By Taking the Road, Zavala Takes Chance : Boxing: He puts title on the line in opponent Salud’s hometown, but his manager says he is up to the task.

More than a few people have questioned junior featherweight Rudy Zavala’s sanity for fighting Jesus Salud, especially since Zavala is venturing into the former World Boxing Assn. champion’s hometown.

They’ve told Zavala and his manager, Herb Stone, there’s nothing to gain and plenty to lose by risking Zavala’s 17-0-1 record, his No. 1 ranking (World Boxing Council) and his North American Boxing Federation title against an ornery, hard-hitting boxer who’s ranked 13th by the WBC.

So why is Zavala, 23, fighting Salud at 7 tonight at the Sports Arena?

“If we go over here and fight some tomato can and lose, that would be a bad decision, too,” Stone said Tuesday. “If Rudy Zavala ever loses a fight, it will be against good fighter. Great fighters make great fights. When you fight tomato cans, it doesn’t make for great fights.”

Stone’s statement drew loud applause at a press conference. Abel Sanchez, Salud’s trainer, wasn’t at the press conference, but said he would have been among those clapping.

“(Zavala) is taking a big risk, but I don’t think it’s a bad decision,” he said. “A loss would be the best thing that could happen to him. I think they’ll use this fight to gauge his progress.”

But Sanchez said Stone will disappointed when he sees that Zavala hasn’t progressed nearly as far as he might have hoped.

“Unless I’m really missing something about this kid, Salud’s going to bring him up to the major leagues,” Sanchez said. “Zavala’s just a little too green at this point.”

Zavala, who won his NABF title in April over Johnny Vasquez, thinks Salud (41-5, 21 knockouts) is just a little too old at this point.

“Salud has seen better days,” he said. “He’s 29. I’m up and coming, and I hit harder.”

Stone said he was also criticized for taking a fight with former world champion Pedro Decima on a week’s notice. But Zavala, who grew up in Rosemead, quieted the critics when he knocked out Decima in the fifth round on the Holyfield-Foreman undercard.

“Decima’s a great fighter, but I felt that he was over his peak,” Stone said. “When these kids are fighting at 122 pounds and still growing, you move them a little faster. So they can get up and become a champion and make some money.

“With Holyfield fighting Larry Holmes and George Foreman, it’s easy for those guys to make $16 million. (Junior featherweights) scrape for every dime they can get. It’s a little unfair that all the money’s going to the heavyweights and they’re not fighting the tough fights.”

Although he expects Zavala to stay undefeated, Stone said he is ready for a tough fight.

“There could be World War III in that ring, because I don’t think Jesus Salud’s going to run and I know we’re not going to run,” he said.

Said Sanchez: “I see them standing in the middle of the ring for three rounds. Then I see Zavala running away. He’s going to get hit with some punches he’s never seen before.”

Sanchez, who has only trained Salud for eight months, said Salud is beginning to take advantage of his stocky frame. Sanchez said Salud was becoming solely a counterpuncher who didn’t think offense enough.

“This game is offense,” said Sanchez, who also trains junior middleweight champion Terry Norris. “I set (boxers) up closer to the front so they can throw their punches with more leverage.”

Salud was without Sanchez, who had a prior commitment, when he lost a 12-round decision to Welcome N’Cita for International Boxing Federation title in Treviolo, Italy, on April 18. Had Sanchez been in his corner, Salud believes he’d be the IBF champion today.

“He sees things that I don’t,” said Salud, still ranked fourth by the IBF. “He’s taught me how to be more relaxed and he’s worked on my balance.”

Sanchez said Salud’s strategy against Zavala, who has 14 knockouts in 18 fights, cannot be a repeat of the N’Cita fight if he wants to claim the North American Boxing Federation junior featherweight title for the third time.

“They let him sit back after five rounds of that fight,” Sanchez said. “I won’t let him do that. Jesus is going to have to make things happen.”

Zavala did not disclose much strategy at the press conference. In fact, he disclosed very little.

He was asked to describe his style.

“I’m a boxer, puncher,” he said.

And how does your style mesh with Salud’s?

“We both like to fight, so we’ll fight it out and see what happens.”

Boxing Notes

Notes: The Jesus Salud-Rudy Zavala fight, which is for Zavala’s NABF title, will begin promptly at 7 for ESPN television and it will not be blacked out in San Diego. ESPN will show last month’s Tommy Morrison-Joe Hipp heavyweight bout from 6 to 7 p.m. If the Salud-Zavala bout goes 12 rounds, it will be the only live fight ESPN will show. . . . Headlining the five-bout undercard, which follows the main event, will be a 10-rounder between junior welterweights Vince Phillips (25-0, 17 knockouts) of Las Vegas and Juan Soberans (39-10, 30 knockouts) of Tijuana. Phillips, ranked fifth by the IBF, was 3-0 against 1988 Olympian Todd Foster in the amateurs. Ken Adams, Phillips’ manager, claims his fighter once threw 1,468 punches in a 12-round fight against Harold Brazier on ESPN in April of 1989. “They say it’s the all-time record for 12 rounds,” Adams said. How many of them landed? “About 33%,” he said . . . San Diego boxer Paul Vaden, who graduated from Patrick Henry High, announced he is leaving trainers Bumpy Parra and Maurice Betts for Abel Sanchez. Vaden, who will be managed by Bob Fox, is 11-0 with four knockouts but has not fought since May 27.