espinoza shook his head in the corner and looked at his legs.

They were shot, he told Percifield, his manager, from the repeated punishment Poll was dishing out.

Indeed, in the end, Poll’s surprisingly solid right hand and punishing body shots with the left enabled him to take the decision and Espinoza’s NABF title.

Going in, it just didn’t figure.

Espinoza, a Phoenix resident, seemed to have everything going for him. A former World Boxing Assn. featherweight champion, the 121-pound Espinoza had a 29-2 record, 23 knockouts, a Top 10 ranking in all three world boxing organizations and another world title shot dangling in his future.

Not so for Poll. He had no world ranking, no prospects of a world title fight and, many felt, little or no chance against Espinoza based on Poll’s last two fights--a pair of lackluster wins that produced more yawns than cheers.

But it was obvious from the first round Friday that such arguments were not operative. Espinoza threw the right hand that had put down so many of his previous opponents and the 122-pound Poll countered with a right of his own.

“I told people,” said Joe Goossen, Poll’s trainer, “that once Jesus got in there with a better fighter, he would look better. In his previous two fights, he had been in against awkward fighters that were a pain in the rear.”

But even Poll (17-0-2) admitted he was among those who did not expect Friday’s performance to go so smoothly.

“I was very, very surprised that he was that easy to hit,” Poll, a Venezuelan, said through interpreter Tony Rivera. “I was surprised my right hand was so good. My corner men told me to keep using that short right.”

Poll sometimes has trouble understanding English, but he had no trouble with those instructions. Several times he staggered Espinoza in a fight in which there were no knockdowns.

Espinoza, suffering from a headache, did not emerge from his dressing room to speak to reporters.

When it was over, referee Cindy Bartin scored it 115-111, Jerry Roth, 116-112, and Terry Smith, 115-113.

“There were only two flashes,” Percifield said, “where Louie threw more than one punch. There were no combinations. You can’t win like that. I don’t care how much power you have.”

It was also another triumph for the Ten Goose Boxing Club of North Hollywood. The organization already has middleweight Michael Nunn lined up for a title shot against International Boxing Federation champion Frank Tate at Caesars in July and bantamweight Frankie Duarte looking at a possible title shot in the fall.

And minutes after Poll’s victory Friday, his manager, Dan Goossen, was huddled with promoter Bob Arum, trying to set up yet another world title fight.