Zaragoza Is Big Winner Over Duarte

To the surprise of almost no one, Daniel Zaragoza of Mexico City battered aged warrior Frankie Duarte virtually at will Thursday night at the Forum and preserved his World Boxing Council super-bantamweight championship.

Referee James Jen-Kin abruptly stopped the fight in the 10th round, after the 34-year-old Duarte had taken a decisive beating.

This one amounted to no more than a tough workout for Zaragoza, who earned $90,000. It was one-sided almost from the first bell. Seconds into the first round, the left-handed Zaragoza, in his fourth championship defense, rocked Duarte with a straight left hand that made Duarte wince.

That seemed to set the pattern for the fight. Duarte may have had the fortitude to overcome drug and alcohol abuse in recent years, but he never came close to overcoming Zaragoza Thursday night.

Duarte, in what must surely have been his final appearance, never found the reflexes to counter-punch the busy Zaragoza. So when he was forced to resort to lead hooks and straight punches, Zaragoza, who weighed 121 pounds, successfully countered Duarte, 121 1/4 Round after round this went on, with Duarte offering only a pointless display of courage. Duarte’s purse of $25,000 wasn’t enough for this kind of beating.

The boos began in the sixth round, and some spectators cheered when Jen-Kin stopped it at 1:54 of the 10th. Zaragoza was sailing on all three judges’ cards, 90-80, 90-84 and 88-84.

The 31-year-old Zaragoza is 39-4-1. Duarte, who turned pro in 1973, is 45-8-1.

Had that been the only main event, the crowd of 6,342 might have thrown cabbages. But the show-savers were Paul Gonzales and Armando Castro, who, before the Zaragoza-Duarte sleeper, engaged in a 12-round war that wound up playing to a standing ovation and a shower of coins at the final bell.

Castro is a former Mexican super-flyweight champion and a Zaragoza stablemate.

Gonzales, the 1984 Olympic light-flyweight champion from Montebello, dominated the much shorter Castro over the first two rounds with superior boxing skills. But after Gonzales hurt Castro with a straight right hand in the third round, Castro began throwing punches wildly, and one of them, a big left uppercut, caught Gonzales on the chin, snapping his head back, and Castro got him again with a following right.

Gonzales reeled all over the ring, with Castro in hot pursuit. Gonzales, tagged repeatedly, survived the round but walked to his stool at the bell on wobbly legs.

Castro rocked Gonzales periodically the rest of the way but never could put him in that kind of difficulty again. The rest of it was an exciting slugfest, and the best round was the fifth, when both little battlers traded their best bombs.

Gonzales was piling up rounds over the second half of the fight, and Castro, knowing this, began swarming all over him, often not even allowing Gonzales set-up time for his superb left jab.

Both men were in outstanding condition and fought furiously over the last three rounds.

The judges’ cards favored Gonzales, 117-112, 116-110 and 117-110. Gonzales earned $7,500.

In the third main event, Edgar Castro (no relation) of Miami stopped Ruben Castillo of Los Angeles in the fifth round. Castillo was taken out by a body shot in the fifth, and was later taken to Beverly Hills Medical Center on a stretcher for observation.

In a statement, Dr. Robert Karns said: “Ruben suffered a contusion on his colon, on the right side of his bowl. At this time, we are not sure that he does not have a partial tear.” Castillo was to remain in the hospital overnight.

After being stopped by Zaragoza, Duarte acknowledged that his career was over.

“Yeah,” he said, when asked if he was through now. “But I had to give it a try, to prove everyone was wrong,” he said. “In the gym, I was doing it--I never looked better in my life. But tonight, I was out of whack. Nothing was working right. The reflexes just weren’t there.”

Zaragoza indicated that his hands took a beating on Duarte’s head.

“I was expecting to knock him out,” he said, “but after the fourth I had pain in both hands.”

Oddly, Duarte came out cautiously at the first bell, when nearly everyone expected him to come out throwing bombs.

When Duarte caught Zaragoza in a neutral corner midway through the fifth, he hit him on the chin with a right hand. It was the only significant punch he’d thrown in the fight, to that point.