Rocky Road Back to Houston

Rocky Road Back to Houston
By Steve Kim (Sep 3, 2008)

There was a time not-too-long ago when it was Rocky Juarez who was the headline performer in Houston, Texas on a nationally televised card, with Juan Diaz on the undercard. Back when they were both young, up-and-coming prospects with Main Events, it was Juarez who was thought to be the future star with world title belts in his future. Diaz, a nice, well-mannered, pudgy kid, was thought to be a decent fighter, but one with a limited upside.

Fast-forward to 2008, and it's Diaz facing Michael Katsidis in the main event at the Toyota Center on Saturday night, and it's Juarez, who takes on Jorge Barrios, as the opening bout on HBO's latest edition of 'Boxing After Dark'. Because while Diaz is coming off his first professional defeat (to Nate Campbell in March), prior to that he had put together an impressive run that saw him capture several major world titles in the lightweight division. Juarez, on the other hand, has fallen short in his attempts to win various belts.

That's not to say that Juarez has been a bust of the Ryan Leaf or Kwame Brown variety, because he's still considered a world-class fighter between 126-130 pounds. But like an Oba Carr of the 90's, he had the misfortune of facing future Hall-of-Famers and other formidable foes in his title contests. Juarez's four losses have come against the likes of Marco Antonio Barrera (twice), Juan Manuel Marquez and the respected and vastly underrated Humberto Soto. He went the distance in all four fights and came excruciatingly close to toppling Barrera in their first meeting.

But with that being said, eight years after winning a silver medal for the United States as a 2000 Olympian, he hasn't fulfilled his own expectations for himself.

"No, I can't say I have," he admitted. "I've always dreamed of being a world champion. I can't say I've accomplished what I wanted to. But as far as being happy? Yeah, I can say I'm fortunate; I've been blessed that I've had an opportunity to make the money that I made for my family and be given the opportunity that I have been given. But this game, it's a tough sport; I feel that I've been privileged to fight against great fighters like Marquez and Barrera and though I've fallen short, I've been the distance with them.

"I feel even if I fought them today, I would beat them. I felt I won the first fight with Barrera, the second fight he won. The Marquez fight I was just fortunate to receive a head butt in the first round and still be able to go the 12 round distance with him."

But there is a strong sense of urgency felt by Juarez.

"I feel that I'm not getting younger; I'm 28 years old, now, I've had three shots at a world title and I know this fight here is very important. So this fight is very meaningful in trying to get where I want to be, which is to become a world champion," he says. Lose this bout to Barrios, and his days as a fighter who's on marquee cards could come to an end.

"Oh, definitely, it's a fact," he agreed." It's not real hard to think that if this fight doesn't go the way I plan, that I might not get another shot. I wouldn't be getting the same pay checks that I've been receiving from the beginning of my career. So I take this fight very seriously."

It's been about four years since Juarez performed in H-town, and all indications are that a good crowd will show up to the Toyota Center - home of the NBA Rockets.

“It’s always a privilege fighting in your hometown. I was born and raised here in Houston. To have friends and family come out and support you and the fans see how far I've gotten in my career, though I've never won a championship belt, I've fought the best fighters out there. And to see the fans come out and show support, it's definitely an honor and a privilege," said Juarez, who bought fifty ringside tickets that he was able to get rid of quickly.

The flipside of all the attention that comes with fighting in front of the home folk is that you run the risk of everyone pulling you in a thousand different directions with various requests. It's a fine line between garnering attention and being distracted.

“I’m not going to say it's distracting; we're only about a week-and-a-half away from the fight," Juarez said last week to Maxboxing. "I haven't been distracted at all, as far as people asking me for tickets. I let them know right off the bat I'm not dealing with tickets. If they need tickets they can go to the box office or TicketMaster and I make it clear to my closest friends to tell everybody else not to bother me with tickets or ask for any tickets because that's something a lot of fighters have problems with when they're fighting in their home towns."

Juarez either beats the awkward Barrios, or Houston, we have a problem.

“You have to definitely be the type of fighter that you never know where a punch is coming from and those style of fighters are very dangerous," he says. "You can kind of make out how a typical fighter like Marquez is going to throw a jab, right hand or something. Where as far as Barrios is going to throw a left hook, right hook, right uppercut - punches that are not ordinary. I think Barrios is just a strong, in-your-face type of fighter where I'm going to have to box, and at the same time I know I'm going to have to fight at times.

"So I'm going to have to fight a smart, compact, sharp fight."

LEFT EYE

It's not only Barrios (who suffered a detached retina) that comes into this fight with issues regarding his eyesight; Juarez himself had problems with double vision in his left eye.

"It hasn't cleared up 100-percent," he admitted, "but it's definitely better, compared to where my vision was so bad, I'd reach out for the salt shaker at the dining table and I would miss. I haven't missed a salt shaker yet since I had the surgery. So I definitely think that's a plus, and my confidence and everything have definitely improved as far as my balance and everything that I would need when I step into the ring."

DOUBLE DUTY?

In light of all this talk of Floyd Mayweather Sr. training Ricky Hatton for his November 22nd bout against Paulie Malignaggi, the question is - what about Oscar De La Hoya, who faces Manny Pacquiao on December 6th?

Will Mayweather Sr. be allowed to train both fighters? Or will De La Hoya - who butters his bread quite lucratively - insist that he only train him?

FINAL FLURRIES

Well, that's what I get for going against my 'Uncle' Norm Chow and UCLA on Monday night. That second-half turnaround by the Bruins offense was amazing. But why didn't the Vols run the ball more? They already miss offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe....I was told by a source that there was about an 80-percent chance that on December the 13th, Wladimir Klitschko will face his IBF mandatory, Alexander Povetkin, on HBO.....Hey, we will see now-former featherweight beltholders Jorge Linares and Robert Guerrero before they grow into full fledged welterweights, right?.....The ACC is so bad in football, I can't even call it the cruiserweights of college ball; it would be an insult to men like ST Gordon and Marvin Camel.....

For Questions or Comments
E-Mail Steve: k9kim@maxboxing.com

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