The Reliant Center in Houston, Texas was the location for HBO Boxing After Dark triple header fight card on Saturday night, July 17th. The event began with two hard hitting welterweights, hot prospect Kermit Cintron facing Teddy Reid in a twelve round bout.  It was a fast pace opener, with both fighters swinging for the fences. Cintron worked Reid's  head and body well in the opening rounds while Reid landed shots of his own to Cintron's head. Late in the third round Kermit Cintron would land a big overhand right to Reid's head that sent him to the canvas. Reid would regain his footing and survive the round. Although stunned Reid the tough Reid would continue to come forward and land punches of his own stalling Cintron's oncoming attack. At the end of both the fourth and fifth rounds Teddy Reid would hit Cintron after the bell forcing referee Tim Adams to take a point away. Cintron looked to be tiring in the middle rounds giving Reid more openings to land. Referee Tim Adams would take another point from Reid in the seventh round for hitting after the break. Also in the seventh round a nasty cut over Reid's right eye would open courtesy of a Cintron's right hand.  Early in the eighth round Kermit Cintron would again send Teddy Reid to the canvas with a hard right hand. Referee Tim Adams took a close look at Reid and allowed him to continue. Once the fight resumed, Cintron landed a barrage of punches to Reid's head, forcing referee Tim Adams to jump in and call a halt to he bout. Kermit Cintron walked away with the WBO Interim title,   improving his record to 23-0 (22 KO's) while Teddy Reid drops to 22-6-1 (16 KO's). The co-main event featured a three man battle of sorts as 2000 Olympian Rocky Juarez squared off with 1996 Olympian Zahir Raheem and referee Robert Gonzalez.  The opening rounds proved effective for Raheem as he used his speed and movement to give Juarez problems. The third round, however, would start a trend for referee Robert Gonzalez, as he warned Zahir Raheem for holding behind the head. Gonzalez became nearly obsessed with the fact, warning Raheem every time his hands were near Juarez's head throughout the fight. Between the third and fourth rounds Raheem told his corner "My Legs are dead, making weight killed me." The fourth round was an ugly round for Raheem as referee Robert Gonzalez deducted the first of three points from him. Later in the same round Juarez landed a hard left hook to Raheem's body that stunned him; rather than fight on Raheem decided to take a knee and recover from the hard punch. Raheem started the fifth round popping his jab in Rocky's  face neutralizing any oncoming attack. Referee Robert Gonzalez took another point from Raheem for holding behind the head. Even though Raheem was doing well and winning rounds, he was behind on the score cards due to the fourth round knockdown and the two points taken away for holding behind the head. Raheem continued to use his legs and speed to keep Juarez at bay. In the ninth round tape around both fighters gloves came loose. The referee took Zahir Raheem to his corner to have the tape repaired, then looked at Rocky's glove to check for loose tape but did not see any. The loose tape on Juarez's glove mysteriously wrapped back around the wrist, making it look as if there was no loose tape. The referee let the fight continue, but just seconds after, the tape on Juarez's glove started flapping again. The referee either did not see the loose tape or did not care about it, and let the fight go on. At the start of the tenth round Raheem's tape came loose again but once again referee Robert Gonzalez either did not see it or did not care to act on it, letting Raheem fight the entire round with the dangling tape. Also in the tenth round referee Gonzalez took another point away from Raheem for holding behind the head. One would have to assume that at this point it must have seemed to Zahir Raheem that he was not just battling Rocky Juarez, he was also battling referee Robert Gonzalez, who kept up the constant warnings of holding behind the head and measuring his opponent with his left hand. At the start of the eleventh round the referee told Raheem's corner to wipe the Vaseline off their fighter's face. Referee Robert Gonzalez was not satisfied with the amount of Vaseline wiped off Raheem so he took it upon  himself to wipe off the rest. He again wiped Vaseline off Raheem's face at the beginning of the twelfth and final round. In spite of having endured constant warnings and point deductions, Raheem fought a good fight. Juarez, on the other hand, seemed a bit confused at times by Raheem's  movement but did damage when he got in the inside. In the end Rocky Juarez was declared the winner by the scores of 115-109,113-111, and 114-110. Juarez improves his record to 21-0 (14 KO’s) while Zahir Raheem drops to 25-1 (15 KO's). The night’s main event put WBA lightweight champion Lakva Sim in the ring against top prospect Juan Diaz. Juan Diaz came out blazing, landing lightning quick combos to Sim's body and head.  Juan's body attack was brutal, as he would land hard and often to the body. The fourth round could easily be a candidate for round of the year as Sim finally starts to open more, with both fighters going toe to toe. Sim started to land his own hard blows to Juan's body. As the fight wore on, it became very clear that Diaz's speed and movement was too much for Sim, who had trouble getting anything off while Diaz was on the move. To Sim's credit he came to fight and keep his title as he did land -and took- good punches from Diaz. But in the end, the quick combinations and brutal body attack proved to be too much for Sim to overcome. I have a feeling we will see more of Lakva Sim, who proved himself a talented and very tough fighter. Diaz, on the other hand, is well on his way to being a superstar in the  sport. The judges saw it 118-110, 116-112, and 118-111 for Diaz, who ups his record to 25-0 (12 KO’s) while Lakva Sim drops to 19-4-1 (16 KO’s). The only way is up for Juan 'The Baby Bull' Diaz, now the new WBA Lightweight champion. 7-17-2004   Brought to you by Saratogamist copyright 2001-2004