[BOXING] Juan Diaz, Rocky Juarez fighting at Toyota Center September 6

Surprised nobody has mentioned this there is a HUGE boxing card at Toyota Center tomorrow night. Supposedly 8000 tickets have already been sold. The fights should be good too, two local guys headlining, Juan Diaz and Rocky Juarez. Anybody going?

 

I think so. First time HBO is coming to town since July 17, 2004 and that was at Reliant Center.

 

There are a lot of good seats left.

 

Diaz defeats Katsidis, Juarez stops Barrios!
By Vikram Birring, Doghouseboxing.com

Michael Katsidis raised his arms as he walked towards his corner after the eleventh round. As he sat, his cornermen told him he was winning his lightweight match against former champion Juan Diaz.

This seemed to be an odd assertion, for though he gave a game effort and landed some startling blows, Diaz had beaten Katsidis to the punch since the opening round.

Katsidis stalked constantly, and landed his share of telling shots, but Diaz always answered with precise, accurate punches, at one point even landing a breathtaking seven-punch combination.

A lesser man would have given in to Katsidis’s powerful body shots and head snapping punches. With each punch, it was as if Katsidis put the power of God in them, as he swung for the heavens every time.

But Diaz had been down this road before. Lakva Sim hit him with everything but the kitchen sink. Acelino Freitas repeatedly reddened his face with his vaunted right cross. Fernando Angulo took out the frustration of being lost in an Ecuadorian jungle for years alone with his fists.

It is not how a man acts when things are good that shows his character. It is how he responds when falling down, when defeated, when things go wrong, when one’s true colors are displayed.

Diaz did what he always does, he dug deep, and every time Katsidis landed, Diaz responded with fists of fury, first to the body, then to the head, to the resounding cheers of his hometown crowd. Diaz was not just answering to a man who stared him down in a Roman Gladiator’s mask before the match began, but to a line of critics who jumped on him after his loss to Nate Campbell in March. He wanted his champion status back, and let the world know with each passing second against Katsidis.

As they they touched gloves before the twelfth, both fighters knew that despite thoughts of leads on scorecards and possible victory hanging in the balance, boxing judges can be trusted no more than used car salesmen, and they let their fists fly for the final one hundred eighty seconds of the bout.

Michael Buffer read a shockingly close, but in the end, acceptable scorecard. Diaz won a split decision: 113-115, 116-112, 115-113. He had made the correct move in going for it all in the last round; had he not the match may have ended up a draw.

Undercard Notes:

Rocky Juarez knew that this was his final chance for redemption at a career unfulfilled. If he did not defeat Jorge Rodrigo Barrios, his hometown fans would never forgive him. Worse, he would never forgive himself.

Years ago, when he and Juan Diaz were aligned with promoter Main Events, Juarez was in the main event and Diaz fought on the under card. Since then, Diaz won three lightweight championship belts, had a litany of successful defenses, while Juarez never quite fulfilled what at one time looked to be such a promising career.

Yet, despite four losses, Juarez got one final chance: a chance to star against durable former champion in his hometown.

For six rounds, it looked as if, that once again Juarez would fail to capture the moment, as he looked sluggish and was outhustled by the motivated “Hiena” of Argentina.

Then, slowly, Juarez began to pick up the pace. Juarez began to let his hands go, and caught Barrios with an assortment of counter punches in the seventh and eighth rounds.

In the closing seconds of the ninth, Barrios trapped Juarez in the corner and flailed away, stealing a round, an old Sugar Ray Leonard tactic.

Though he came out strong in the tenth, Barrios tired from throwing so many punches, and Juarez let loose with a variety of crunching punches, to the body and head. But then he fatigued as well, and Barrios finished the round strong. But that would be his final highlight.

Between rounds ten and eleven, a light went off in Rocky Juarez’s head. If he did not finish off a tired Barrios, he may not get the win on the scorecards. If he did not get the win, he would get written off yet again, and fade into boxing obscurity.

In the old days, Juarez would have given a game effort, shrugged his shoulders when he lost, and walked off with his head down.

But this time, Juarez saw the light. All of his past experiences, failures and shortcomings, all of the pain he bottled up for never reaching his goals, he let out on the skull of Jorge Barrios in the eleventh round. He pounded away, and finally, a thudding left hook followed by a sadistic right cross send Barrios down to the canvas. The thousands who came to support their man roared in delight, and Barrios somehow managed to rise to his feet.

But the referee noticed something was not right. Barrios was not just bleeding, but spewing blood. Juarez had so badly beaten Barrios that his lip was split open. Split as in a canyon. The ring doctor immediately halted the bout, and Rocky Juarez was lifted in the air by trainer Ronnie Shields.

Rocky Juarez finally managed to do what he never had before. He captured the moment, believed in himself, and achieved success on the highest level.