Duarte Wins Shot at Title; Poll Banned

The first surprise Wednesday night came when former North American Boxing Federation bantamweight champion Frankie Duarte fought seven rounds and didn’t spill any blood. The second surprise came after the fight, when his trainer spilled the beans.

The trainer, Greg Goossen of the Ten Goose Boxing Club in North Hollywood, said that Duarte will fight Oct. 12 in Las Vegas on the undercard of the rematch between Thomas Hearns and Iran Barkley. Hearns, the only man to win titles in four weight divisions, lost his World Boxing Council middleweight crown to Barkley when he was knocked out in the third round June 6. Their contract called for a rematch and details reportedly were worked out last week.

Promoter Bob Arum is expected to announce the fight next week.

Duarte, who pounded Ron Cisneros to the canvas twice in the seventh round at the Country Club in Reseda before Cisneros’ trainer threw in the towel, confirmed that he would fight on the same card as Hearns and Barkley.

“That’s what they told me,” Duarte said. “They said it’s all set.”

He will fight for the International Boxing Federation bantamweight title, facing the winner of a July 9 bout between champion Kelvin Seabrooks and challenger Gaby Canizales.

Also Wednesday, an official of the State Athletic Commission revealed that NABF super bantamweight champion Jesus Poll, a Venezuelan fighting out of the Ten Goose gym, had failed the state’s neurological examination for the fourth time and was banned from fighting in California. Poll was scheduled to defend his title for the first time Friday night at the Country Club. His opponent for that bout, Julian Solis of Puerto Rico, also failed his neurological test Tuesday. A determination of his status will be made today by a commission review of the test results.

“In a series of three tests administered to Jesus Poll by the state and a fourth on Tuesday by a private doctor, each time there was a concern with the results,” said Marty Denkin, the commission’s assistant executive officer. “It was the same type of test, and he showed the same problem in the same area each time. The commission’s neurological consultants felt the abnormalities shown in the tests were related to boxing and possible brain damage.”

Poll has a professional record of 17-0-2, but he fought more than 200 times as an amateur. His manager, Dan Goossen, said he will fight the ban against his fighter.

“We have argued long and hard with them about this, and our belief is that Jesus Poll’s problems in the testing come from his cultural and educational background. I know Jesus. There is nothing wrong with him. I know that. But there are people in this world who, to them, a door is a bed sheet. That’s the only door they’ve ever seen. So if you ask this guy what a door is and he points to a bed sheet, is that a mental problem? Or is that a cultural problem.”

Denkin claims Poll was unable to reproduce a simple geometric drawing.

In the fight that did happen, Duarte, who will be 33 in September, went against Cisneros, a fighter he had beaten on a TKO in 1985. Duarte, however, had not fought in more than a year before Wednesday night’s match.

Against Cisneros, Duarte, started slowly and took a beating in the third and fourth rounds as Cisneros rocked him with more than a dozen whistling rights. But in the fifth round Duarte began throwing crisp combinations and scored heavily.

In the seventh, Duarte backed Cisneros against the ropes with two jabs and then decked him with a left uppercut. Cisneros was up at the count of six, but went down again 30 seconds later from a right uppercut. He again got up, but when Duarte landed 25 unanswered punches, Cisneros’ manager threw a towel across the ring and referee James Jen-Kin stopped the fight with nine seconds left in the round.

Both fighters weighed 118 pounds.

In an earlier fight, Young Dick Tiger, ranked 12th among welterweights by the WBC, knocked out Jaime Montano of Los Angeles with a crunching left hook to the jaw at 1:52 of the fourth round.