09/06 BOXING

On the undercard to Juan Diaz-Michael Katsidis at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, Rocky Juarez (28-4, 20 KOs) stopped former champion Jorge Rodrigo Barrios (47-4-1, 34 KOs) in eleven-rounds to capture the WBO Latino junior lightweight title.

Barrios was targeting the body in the early rounds and then trying to go upstairs. Juarez was working behind the jab. An uppercut by Barrios buckled the legs of Juarez in the second. The right eye of Barrios was swelling by the third. Juarez's counter left-hook pushed Barrios back during some exchanges in the third, but Barrios continued to press forward. Barrios lost a point in the third for a low blow, though Juarez did not complain and was not hurt. There appeared to be a scratch bleeding on Juarez's head.

Barrios would resume his pace in the fourth round, throwing a lot of big punches to Juarez's body. Juarez answered back, but not often enough with very hard counters. The two would wage an inside war in the fifth, with a lot of body damage by both men. A three punch combo pushed Juarez back during the heated fifth round action. Juarez began to develop some heavy swelling over the right eye by the sixth. Juarez made the sixth close with a late rally in the closing seconds. In the eight, the ref took another point away for a borderline low blow, but Barrios closed the round strong with a big rally. Two went to war in the tenth when Barrios appeared to be tired. The crowd was on their feet as both guys were banging it out.

The continued the war in the eleveth, and you could notice that Barrios' mouth was bleeding bad. Soon the mouth was spewing blood everywhere. Barrios was caught while his legs were unsteady and he went down. When he got up, the left side of his mouth was badly cut, with the lip suffering a very bad tear. The doctor looked and stopped it after the mouth of Barrios was bleeding everywhere.

At the time of the stoppage, although Barrios looked to be ahead, one judge had it even, another had Barrios ahead by four and Juarez was ahead by two on the third. Keep in mind that Barrios lost two-points for borderline low blows.