Just a quick recap of the last two days of boxing: Canadian Super Middleweight prospect Lucian Bute won a unanimous decision against Lolenga Mock. Bute is another highly touted prospect; most sources say that he is the real deal. Keep an eye out for him within the next year or two. Staying with the 168 pounders, Anthony Mundine won a UD against fellow Aussie Danny Green in a WBA title eliminator. Boxing purists hate his in-ring antics, but fight fans gotta love the Emmanuel Augustus win this past Wednesday. Augustus has been on the losing end of some pretty ridiculous decisions in his career, glad to see he got another win.
Get ready for some Junior Lightweight action fight fans, with Saturdays HBO card, which includes four of the Ring Magazine top ten rated fighters in their weight class. First we have Jorge Barrios, 45-2-1 with 32 KOs, makes his 3rd defense of his WBO Title; a title he won off of previously undefeated Mike Anchondo. Barrios will be facing Hungary’s “The Bonecracker” Janos Nagy, with a perfect record of 24-0 with 14 KOs. This will be Nagy’s first time fighting in the U.S. and only second time outside his home country. Barrios has only had two fights in America, but he is no stranger to the U.S. audience. Showtime televised his main event fight against the then unbeaten Acelino Freitas. I am impressed with Barrios’ pop, he can hit! Just ask Anchondo and Freitas. While conversely I have never seen Nagy fight (not too many Hungarian television networks here in the U.S.), I see a Barrios victory…probably a UD 118-110.
Ahhh, on to the Main Event, which has some real star power. Mexican living legend “The Baby Faced Assassin” Marco Antonio Barrera holds an impressive record of 61-4 with 42 KOs and hasn’t lost a fight since 2003, when he was TKO’d by now superstar Manny Pacquiao. Ricardo “Rocky” Juarez, an Olympic Silver Medalist for the U.S. in 2000, has a record of 25-1 with 18 KOs. Rock’s only loss was to Humberto Soto, in a fight that had Juarez looking for just one punch while Soto simply out boxed him. This matchup would be far more intriguing if not for that one blemish on Juarez’s record, but still should be a must watch. MAB is one of the best boxer of the last ten years, he always is ready for a war and never has left the audience feeling anything less than satisfied. Juarez has had a streak of incredible KOs since 2001, including (if my memory serves me correctly) a 2nd round KO of Guty Espada where it looked as if Espada’s nose broke then was moved a few inches from where it was.
This again is a struggle between brain and heart on who I think will win this fight. First MAB is a perennial champ who is no stranger to giving and receiving beatings, and without a doubt has a more impressive resume including two wins over Erik Morales, Naseem Hamed, and Kevin Kelley. Juarez is still very young in his pro career with no big names on his list of victims other than a controversial win over Zahir Raheem. Both men have power in both hands so we should see some fast paced action. This is a must watch fight, on a scale of 1-10, I’ll give it a solid 8, for the simple fact MAB is a great fighter, any chance you get a chance to watch him I would recommend it. This bout is a 12 rounder for Barrera’s WBC Jr. Lightweight Title.
Rokk’s Prediction: I would have to say Barrera by late round KO, just a gut feeling, but time could catch up with Barrera fast in this fight especially if Rocky lands a short left hook.
