SHOWTIME cable paced the competitors with a dandy of a Saturday nite special that saw local Houston prospects Rocky Juarez and Juan Diaz closing in on top-ten membership.

Old news by now ... Juarez at age 23, the more mature and better skilled of the two budding contenders, closed the show in dramatic fashion come the final candle of what was a competitive fire-fite with a tough cookie in Antonio "Chelo" Diaz.

Finis came at the 1:33 seconds mark of round ten ... the shocker was a Juarez perfectly executed two-punch combination ... short right to the chin backed with sizzler of left-hook ... couple of scary moments after seeing the game Diaz hitting the canvas while flat on his back. Good news was in hearing commish doc report he had never lost consciousness. With the win Juarez continues on track with an unblemished record of 17 wins with 13 by KO.

The semi-final saw Juan Diaz, the younger of the two stars at age 19, keeping pace in the undefeated department following a grueling action affair with seasoned - as in age 31 - Francisco "The Drowned" Lorenzo.

Diaz did what comes naturally ... but the "drowned" one wasn’t into treading water ... showed constant movement from start to finish in a bout that looked here to be much closer than the 96-93, 98-91 (twice) scores favoring Juan by unanimous decision.

Observations:
Juarez: Looks here that Rocky baby is near finished product ... well-disciplined and well schooled ... toss in tough and durable leaves little unanswered. Feather division no walk in the park but this guy belongs in the mix.

Diaz: Not quite a complete entity although an exciting battler, goes to 22-0 with 10 whacks ... but feelings are haste makes waste ... lightweight division upper echelon has some talent ... kid not as yet ready in skills department for the Stevie Johnson, Dorin, Spadafora, ilk ... did I leave out Angel Manfredy ... Miguel Cotto?

Semper fi,

GEL

07-18-03

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