Ricardo ?Rocky? Juarez gets a third crack at the WBC super featherweight title in just over a year. Currently standing 0-2 in world title tilts, he can?t let it fall to 0-3 when he challenges Juan Manuel Marquez on Saturday.
A Houston, TX native of Mexican descent, Juarez (27-3, 19 KOs) lost the interim version of the 130lb title against Humberto Soto in August of 2005. It was Juarez?s first defeat, a razor thin unanimous decision, after twenty three straight victories.
Then, a split decision loss to Mexican superstar Marco Antonio Barrera in 2006 ? a fight some ringside observers felt Juarez had won and was originally announced as a draw due to an error adding the scores ? and a rematch defeat via wide unanimous decision five months later.
Now, many are wondering whether Juarez will ever raise a championship belt in a division loaded with talent. Does the poised and confident Juarez have what it takes to climb the final step?
Juarez went 145-17 as an amateur and won several junior Olympic titles and the Ali Cup in the process. In 1999 Juarez then won an amateur world title in Houston and the following year won Silver in Sydney.
?Rocky? turned pro in January of 2001 and was immediately a highly touted prospect, signed with regarded promoter Main Events, and was sure to win a world championship shortly there after.
But it?s a certainty that he has not been able to realize.
So now, ?Rocky? steps up once again to face a two-weight world champion in Juan Manuel Marquez (47-3-1, 35 KOs), a ?pound for pound? top ten fighter who has lost only once in the last 7 years.
Juarez squares off against Marquez, Mexico City, Mexico, on Saturday November 3rd at 10pm ET on Showtime?s Championship Boxing from the Desert Diamond Casino from Tuscon, AZ.
Juarez is supremely confident, though, that he will indeed wrap a title belt around his waist.
?My dream is to become a world champion and I?ll fight with all of my power and strength to reach my goal,? Juarez said in a recent Golden Boy Promotions press release. ?I am working with very experienced people in Fernando ?Pilo? Trejo and a local trainer named Benjamin Flores, both of whom who have pushed me to the max, and it will show when I?m face to face with Marquez.?
Juarez, 27, is a patient counter puncher who has never tasted the canvas in his boxing lifetime. The 5?5? 130-pounder also possesses excellent power in both hands and likes to fight coming forward where he can work his vicious left hook to the body. He can double up his hook fast and deliver a hard over hand right in follow up that will get any fighter?s attention.
Although ?Rocky? is a few inches shorter than Marquez (5?7?) he has a two-inch reach advantage on is 34-year-old opponent.
However, Juarez is clearly disadvantaged in both the hand and foot speed categories, and won?t be able to match the sheer athleticism of the slick Marquez, who?s fought at the highest level for several years.
Speaking of athleticism, Marquez is coming off of an impressive March victory over Mexican legend Barrera, the opponent of note that these two men have in common. Barrera performed better than how the final scores tallied in gaping favor of the challenger Marquez, in an all-Mexico epic.
Surely Juarez is aware that in Marquez he is again reaching to the top of the talent pool and will therefore get to work early. In a handful of key bouts over the last few years ?Rocky? has been criticized for either getting started late or never getting started at all.
The Texan needs to step on the gas and establish himself immediately against Marquez.
Juarez must do a lot better than last time, a desultory points win over Jose Andres Hernandez, on the Mayweather-de la Hoya undercard last May.
Two counter punchers ? Marquez is a connoisseur of the craft ? could produce an awkward ?snore fest?, each waiting for the other to lead. On the other hand, Juarez could force the action more than usual to come face to face with the pressure of again standing at the brink of a championship.
Despite his cautious reputation, Marquez has been eager to mix it up a lot more in recent bouts, going toe-to-toe in bloody fights with Terdsak Jandaeng and Jimrex Jaca and pressing the fight constantly against Barrera.
There could be plenty more opportunities for Juarez to finally make his mark than in his own bouts with the cagey old Barrera. It?s an opportunity the Texan must seize with both hands, for three minutes of every round against another of Mexico?s elite.
