Banke Is Stopped in the Fourth Round : Boxing: He is knocked down three times by Decima, who wins WBC super-bantamweight title.

Argentina’s Pedro Decima administered a four-round beating to Paul Banke and won the World Boxing Council super-bantamweight championship Monday night before 6,114 at the Forum.

Decima hurt Banke in every minute of every round and knocked him down three times in the fourth round. Banke got up each time, but after the third knockdown, with 25 seconds left in the fourth, referee James Jen-Kin stopped the fight.

Three weeks ago, Decima was ready to quit boxing because he couldn’t get a championship bout. Now he’s a champion. No one was shocked that Decima won, but the manner in which Banke lost was a stunner. He seemed to walk into every punch that Decima threw.

At the finish, Banke’s eyes were swollen, he bled freely from the mouth and his knees shook.

Decima, except for a lump on his nose, was unmarked.

Banke’s future, as well as his unique training methods, were thrown into question. Quickly gone was a fight the Forum boxing staff had hoped for, Banke vs. WBC bantamweight champion Raul Perez of Tijuana. Perez, presumably, will fight Decima instead.

For Banke (20-5), this was his third consecutive punishing fight. His title victory over Daniel Zaragoza was a brutal fight, as was his defense against Lee Ki-Jun in South Korea. Banke has never sparred much before fights and for this bout, he didn’t spar at all. To many Monday night, it looked like it.

His trainer, Steve Rosenzweig, believes in sparing the fighter in the gym with little or no sparring, working on timing instead. Could that explain Banke’s seeming lack of sharpness Monday, his inability to stay away from Decima’s crisp, methodical assault?

“Paul has never sparred much, he’d never sparred more than nine rounds for any fight in his career,” said Bob Richardson, Banke’s manager.

“He just never got off tonight, and we don’t know why. He didn’t get off in Korea either. Paul hasn’t taken more than two weeks off in the last three years; maybe he needs a rest.”

Decima (26-2), on the other hand, sparred plenty in training, with a tough Southland bantamweight named Kid Akeem. The new champion, in fact, thanked Akeem afterward for his sparring help.

“I am not a great puncher, but I am persistent and accurate,” Decima said.

Decima, 26, was ready to retire last month, until his manager called to tell him he had received a telegram from Forum matchmaker Tony Curtis, offering him the Banke bout. And for $7,500, he happily accepted the opportunity. Banke earned $60,000.

Banke, 26, the former amateur from Azusa who now lives in Richfield, Utah, won the title last spring at the Forum from Zaragoza and defended it last August in South Korea against Lee.

Banke had little to say afterward. He said he could remember nothing after the first knockdown of the fourth round, mumbled something about a rematch and said he “couldn’t get off.”

Banke didn’t make weight at Monday’s 11 a.m. weigh-in. He came in a half-pound over the 122-pound limit and needed 90 minutes to make 122.

From the opening minute, Banke was never in it. He walked into a short, jolting right in the first minute, backed up with a puzzled expression, and things went downhill from there.

By midway through the second round, Decima was completely in charge--particularly after he began finding the range with his jab. In past fights, the aggressive Banke had seemingly been at his best when hurt, but not this time. He got in only one decent punch, a right hand that caught Decima on the chin late in the second, a blow from which he quickly recovered.

In the fourth, Banke went down for the first time from a right that knocked him on his back. Seconds later, he was down again, in his own corner, driven there by a furious Decima exchange. The finisher was a smashing right hand to the face, set up by a left hook.