Zaragoza Defeats Banke Again, Keeps WBC Title : Boxing: Mexican wins by unanimous decision after they split two super-bantamweight bouts.

There are some things that Paul Banke does very well. Punch, for example.

But there are other things that Banke does very poorly. Duck, for example.

Monday night, against World Boxing Council super-bantamweight champion Daniel Zaragoza at the Forum, Banke punched well, ducked hardly at all and lost a 12-round, unanimous decision.

It was the third fight between Banke, of San Bernardino, and Zaragoza, of Mexico City. In 1989, Banke lost a split decision to Zaragoza. But in a rematch in 1990, Banke stopped him in the ninth round to win the WBC title.

Banke lost the title in his second defense when he was knocked out by Pedro Decima late in 1990. Zaragoza, 31, regained his WBC title June 14 when he beat Kiyoshi Hatanaka of Japan, who had taken the title from Decima.

In their third meeting, Zaragoza clearly dominated Banke. There were no knockdowns, but Zaragoza, a left-hander, wobbled Banke in the fifth round with a left to the chin, again in the final seconds of the ninth round with a right high on the head and midway through the 10th when he caught Banke with a left-right combination.

The combination left Banke stunned, momentarily balancing on one leg, though he remained standing.

Only in the 12th round, when in desperation Banke began throwing dozens of punches, did he seem to have any chance of winning the fight.

Banke caught the champion on the chin and some of the shots wobbled the retreating Zaragoza. But after a minute of furious action, Banke’s assault subsided in exhaustion, and at the end he was once again on the receiving end.

Two of the three judges scored the fight 116-112 for Zaragoza, while the third had it 117-113.

“I hurt a knuckle on my left hand in the third round,” Zaragoza said.

“I might have broken it. After that, I kept my distance, picked my spots to punch. I didn’t want to get in a brawl.”

Banke made no excuses.

“I wanted to surprise him, to fight from different angles than I did in the other two fights, but Daniel is a great champion,” Banke, 27, said.

“He never let me do anything. I thought I was on, but tonight I was just right for the guy. I was just what he wanted.”

Zaragoza won the WBC title for the first time in 1988, when he scored a TKO over an aging super bantamweight legend, Carlos Zarate. Zaragoza is 44-5-1.

Banke, who became the only boxer to ever stop Zaragoza when he defeated him in April of 1990, is 21-6.