Another week, another exciting fight for boxing. Marco Antonio Barrera put his WBC Super Featherweight Title on the line against Rocky Juarez in a fight broadcast on HBO. Barrera is known for being one of the most exciting fighters in boxing, as shown in his epic trilogy with Erik Morales. The challenger was a member of the 2000 US Olympic Boxing team and walked away with a silver medal in the featherweight division. It was an intriguing matchup and one that lived up to its pre-fight hype.
Barrera dominated the early rounds of the fight. He was more aggressive and landed better punches. Barrera used his jab a lot more than expected and perhaps that was the strategic maneuver that befuddled Juarez the most. Juarez seemed frustrated after the end of the early rounds, as if he knew he was behind. Juarez could have folded or changed his gameplan and try to knock Barrera out with one big punch (as the Olympian seemed to do in his loss to Humberto Soto) but Juarez’s corner did a great job in keeping their fighter focused.
Juarez began to figure out how to land punches on Barrera and seemed to gain in strength as the fight went on. Barrera is six years older than Juarez and the age difference showed in the later rounds. While Barrera had the experience of late championship rounds, it wasn’t enough to combat the youthful exuberance of Rocky Juarez. Rocky wobbled Barrera in the later rounds and had the champion backpedaling. The fight was close going into the 12th and final round and Juarez’s corner told their fighter that he needed a knockout. Barrera is more of a man’s man than William Regal and you knew he wouldn’t clinch his way to the final bell. Both men left everything they had in the ring but with no knockout, the fight is left in the hands of the judges. The ageless Michael Buffer reads the scores as only he can: Judge Duane Ford scores the bout 115-113 Juarez. Judge Anek Hongtogkham (seriously?) scores the bout 115-113 Barrera. Judge Ken “Don’t Call Me Pat” Morita scores the bout 114-114. This fight is a draw.
But hold on just one minute. As I’m waiting for the Sopranos replay to start so I can tape it for my Mom, Jim Lampley busts onto my lame TV screen and informs me that the scorecards were added up incorrectly. Ken Morita scored the final round a 10-10 round so therefore his scorecard should have read 115-114 Barrera. Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time and probably won’t be the last time that scorecards are added up incorrectly. Honestly, this should NEVER happen. It is addition. The numbers don’t go any higher than 10 for each round. You don’t need Stephen Hawking to figure these things out. If these numbers are still too difficult to compute, use a freakin’ calculator. You can have my TI-82 that I stole from Danny Weber in the 7th grade. I am finished with school so I no longer need it to program answers into so I can cheat on tests. I will lend it to whatever boxing commission needs it. As a bonus, I think it still has the Bowling and Snake games on it.
As a result of inept addition, Rocky Juarez found out he actually lost the fight while in his dressing room. Needless to say, Juarez wasn’t happy about it. Judge Duane Ford’s scorecard was also incorrect as it should have been 115-114 Juarez but that had no impact on the outcome of the fight. Whomever was in charge of adding up these scorecards should be fired. If your job is to add, and you can’t do it, you shouldn’t have a job anymore.
Barrera wants a piece of Manny Pacquiao but he may have to wait a long time for that to happen. In the meantime, a rematch with Juarez would be an exciting fight, albeit bad fight selection on the part of Barrera. The Baby Faced Assassin isn’t one to duck opponents so a rematch isn’t completely out of the question.
Results From Last Week
– Anthony Mundine defeated Danny Green by unanimous decision in a Super Middleweight Title Eliminator. Both men are Australian and this was likely the biggest professional fight in the city of Sydney.
– Emanuel Augustus, the clown prince of ESPN, defeated Marteze Logan by unanimous decision.
– Julio Diaz captured the interim IBF Lightweight Title with a resounding unanimous decision over Ricky Quiles.
– Cruiserweight Felix Cora, Jr suffered his first professional loss when Vadim Tokarev forced a stoppage in the 4th round. Tokarev put Cora down early in the 4th but Cora made a comeback and staggered the Russian. Amidst Cora’s flurry, Tokarev got in some shots of his own and the ref stopped the bout when Cora could no longer defend himself.
– 2004 U.S. Olympian Jason Estrada defeated journeyman Robert Wiggins by unanimous decision.
– Yusaf Mack was upset in the ESPN Friday Night Fights main event by Alejandro Berrio. Berrio earned a TKO in the 6th round when the referee stopped the bout. Oddly, the ref called for a timeout after Mack got to his feet before the 10 count. A doctor looked at Mack and the referee then stopped the fight. Mack was not responsive and the fight should have been stopped, but the referee should not have called a timeout in order to make that call.
– Jorge Barrios defeated Janos Nagy in less time than it will take you to read my write-up about it. Barrios retained his WBO Super Featherweight Title when he knocked Nagy out with his second punch of the fight. Fifty seconds from the opening bell, Barrios hit Nagy with a left hook to the liver and Nagy took a voluntary knee. Nagy couldn’t continue and the referee stopped the fight.
Jockscraps – The Stories They Won’t Tell
Jeff Kent to Star in Upcoming Adult Film
Los Angeles Dodgers All-Star second baseman Jeff Kent has signed on to star in an upcoming adult film, according to his agent Max Glinkman. The movie, produced by Vivid Entertainment, is expected to debut on August 15th. Glinkman sat down with reporters and discussed the film and Kent’s role in it.
“A couple of weeks ago I got a call from Leo Feinstein at the production department with Vivid,” Glinkman said. “He told me he was a huge fan of Jeff and that he totally dug his look, the mustache in particular. He said he had a role in mind for Jeff and wondered if he’d be interested. At first I thought there was no way in hell he would agree to do it. I mean, it’s not something you see high-profile athletes doing every day. But I asked him anyway, and to my surprise he said yes. Turns out that Jeff has wanted to get into acting for some time now. He’s very excited at the opportunity to finally break into film.”
Glinkman describes the movie as ‘Starsky and Hutch’ meets ‘Chips’ meets ‘Training Day’ meets ‘SeaBiscuit.’
“The movie’s called ‘Coppin’ a Feel.’ Jeff plays a character by the name of Officer F–kstick. From what I hear, he’s the baddest mother on the force. A real hard-nosed cop who doesn’t take guff from no one. He’s got this rookie partner named Frank, played by Ron Jeremy, who he’s constantly butting heads with. The two of them are assigned to investigate a drug-running scheme that has something to do with mail-order brides and the Kentucky Derby, although I don’t know the exact details. Needless to say, there promises to be a lot of action. And sex.”
Spit Bucket
What did you think about the Barrera/Juarez decision? Do you have problems with addition? If so, would you like my TI-82 calculator? Send answers to any of these questions to me at buddhabean316@yahoo.com. Also, see if any of these people are willing to send you things they don’t need:
Tom Gubitosi drank all weekend, but still found time to deliver the Weekly Sports Pulse.
Daniels has grown tired of the media’s hard-on for Barry Bonds and explains who should be getting the attention.
Booker T is the King of the Ring. Phil Clark has some ideas on where he should go from here.
The IP Music Staff were involved in their own little King of the Ring tournament. Fernandez has all the match results in his Saturday Swindle Sheet.
