Duarte Wins Unanimous Decision but Loses Popular Vote

As the decision was announced, Frankie Duarte’s face was as red as a stoplight. Some of the redness came from having the fists of Miguel Juarez bouncing off his nose all night long. But most of the crimson hue came from embarrassment.

In a fight the veteran bantamweight from Venice thought he had won easily, one judge had him winning by a single point. The other two each gave him the fight by three points.

And many in the pro-Duarte crowd at the Country Club in Reseda, many who had roared their approval when Duarte was introduced, booed the decision because they thought Juarez had won.

“You never know what the fans and the judges will see,” Duarte said. “When they announced the decision and I saw how close it was scored, I was shocked. And then when the fans booed, I was really shocked.”

Juarez, of Los Angeles, rocked Duarte with left jabs and stinging rights in the first five rounds and opened a cut over the right eye of Duarte, along an eyebrow that never saw a boxing glove for which it wouldn’t bleed.

Duarte began unloading accurate punches in the sixth round and knocked Juarez down in the eighth with a left hook. He then landed enough punches in the final two rounds to win the fight.

Judge Pat Connolly scored the fight, 95-94, for Duarte; Lou Filippo and Dick Young gave Duarte a 96-93 edge.

“I never thought it was close,” Duarte said.

Duarte admitted, however, that the prospect of fighting Juarez, who came in with a 17-12-3 record--which sounds more like an overseas telephone number than a boxing record--didn’t exactly keep him awake at night.

“When I’m up, I’m up,” Duarte said. “But when I’m not, I’m not. I tend to fight at the level I need. These fights are hard for me.”

Duarte is ranked seventh by the World Boxing Assn. He is tentatively scheduled to fight in December for the International Boxing Federation championship.

In an earlier fight, North American Boxing Federation super bantamweight champion Jesus Poll of Venezuela scored an easy 10-round unanimous decision over Alan Makitoki of Stockton in a non-title fight.

It was Poll’s first fight since he won the NABF crown May 27. The state Athletic Commission revoked his boxing license when he failed four neurological exams, the commission said. His license was reinstated when he passed a revised form of the examination last month.

Marty Denkin, the commission’s executive assistant director, had said that Poll had problems identifying and properly placing shapes on a board during the exam. He had no such trouble with shapes Tuesday night, consistently pounding the round areas of his boxing gloves onto the round face of Makitoki.

Poll, 122 3/4, who now lives in North Hollywood and is a stablemate of Duarte’s in the Ten Goose Boxing Club, is 17-0-2.

In other bouts, two of the Weaver triplets of Diamond Bar, brothers of former heavyweight champion Mike Weaver, scored early knockouts. Troy Weaver, 168, knocked out Fernando Rosales of Los Angeles just one minute into the fight. Floyd Weaver, 151, knocked out Gilbert Martinez of Los Angeles at 1:35 of the second round. Troy is 6-1 with 6 knockouts. Floyd is 5-1-1 with 3 knockouts.

Also, Gabriel Ruelas, 121, of Arleta, scored a unanimous four-round decision over Tranqleno Martinez of Fresno.

In a heavyweight fight, 6-foot-6, 245-pound Lionel Washington of Bakersfield knocked out Maht Belcher, 198, of Everett, Wash., at 2:07 of the first round.