Sharkie’s Machine
By Frank Gonzalez Jr.
September 17th, 2006
“MA Barrera And The Mexican Evolution”
Saturday night at the MGM in Las
Vegas, the Main Event featured Marco Antonio Barrera
(63-4-0-1 ND, 42 KO’s) in a rematch against Rocky
Juarez (25-3-0,18 KO’s). Though Barrera won the
decision in the first fight, many felt that if it had
gone longer than 12 rounds, Juarez would have won,
since the momentum shifted his way late in that first
fight.
This time, Barrera put on a boxing clinic that showed
that his evolution from brawler to boxer is complete.
Barrera was more economical this time, saving some gas
for the later rounds. He dominated Juarez with cleaner
punches and excellent ring generalship all night.
Juarez was rendered ineffective by Barrera’s better
boxing skills. By the sixth round Juarez’ right eye
was closing fast from absorbing all those Barrera
jabs. Though Juarez tried to land a big bomb and close
the show strong, Barrera’s mobility proved too elusive
to allow that.
The fans booed at times, as Barrera vs. Juarez II
turned out to be a less than thrilling, technical
match that lacked the firepower of the two fights that
preceded it.
*
The first under card featured rising Dominican star,
Joan Guzman (26-0, 17 KO’s) vs. Argentine slugging
sensation, Jorge Barrios (46-3-1, 33 KO’s).
Guzman showcased his impressive boxing skills and a
haughty dexterity, as he out boxed Barrios and won
most of the exchanges. Guzman landed cleaner shots
at a higher clip and his defense effectively protected
him from most of Jorge Barrios’ vicious assaults.
Referee Vic Drakulich (a questionable relation to the
Count from Transylvania), made a questionable call
when he took a point from Barrios for what he
considered a low blow. The punch was on the belt line
and Drakulich was out of line in making that call. The
only thing it did was, “kick a man who was already
down” on points.
Barrios lost more rounds but again proved his market
value as an extremely entertaining fighter to watch.
Barrio is a true Warrior, with a great chin. The only
way he’d go out would be on his sword. Always pressing
forward, always punching (and getting hit in the
process), Barrios constantly took the fight to Guzman,
who also showed a hell of a beard himself.
Guzman was simply too slick and too smart for the
naturally smaller Barrios. At the start of the 12th
round, Guzman reached out, humbly shook gloves and
then hugged Barrios in a sign of respect. It was a
nice thing to see. Barrios went on to win the
last round with pure determination.
Though Barrios focus was narrow, his punches were too
wide to really hurt Guzman. Though the rounds were
always close, in my view, Guzman had just enough of an
edge in enough rounds to go on to win a Split Decision
in an epic battle of memorable proportions.
Though Barrios lost the fight, he definitely won the
fans over with his show of tremendous heart and will
against the stronger, slicker Guzman. There was no
loss of stature for the angry Argentine who likes to
wear big sunglasses when he’s not in the ring.
Congrats to Joan Guzman, who won possession of the
vacant WBO Jr. Lightweight Title in this non-stop
action, thriller of a fight. In a way, since it was
such a good, competitive fight, both guys will see
their stock rise after the rankings get updated and
the dust settles at 130-pounds.
* *
The second fight featured two, ‘cream of the crop’
Mexican ‘boxers’ in the 122-pound division in Jhonny
Gonzalez (33-5-0, 28 KO’s) challenging WBC Super
Bantamweight Champion, Israel Vasquez (41-3-0, 29
KO’s).
Unlike the stereotype of Mexican fighters being wild
brawlers, today’s top Mexican pugilists are evolving
into accomplished technical fighters. Guys like MA
Barrera, Jhonny Gonzalez and Israel Vasquez are
examples of the fusion of highly technical boxing
skills and the spirit of their brawling past. It’s a
hell of a thing to see.
It was a great match up between two guys coming off
big wins over top guys in their divisions. Vasquez
recently won his Title with a TKO-3 victory over
former Super Bantamweight Champ, Oscar Larios (he also
retired Ivan Hernandez in four rounds in June).
Gonzalez won the WBO Bantamweight Title when he won a
Split Decision over the technically pure, former
Champion, Fernando Montiel.
This fight started out as a mismatch, with Jhonny
Gonzalez working his jab and keeping Vasquez out of
range and rhythm for the first half of the fight.
Gonzalez’ jab was finding Vasquez right eye enough to
cause an annoying cut. The shorter Vasquez had a
hard time getting inside against the tall, rangy
Gonzalez. When he did manage to get inside, he cracked
Jhonny on the nose and it bled profusely throughout
the fight. Gonzalez fought on, stayed calm and kept
doing what was working. He used his height and the
right distance to land his shots, while keeping
Vasquez away. Gonzalez floored Vasquez in the fourth
and sixth rounds with well-wound, counter left hooks,
both of which put Vasquez on his seat.
In the seventh, Vasquez found his way back into the
fight with a big right that dropped Gonzalez, who went
down hard, got up and then carefully negotiated his
way to the end of the round with some strategic
holding and recreating a safe distance.
In the eighth, Vasquez managed to drop Gonzalez again
but it was ruled a slip. Gonzalez went back to smart
boxing and won the round with his jab.
By the end of the round, Gonzalez’ face was swelling
to a pulp. The momentum shifted again and Vasquez was
able to score inside. He knew Gonzalez was still a
little woozy from the previous knockdowns and kept the
pressure on. His mission was clearly to knock Gonzalez
out.
In the tenth, Gonzalez landed a big low blow, which
drew a stern warning from referee, Kenny Bayless. When
action resumed, Vasquez fought like a man possessed
and caught Gonzalez with another hard right that
dropped Gonzalez to his knees.
Gonzalez did not look stable, as he stayed down until
late in the count. Though he beat the count, his
trainer, Oscar Suarez threw in the towel. It was
shocking, but you have to believe his newly hired
trainer thought it was necessary—even if he was the
only one in the Gonzalez corner that felt that way.
Gonzalez’ brilliant first half performance ended with
a loss by tenth round TKO.
Congratulations to Israel Vasquez, who did what truly
great fighters do—face adversity, overcome it and win
the fight. Vasquez gallantly retained his Title as
WBC Super Bantamweight Champion.
* * *
After all the dramatic tension and action from Barrios
vs. Guzman and Gonzalez vs. Vasquez fights, it was
little wonder that the fans got restless during the
one sided Main Event of Barrera vs. Juarez, during
which fans were heard booing. MAB methodically
controlled the pace and out boxed the ineffective
Juarez in what was easily the least exciting fight on
the card.
During the post fight interview, Barrera spared us the
hideous translations of HBO's Ray Torres as he spoke
rudimentary English well enough to communicate that he
plans to retire next year.
MAB’s had a hell of a career and will definitely be
remembered as one of the greatest fighters of his era.
His involvement with Oscar de la Hoya’s Golden Boy
Promotions appears to have had a positive effect on
him. I hope he stays in a boxing related occupation
but whatever he does, I wish him the best.
All in all, it was a great night for boxing. Too bad
too many fight fans couldn’t see it—since it was
limited to PPV audiences. Let's hope that boxing gets
better organized in the future so that promoters can
make enough from legitimate advertising to keep boxing
on free television, like it used to be, once upon a
time, when boxing was the most popular sport on the
planet.
* * * *
Comments can be emailed to dshark87@hotmail.com
9-16-2006
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