On November 3rd at the Desert Diamond Casino in Tuscon, Arizona, Rocky Juarez faces Juan Manuel Marquez for the WBC jr. lightweight championship in the main event of Showtime’s Championship Boxing telecast. Juarez is seven years into a professional career that began after he won a silver medal in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, and while his amateur colleagues Jermain Taylor, Jeff Lacy and Brian Viloria have all won major world titles, Juarez has fallen short.
There was no doubt in his mind that by 2007 he would’ve been a world champion.
“Man, I would’ve said I would be world champion by 2004 or 2005,” said Juarez, who is 0-3 in title bouts. “There are a lot of fighters out there to me – and I’ve always said this – who have title belts that haven’t really fought anybody. I felt that if I was to fight them, I would’ve been champion a long time ago. But not to take anything away from them or myself, but I’ve gone against Barrera twice and this will be my third fight, which is against another great champion in Marquez.
“I feel that kinda makes up for it, fighting the great champions I’m fighting. It shows that I’m willing and able to go in and perform.”
Not only did he lose to Marco Antonio Barrera twice last year – the first bout being an excruciatingly close loss that was originally declared a draw – he was defeated by Humberto Soto for the WBC interim featherweight title in 2005. Now, he takes on Marquez, who is most likely headed for the Hall of Fame and is still considered one of the pound for pound best in the business.
Could it be that he is this generation?s featherweight version of Oba Carr, the highly skilled welter of the 90’s that had the misfortune of facing the likes of Ike Quartey, Felix Trinidad and Oscar De La Hoya in his title opportunities?
“I believe Rocky is on a level with any of them and he did not perform to his ability. I’m hoping that he will in this one,” said his manager Shelly Finkel of his past failures to win a belt. “Soto, if you ask him, was the toughest fight he ever had. He was a little down because In-Jin Chi pulled out and he didn’t perform to his level. The first fight with Barrera he knew he had to go at the guy and he did sometimes and he wasn’t consistent. Hopefully, the change of trainers with Ronnie Shields is going to have him perform what he’s capable of.”
A boxer – unless he is a huge box-office draw – only gets so many title shots. Will this be Rocky’s last, for at least the near future?
“Well, I’m hoping that he wins this one,” said Finkel. “I haven’t thought past it, but I hope not. I hope he wins and that’s not an issue.”
Perhaps adding to the sense of urgency is that fellow Houstonian Juan Diaz has gone on to do some great things with his own career. When they were both signed with Main Events at the commencement of their professional runs, it was Juarez who the more highly touted of the two. They were supposed to be H-town’s boxing version of Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio. So far it’s been more like Hakeem Olajuwon and Ralph Sampson.
“I’m happy for Juan,” says Juarez. “We see each other basically every day at the gym when we train, when we’re preparing ourselves for a fight. Juan trains hard, and I take nothing away from him. He’s a very dedicated young man, he’s definitely earned everything he’s been given. He goes out there and basically runs over his opponents. People kind of underestimated him as he came up in the rankings. But one thing I can say by looking at him is that he’s definitely learned a lot, and as he’s gotten older, he’s gotten into his maturity, where his power has come in.
“But there’s no competition. I think I’m fighting for myself and fighting for my dream – which is to become world champion. And that has nothing to do with how Juan Diaz is progressing. I’m just trying to do this for myself, not no one else.”
Unlike Diaz, who just lets the leather fly, Juarez is more calculating with his attack. In Marquez, he’s facing a master counterpuncher with an unerring sense of timing. But in recent fights he has been getting touched up more and more. Could it be a slight loss of reflexes or a deliberate change of style to enhance his marketability?
“He’s always been a warrior, I think,” Juarez says. “I’ve seen him fight; I was there when he fought Pacquiao and he showed tremendous heart. But in the fight with Barrera, Barrera was able to hurt him. As everyone seen he was pretty marked up from that fight, where I don’t believe I was – other than the eye. I was pretty clean both fights.
“If I land my punches, I think it can be an early night,” Juarez continued. “I think it’s going to be a fight where we’re both going to be in the middle of the ring. It’s going to be a thinking man’s fight and I’m sure there are big shots that are going to be thrown in the fight. I think Marquez is not going to back down and fight a fight like Barrera fought in the second fight.”
