Salud Stops Poll in 10th Round

SAN DIEGO —  It took junior featherweight Jesus Salud almost eight rounds to find Jesus Poll. But once he located Poll, Salud punished him for two rounds before knocking him out at 2:11 of the 10th round in front of 1,912 Wednesday night at the Sports Arena.

Salud (43-5, 23 knockouts) floored Poll twice in the eighth and finished him off with a left hook in the 10th. Poll (24-8-3) didn’t go down, but referee Pat Russell stepped in and stopped the bout.

Salud’s victory set up a probable World Boxing Assn. title bout in February with Wilfredo Vazquez of Puerto Rico. Vazquez, who fights Thierry Jacob of France in December, has agreed to defend his title against Salud, Arena Boxing promoter Scott Woodworth said.

“I’m excited,” said Salud, ranked seventh by the WBA. “It’s about time.”

But occasionally, Salud didn’t appeared enthused enough against Poll. After taking a lead in the first four rounds, Salud coasted through the middle rounds as Poll began to gain confidence.

“I couldn’t get off,” said Salud, who trains in San Diego. “I wasn’t putting my punches together like I should be doing, but I finally caught up to him.”

Abel Sanchez, Salud’s trainer, said Poll, who had been knocked down only once previously in his pro career, was craftier than Salud’s last opponent, Rudy Zavala, whom Salud stopped in eight rounds.

“He moved a little more,” Sanchez said. “He’s a tough kid. He took a lot of shots, a lot more than we thought he was going to.”

Salud finally caught Poll with a left uppercut to the chin in the middle of the eighth round that Poll down. He sent Poll reeling later in the round with an overhand right hand to Poll’s jaw. Poll staggered and broke his fall with his gloves, but Russell issued a standing eight count.

Poll, who fights out of North Hollywood, came back in the ninth and might have carried the round, but Salud nailed him with an overhand right and then a left hook to end the bout.

“He kept in there until he got caught with that uppercut,” said Poll’s trainer, Jesse Reid. “We were in the fight up until that point.”

Reid said two judges had Salud ahead by only a point entering the eighth round.

“He got a little over his feet and got caught, but you can’t fault him for that,” Reid said. “He was trying to win it.”

Bob DePhilippis, Salud’s manager, complained that Poll was trying everything he could to win, including throwing low blows.

“We have to discuss the definition of a low blow,” DePhilippis said. “I asked Pat, ‘Why didn’t you call the low blows?’ He said they weren’t hurting him. How the hell does he know whether they’re hurting him?”

In the undercard, light heavyweight Ernesto Magdaleno (15-0, six knockouts) of Westminster overcame a sluggish start to win a unanimous eight-round decision over Israel Cole (13-8-4) of Las Vegas. Cole started strong, but Magdaleno, despite a left eye that began to close in the fourth, punished Cole in the sixth.

Lightweight Frank Pena of Aurora, Colo. improved to 14-0-1 with a unanimous six-round decision over Sammy Miller (9-3) of Las Vegas. Pena, trained by former U.S. Olympic Coach Kenny Adams, was too quick and strong for Miller, who was a standing target for Pena’s accurate straight right and left hands.

San Diego middleweight Paul Vaden (13-0, six knockouts) scored a technical knockout when Sergio Medina failed to answer the bell for the third round because of a broken nose.

Welterweight Larry Dixon of San Diego was impressive in his professional debut. He stopped Gilbert McNal of San Diego at 1:45 of the second round with a barrage of combinations.

“I was so excited, I don’t remember much about the first round,” Dixon said. “I wasn’t setting anything up. I was just throwing punches like the amateurs.”

Cruiserweight Todd McPhee (11-0-1, eight knockouts) of San Diego knocked out Brian Hogan of Las Vegas at 1:38 of the second in the last bout.