| Barrera Beats Juarez In The Rematch 9-17-06 Marco Antonio Barrera (63-4, 42KO) was a man possessed as he completely out-smarted and out- classed a once again hesitant Rocky Juarez (25-3, 18KO) in their rematch bout Saturday night in Las Vegas. Barrera entered the arena with his sometimes trademark scowl and cleverly boxed and punched his was to an easy decision win, mixing jabs and power shots along with sporadic machismo as he frequently laughed off Rocky’s power attempts. Barrera’s critics and doubters were once again silenced (myself included), as he looked as sharp as ever in beating Juarez nearly every round. Juarez never really went for it and his respect for Barrera was once again shown throughout the fight. But truth be told, Barrera is just the better fighter. No real shock there. Vasquez Stop Gonzalez in Possible Fight of the Year The fight of the night turned out to be the Israel Vasquez (41-3, 29KO) vs. Jhonny Gonzalez (33-4, 28KO) 122-pound title match. What began as a boxing clinic on behalf of Gonzalez, who used his size, reach and jab, degenerated into an ebb and flow slug out as each man was down twice from legit punches between round 4 and 10. Gonzalez dropped a frustrated Vasquez with a smart punch to punctuate the forth round and dropped him again with a similar punch later in the fight. After the first knockdown the tone and tenor of the fight changed as Gonzalez moved a step closer in an attempt to find out just what Vasquez had left. Over the next few round he found out. Vasquez began landing his brutal power punches and he had Gonzalez bloodied and dazed by the time Gonzalez corner stopped the fight following the second knockdown in the 10th. The HBO crew debated the legitimacy of the stoppage but from my perspective, as an observer, Gonzalez looked done. The stoppage was legit. Gonzalez was out. Vasquez has always been a killer and the late rounds are when serious damage can be done to fighters. Gonzalez is still young and will no doubt learn a lot from this fight. He’ll be back. All credit goes to Vasquez who, down on all cards, pulled out the dramatic knockout when he needed it. He deserves to shoot up everyone’s Top 10 Pound for Pound list (for what that’s worth). Guzman Edges Barrios The first major bout of the night saw Joan Guzman (26-0, 17KO) win a close split-decision over game, but limited, Jorge Barrios (46-3-1, 33KO). The fight was close. Barrios did a whole lot of excellent bodywork as he dedicated most of his punch output downstairs. Guzman smartly boxed, countering the straight-ahead Barrios with sharp jabs, hooks and body punches of his own. I thought the fight was closer than the HBO crew did and actually wouldn’t have had a problem with Barrios winning. With that said, Guzman also did enough to deserve the nod and for his effort took home one of the many alphabet soup trinket straps from the 130-pound division. The Golden Boy Promotions Pay-Per-View card delivered something for everybody on Saturday night as all three major fights gave boxing fans something different. As far as we here at The Eight Count are concerned, head writer Greg M. delivered accurately on all three predictions while myself (Papa Cabello) put up a big donut. It wasn’t the first time! |
