Despite TKO, He Wants to Keep Fighting : Boxing: Bout is stopped after Dascola is knocked down by Dokes for fourth time at Forum.

When referee Robert Byrd waved to indicate the fight was over, it might have been the first time that a hand came near Jorge Dascola of Argentina Monday night and didn’t land on his face.

“I want to fight to the death,” said Dascola, who had been knocked down four times by Michael Dokes at the Forum.

“That was no way for a fight to end. You fight until one man cannot fight anymore.”

Dokes, the former World Boxing Assn. heavyweight champion, won on a technical knockout at 1:05 of the 11th round to retain his WBA Intercontinental heavyweight title.

The victory set up an April 4 fight against Razor Ruddock in Madison Square Garden, with the winner of moving high on the list of probable opponents for champion Mike Tyson.

Dascola, who moved from Cordoba, Argentina, to Jersey City, N.J., a year ago to find tougher opponents than he had encountered in South America, found one in Dokes.

Dascola was knocked down in the sixth round with a crushing right to the jaw. It was the first time he had been knocked down in a fight, which included more than 50 amateur bouts and 16 pro fights.

Dascola stumbled to his feet at the count of eight, and unleashed a furious attack on Dokes. A left hook to Dokes’ jaw momentarily stopped Dokes in his tracks.

“He caught me with that one left hook,” Dokes said, “and let’s say I felt it. It didn’t buckle me, but I felt it.”

Dokes dropped Dascola again in the ninth round and knocked him down for the third time in the 10th. After that knockdown, Dascola again fought in a rage and at the bell he tagged Dokes with another left hook that knocked him back into the ropes.

The end came after Dokes had stunned Dascola with a right to the chin. This time he followed with a heavy attack, pounding Dascola to the canvas with a another right. Byrd signaled the end of the fight, but a second later Dascola rose from the canvas and went after Dokes again.

Dokes, who weighed 246 1/2 pounds, is 41-2-2 with 29 knockouts. Dascola, 210 1/4, is 14-3.

In two late fights, the Ruelas brothers of Arleta remained unbeaten. Gabriel Ruelas, 129, knocked out Arturo Hernandez of Guadalajara at 2:49 of the third round to improve his record to 19-0 with 11 knockouts. Rafael Ruelas, 125, knocked out Simon Contreras of Culiacan, Mexico, 54 seconds into the fifth round to make his record 13-0 with 11 knockouts.

In a preliminary bout that was part of the Forum’s super welterweight tournament, Elio Diaz of Venezuela scored a 10-round split decision over Derrick Kelly.