JUAREZ WIN A ROCKY ONE By George J. Elsasser

An old song of some years back once shouted about bright stars deep in the heart of Texas ... and going into last evening's Showtime triple header expectations were one of its own from North Houston would continue twinkling brighter than the rest.

Good news is hometown favorite Rocky Juarez got himself a well earned "W" to remain among the undefeated ... and on track to bigger and better things ~ he also got a lesson in the school of hard knocks from veteran opponent Hector Velasquez.

For sure, last nite's tester didn't surface along some yellow brick road in search of a wizard named Oz ... was more a rocky road while in search of serious contender credibility among the ‘26 pounder elite.

And come the final bell it went 118-110, 117-111, 115-113 for Juarez by unanimous decision ~~~~ my unofficial had Juarez 7-4-1 in rounds and 116-113 under the more corrupt point system.

Wasn't pretty ... ugly closer to it ... Rocky never really found a rhythm ... the power hook rarely was a factor and some big right hands he tossed weren't frequent enough ~ problem for Juarez was some guy named Hector.

Big learning experience this one ... Velasquez not a big banger but very unorthodox in style ... textbook a read he never bothered with ... but Hector introduced other intangibles ~ the occasional left-hook below the 38th parallel ... the convenient inadvertent head butt ... holding and hitting.

The nasties frustrated the young prospect ... but lesson learned ... the past victims were just that - victims - and pretty or not, this first step up the rung says Rocky Juarez is ready, willing and able to share the dance floor with some of the contenders already at that proverbial doorstep.

Semper fi,

GEL

11-24-2003