Paez Chases Down Torres for Decision

Jorge Paez, the fighting circus clown from Mexicali, outclassed an Illinois police officer Tuesday night before 5,396 at the Forum and secured an opportunity to win another championship.

Paez, 137 3/4 pounds, won a unanimous decision over Jesse Torres, 137, but got more boos than cheers. Torres ran from the opening bell, and his retreating, defensive-oriented style made for a dull fight.

Paez, in boosting his record to 44-5-4, landed a title bout with International Boxing Federation lightweight champion Freddy Pendleton on a July 17 Caesars Palace pay-per-view show with Oscar De La Hoya and Michael Carbajal.

Pendleton doesn’t figure to be as easy as Torres. The judges’ scores Monday were 97-92, 99-90 and 100-89. The Times card had Paez winning, 100-89.

Paez, who won the IBF featherweight championship in 1988 and defended it eight times before losing it to Tony Lopez, dropped Torres with a left hook at the bell to end the third round.

Torres’ record fell to 13-5-3. He is a broad-shouldered, well-muscled lightweight, but the punches he showed Tuesday didn’t have power. Paez served up his chin on a silver platter in the sixth round, daring Torres to take his best shot.

It happened in Paez’s corner. Paez dropped his hands, and the startled Torres hit him with a half-dozen left jabs. When Paez continued to expose his face, Torres unloaded a long right hand, landed it square--and Paez laughed.

This was his second fight with his new trainer, Alex Sherer. Paez, 27, said he has worked harder for Sherer than at any time in his career. Maybe too hard, he said.

“I knew I had a championship fight coming after this, so I wanted to win early tonight,” he said, through an interpreter. “Maybe I was overtrained.”

Sherer, too, seemed somewhat disappointed.

“I’m glad he got the win, but there’s still a lot of work to do,” he said. “Seemed like he hurt the guy four or five times but couldn’t finish him.”

A much better fight Tuesday was a 12-rounder pitting flyweights Mark Johnson of Washington, D.C., and Alberto Jimenez of Mexico City. They were fighting for the World Boxing Assn. Penta Continental flyweight title. Whatever that is, Johnson won it by a split decision, with two judges calling it for Johnson by 115-113 and 115-114. The third judge scored it 115-114 for Jimenez.

In a late bout, onetime World Boxing Council junior-welterweight champion Lonnie Smith and Derrell Coley fought to a majority decision draw--one judge scoring the bout for Smith, the other two calling it even.