Frankie Duarte

"I coulda had class. I coulda been a contendah. I coulda been somebody." --Marlon Brando as Terry Malloy in "On the Waterfront" Rocky Balboa is reel life. Terry Malloy is real life. All fighters start out thinking they're going to be Rocky, but too many of them wind up like Malloy. Even the successful ones. Take Frankie Duarte. Here's a guy who had the toughness to battle back from alcohol and drug addiction. Here's a guy who was a contender for years. And what's he got to show for it?

Frankie Duarte, former world championship contender, gang member, alcoholic and drug addict, was in the boxing ring again. His hands were up deflecting punches--dat, dat, dat, dat, dat, dat. "Keep those hands up," Duarte told his sparring partner, a youth who ducked under a deliberately slow right. Just seven months after his last title shot, the 35-year-old Duarte is living one of his dreams.

Frankie Duarte, former world championship contender, gang member, alcoholic and drug addict, was in the boxing ring again. His hands were up deflecting punches--dat, dat, dat, dat, dat, dat. "Keep those hands up," Duarte told his sparring partner, a youth who ducked under a deliberately slow right. Just seven months after his last title shot, the 35-year-old Duarte is living one of his dreams.

The era in which Pete Rose finds himself unemployed because of sports gambling is quite different from a time in America when athletes, managers, coaches and fans wagered openly, on almost any street corner. There was a time when one didn't dare make a comment about sports without offering to back it up with a wager. Not gambling was considered odd behavior.

Frankie Duarte, 34-year-old Venice bantamweight, has ended an eight-month retirement from boxing and signed to meet Jorge Ortega of Los Angeles (9-9-1, nine knockouts) on June 22 at the Hollywood Palladium in a 10-round main event. Duarte (44-7-1, 33 knockouts) is under new management, having switched from Dan Goossen of the Ten Goose Boxing Club of Van Nuys to local veteran boxing figure Benny Georgino. Duarte fought only twice in 1988.

Frankie Duarte, his face reddened by the fists of Miguel Juarez, was awarded a unanimous, 10-round decision Tuesday night in a bantamweight bout at the Country Club in Reseda. Duarte (44-7-1), of Venice, won by a single point on one scorecard and by three points on the other two. Duarte, 120, scored the only knockdown of the bout, decking Juarez, 120, with a left hook in the eighth round. But Juarez, of Los Angeles, had built an early lead in the fight, pounding Duarte for the first five rounds.

The fight mob calls them club fighters. They're good but not very. They're usually long on bravery and short on skill. Not for them the bright lights and hundred-dollar seats of the Garden, the outdoor ballparks, the instant stadiums of Vegas. They make their livings in the creaky arenas in the old neighborhoods, or sometimes in fancier places where the customers eat steak and drink beer. Their fights are mini-wars. They bleed like bad bulls but they never throw in a bad fight.

Bill Belcher, 43, an assistant football coach at Agoura High, died of an apparent heart attack Tuesday evening at Westlake Community Hospital. He was stricken while tutoring a student in math. "I don't think it's something you overcome," Agoura Coach Frank Greminger said. "It's something you just have to accept. We'll just have to go along with what he would have expected from the team. We're certainly saddened. "It didn't make a difference if it was the classroom or the field.

Frankie Duarte thinks about it every time he tries to push-start the stubborn Volkswagen in front of his house, thinks about it every time he looks down at that purplish tattoo on his arm, thinks about it every time he turns a calendar page and realizes that three days after he steps into a ring to rumble with a world champion, he will turn 35 years old.

Frankie Duarte, 34-year-old Venice bantamweight, has ended an eight-month retirement from boxing and signed to meet Jorge Ortega of Los Angeles (9-9-1, nine knockouts) on June 22 at the Hollywood Palladium in a 10-round main event. Duarte (44-7-1, 33 knockouts) is under new management, having switched from Dan Goossen of the Ten Goose Boxing Club of Van Nuys to local veteran boxing figure Benny Georgino. Duarte fought only twice in 1988.

"I coulda had class. I coulda been a contendah. I coulda been somebody." --Marlon Brando as Terry Malloy in "On the Waterfront" Rocky Balboa is reel life. Terry Malloy is real life. All fighters start out thinking they're going to be Rocky, but too many of them wind up like Malloy. Even the successful ones. Take Frankie Duarte. Here's a guy who had the toughness to battle back from alcohol and drug addiction. Here's a guy who was a contender for years. And what's he got to show for it?

Frankie Duarte, his face reddened by the fists of Miguel Juarez, was awarded a unanimous, 10-round decision Tuesday night in a bantamweight bout at the Country Club in Reseda. Duarte (44-7-1), of Venice, won by a single point on one scorecard and by three points on the other two. Duarte, 120, scored the only knockdown of the bout, decking Juarez, 120, with a left hook in the eighth round. But Juarez, of Los Angeles, had built an early lead in the fight, pounding Duarte for the first five rounds.

Frankie Duarte thinks about it every time he tries to push-start the stubborn Volkswagen in front of his house, thinks about it every time he looks down at that purplish tattoo on his arm, thinks about it every time he turns a calendar page and realizes that three days after he steps into a ring to rumble with a world champion, he will turn 35 years old.

Marty Denkin, ringside representative for the State Athletic Commission and the North American Boxing Federation, has recommended to the federation that Frankie Duarte's victory over NABF bantamweight challenger Albert Davila be overturned. Denkin cited a lapse in procedure by referee Lou Filippo, who should have allowed Saturday's nationally televised fight at the Forum to be decided by the officials' scorecards at the time he stopped the fight.

Marty Denkin, ringside representative for the State Athletic Commission and the North American Boxing Federation, has recommended to the federation that Frankie Duarte's victory over NABF bantamweight challenger Albert Davila be overturned. Denkin cited a lapse in procedure by referee Lou Filippo, who should have allowed Saturday's nationally televised fight at the Forum to be decided by the officials' scorecards at the time he stopped the fight.

It was the first time all night Frankie Duarte had been stopped. Stopped cold. It was in a Forum interview room Tuesday night, minutes after Duarte had lost a unanimous 15-round decision to World Boxing Assn. bantamweight champion Bernardo Pinango. A reporter asked Duarte what his plans were.