Punchless Poll Falls to Garcia in Unanimous Decision

Midway through his 10-round main event against George Garcia of Westminster on Tuesday night at The Country Club in Reseda, super bantamweight Jesus Poll took a wild swing, missed and fell to the canvas.

So much for the highlight film.

In an otherwise dreary struggle that left the crowd with only the ring-card girls to cheer for, Poll, a transplanted Venezuelan now living in North Hollywood, lost a close but unanimous decision.

Referees Rudy Jordan and Lou Filippo both scored it 96-95. Referee James Jen Kin had it 96-94. The Times also had it 96-94.

It was not only a tough fight to watch, but to judge as well. Both men are technically sound fighters with good defensive skills, but neither has a punch. The result was a lot of missed opportunities and more holding than you’d find on a bad offensive line.

Know those computers that count the number of punches landed? This one could have been calculated by hand.

The loss was a crushing blow to Poll, who had gone through his first 21 fights unbeaten with 19 wins and two draws. He has now lost his last two, this defeat coming two months after he lost a World Boxing Assn. title fight to champion Juan Jose Estrada on a 10th-round knockout at the Forum.

Garcia improves to 26-4-2 with nine knockouts.

The sellout crowd of 900 got plenty of action in the night’s other three fights. While Poll’s career took a giant step backward, two of his other stablemates at the Ten Goose Boxing Club of Van Nuys continue to soar. Both of the 18-year-old Ruelas brothers of North Hollywood had impressive outings.

Gabriel, a featherweight, improved to 13-0 with eight knockouts when he stopped Francisco Pascasio (10-3) of Phoenix 2:22 into the fifth round of a scheduled six-rounder. Pascasio went down in the first round and was way behind when his trainer, Randy Stewart, threw a white towel into the ring, telling Filippo to stop the bout.

“He was outclassed,” Stewart said. “I was not going to let my fighter get beat up. I do not care what the crowd thinks. I’m going to look out for my fighter. He was going to lose anyway. A lot of trainers just leave their fighters in there to get beaten up. That’s bull.”

Rafael Ruelas, a super bantamweight, boosted his unbeaten mark to 7-0 with five knockouts when he stopped Porfirio Guzman (4-5) of Tucson 40 seconds into the third round of a scheduled six-rounder.

The night’s most explosive fight was the first. Middleweight Robert Carson (6-1-2, four knockouts) of Santa Monica knocked out Robert Wiswell (4-12-1) of Bakersfield just 56 seconds into the first round of a scheduled six-rounder.