Zavala Must Win Title First Before Getting His Rematch

When the ring of the phone broke the 6 a.m. silence at Herb Stone’s house last summer, there was no way he expected the caller to be Rudy Zavala.

Zavala, a super bantamweight (122 pounds) who trains at the Westminster Boxing Club, had suffered an eighth-round knockout the previous night against Jesus Salud in San Diego.

The loss on July 24 was the first of Zavala’s professional career. But despite getting home to Costa Mesa at about 12:30 a.m., he was in no mood to take time off.

He called Stone, his manager, asking him to set up a rematch.

Zavala had spent much of the night going over the fight.

The plan had been for Zavala to stay away from the hard-punching Salud. But after suffering a cut over his left eye in the first round, Zavala decided to take a more aggressive path, hoping for a knockout.

But the wound got worse and Zavala couldn’t see out of the eye by the fifth round. Stone said he wanted the bout ended, but Zavala was willing to press on. The referee finally stopped it 2 minutes 16 seconds into the eighth round. Zavala needed 17 stitches to close the cut.

By the next morning, his left eye was swollen shut and his right was in almost the same condition. But he still wanted to see the tape of the bout.

By 9 a.m., he managed to pry his right eye open enough to enable him to witness the defeat, including the rights Salud threw that Zavala never saw--but felt.

“That right there,” Stone said. “Told me all I ever needed to know about Rudy’s heart. He might not be the most talented fighter around, but I’m sure he will always give 110%.”

Almost a year later, Zavala (21-1-2, 17 knockouts) has a chance at a rematch with Salud, but first he must accomplish a difficult task.

He must beat Kennedy McKinney when they meet Saturday for McKinney’s International Boxing Federation title at the Pyramid in Memphis, Tenn.

Zavala, 24, is considered an underdog in the bout, which is billed as the “Rumble on the River.”

McKinney, who is best known for his punishing right, has a 23-0-1 record, including 14 knockouts.

McKinney, who was a gold medalist in the 1988 Olympics, will be fighting in his hometown of Memphis for the first time in his professional career.

The winner figures to next take on Salud, the IBF’s top-ranked challenger.

Zavala, who is married with three children, wants that chance but doesn’t dare look that far into the future.

“This is the biggest bout of my life,” he said. “We’re going to be ready. I’m ready now. I’m 100% confident even though it is in his hometown.”

Zavala, who grew up in Rosemead, started amateur boxing when he was 15 under the guidance of his father, Rodolfo, a former national amateur champion in Mexico.

Rodolfo is training his son for the title bout.

Rudy Zavala enjoyed a great deal of success in the three years he boxed as an amateur but lost his final fight--in a close decision--to Oscar De La Hoya, a gold medalist at the 1992 Olympics.

Zavala failed in his attempt to make Mexico’s Olympic team the same year and returned home to Rosemead. He took a job at a manufacturing company in the Ontario area, and stopped boxing.

But the company went under, leaving him wondering what to do next.

“My dad kept asking me, ‘Are you ever going to go back to the gym?’ ” Zavala said. “I didn’t have anything else to do so I decided to give it another try.”

Zavala got off to a solid start professionally but his career really didn’t start to flourish until he signed with Stone early in 1991.

But their first meeting was one Stone would just as soon forget.

He brought a solid young fighter into a bout against Zavala.

“I got to know Rudy the hard way,” Stone said. “Rudy beat (Juan Torres) pretty much every way there was to get beaten. I went home that night and I was pretty depressed.”

Stone and Zavala had a chance meeting soon after at a bank and then again at the gym in Westminster. They started talking about teaming up. Once the contract was signed, Zavala’s quest for a title shot began.

Stone slowly stepped up the quality of the opponents, and Zavala responded with a better performance each time.

Zavala got plenty of attention in April, 1991, when he knocked out Pedro Decima, a former world champion, on the Evander Holyfield-George Foreman undercard.

One of Zavala’s biggest advantages coming into his bout with McKinney is that he will have been at his fighting weight (122 pounds) for a little more than three weeks.

He had to lose almost eight pounds in three days going into his last fight, in April at the Forum against Max Gomez.

As a result of the rapid weight loss, Zavala was somewhat weaker than usual.

He started that fight slowly, losing the first two rounds. But he dominated the second half of the bout. His best round was the ninth, but he couldn’t finish off Gomez.

As a result, the fight went to the judges, who scored it a draw.

Zavala won, 116-112, on one card, lost by the same score on another, and the other official had it tied, 114-114.

To get ready for the McKinney bout, Zavala has been eating meals of mostly salads, pasta and chicken. He runs six miles on the sand at Huntington Beach in about 37 minutes every morning.

“Rudy knows what his job is,” Stone said. “We’re going down there in shape and we’re going to see who the best man is. You can tell he’s getting edgy. He’s getting tired of eating salads every day.”