This matchup was originally slated to take place on September 15th before Marquez would pull out with an infected finger.
“I don’t think it has affected me and my training because we kind of slowed down and we picked it right back up,” Juarez says of the rescheduling. “I think we did everything we were supposed to do as far as my team and doing what we needed to do to be in the best shape we can on November 3rd. Actually, I think training camp has gone a lot better because of this delay.”
There is already talk of a rematch between Pacquiao and Marquez taking place in 2008. Juarez hopes to have a say in that not occurring.
“I saw the last fight with Pacquiao and Barrera; everyone was just talking about Marquez and Pacquiao and I’m thinking, ‘Marquez, still has to fight Rocky Juarez.’ I know Marquez, him seeing me fight Barrera the first fight, I’m definitely sure is training hard and doing what he needs to do to prepare himself for November 3rd.
“But I just feel that people, boxing critics, are just kinda looking over me.”
ROSS ILLUSTRATED
I think it’s admirable of Ross Greenburg, president of HBO Sports, to write a letter to Sports Illustrated and defend the sport from what he believes is overly negative and clich?d coverage of boxing.
I agree with him – boxing is not dead, but it has to be noted that it was some of the decisions of his own network in the past and present (from signing fighters to long-term exclusive contracts, cultivating a market where the biggest fighters perform just twice a year and trying to drive promoters – real ones, that is – out of the game) have hurt the sport and has led many to believe it’s on the brink of it’s demise.
In the recent months, HBO has done its part to turn the tide with fights like Pavlik-Taylor on September 29th and Calzaghe-Kessler next week. Let’s hope heading into the future they don’t repeat the same mistakes that plagued them – and the industry – in the past.
After all, you wouldn’t want people thinking boxing’s dying or anything.
GOOD LOOKIN’ OUT?
I read with some amusement how Lou DiBella pats himself on the back for not taking any of Jose Navarro’s $26,000-plus purse he received for facing Dimtiri Kirilov last weekend on Bernard Fernandez’s latest contribution to Maxboxing.
Geez, I guess not taking any money on a fight he put nothing up for himself is worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize.
Nobody is accusing anyone of shorting Navarro his purse. But let’s go back – the original purse bid was for Kirilov-Ricardo Vargas and was won by Warriors Boxing for $53,333, with a 50-50 split being that it was a vacant IBF title. Vargas, for whatever reason, was not delivered by Don King.
Now, it’s just my opinion that a promoter who is really looking out for his client calls for another purse bid and tries to win it (and judging by those figures, it wouldn’t have taken much), places it in a much friendlier environment, and doesn?t just send his guy to Russia so willingly.
The (mis)management that allowed this to take place is culpable, as well. What has happened to Navarro throughout his career just shows you just how important it is to have a brain trust that knows what they are doing outside the ring. It’s almost as important as being able to fight inside of it.
And it has to be noted that DiBella still has not attended a Navarro title fight in person.
TRAINING DAZE
I’m told that undefeated jr. middleweight James Kirkland (20-0, 17 KOs) who faces Alfred Angulo on the November 30th edition of ShoBox, is now training with Robert Garcia in Oxnard, California.
Garcia, a former jr. lightweight belt-holder, is putting together quite a stable with his father, Eduardo (of Fernando Vargas fame), with Victor Ortiz, Steven Luevano, Jose Aguiniga and his younger brother, Miguel.
FINAL FLURRIES
That bout between TJ Wilson and Travis Walker was over so quick that Dino Duva didn’t even have time to look over the shoulders of the judges and see their scorecards….I thought featherweight Roger ‘Speedy’ Gonzalez looked sharp on Telefutura….’Friday Night Lights’ is the best show on TV. I just hope I’m not the only one watching it….But there’s no doubt, Notre Dame football is the best comedy on NBC – yes, even above ‘The Office’….Adrian Peterson is Eric Dickerson 2.0…..I’ll say it right now, VaTech upends Matt Ryan and the BC Eagles in Blacksburg on Thursday night….There’s wasn’t much of a crowd at the Home Depot Center on Tuesday night to see Sergio Mora and Alfonso Gomez. Geez, I guess they really couldn’t give tickets away….I saw Evander Holyfield’s losing effort versus Sultan Ibragimov on ESPN Classic. I think from now on, that’s the only place we should see Holyfield…..
