24.04.04 – By Carlos Kalinchuk: For all the Houston faithful who came out in droves to watch Rocky Juarez fight San Antonio tough guy Joe Morales, there was a major scare in round two as Rocky was rocked to the canvass by a very hard Morales left hook. After the fight Trainer Ray Olivares said “Oh shit!” is what he thought when undefeated Silver Medallist took his first spill in his pro career. “I didn’t see the punch coming and he just caught me,” added Juarez. “It was the first time I’ve been down in 10 years and I wanted to get up at 6 so the referee wouldn’t stop the fight just in case I stumbled when I got up.” This was definitely a very smart veteran move by Rocky and one that served him well this afternoon. Rocky won by Unanimous Decision on all three judges score cards in a very grueling fight by scores of 97-92 all around. The fight looked a little closer than that but not by much as the taller Morales faded in the last four rounds. His bravado and machismo put him where he shouldn’t have been (on the ropes) and that is where he lost the fight. Perhaps he was tired but he put on a hell of a fight as Rocky was seriously tested. After the fight Rocky’s lip was swelling badly as it appeared split in 2-3 places. Nonetheless, Rocky came out and picked his spots and in the end his precision left hooks were just too much for Morales. Juarez improves to 20-0 while Morales drops to 19-8.
****A longer post fight interview will be posted tomorrow so stay tuned!
MacKillop Comes Away With A Close Split Decision!
In The Co-Featured bout of the afternoon Mexico’s Roberto Garcia 15-1 (11 KO’s) dropped a split decision to Canada’s Ian MacKillop 18-3 (10 KO’s) in what was a tough fight to score. Garcia displayed more power but it was sporadic throughout while MacKillop’s 3 punch combinations landed at will and he was able to dodge many of Garcia’s one at a time punch assault. What added to the difficulty in scoring was that MacKillop lacked a lot of pop in his punch. The scorecards were 77-75 for either fighter and finally Judge Gayle VanHoy unbelievably ruled it 77-74 victory for MacKillop. This is no surprise as VanHoy’s cards tend to be disastrous and you never know what you’re going to get. Many at ringside (myself included) had the fight much closer. I ruled it a draw but 3 rounds either way is totally ridiculous. In fact I don’t understand how such and unstable and incompetent judge could continue to receive so many fights to officiate over. Nonetheless, both combatants put up a spirited effort and a win by two rounds either way is slightly plausible.
What happened…In round 1 MacKillop started strong and he landed some great three punch combinations. The Stadium was cold and air-conditioned and you could see that Garcia was not warmed up. The only decent punch Garcia landed was a hook because MacKillops movement was great. He used his length and distance to keep Garcia at bay and he dipped and moved to avoid anything he threw. This was an easy round to score for MacKillop. Round two was the summary of the fight in total. Garcia landed the harder shots but the were much fewer and farther in between while MacKillop peppered him with 3 and four punch combinations. I believe Garcia even up the round because his punches caused more damage though in round 2. Garcia did nothing in this round. He continued to stalk to no avail. His punches would miss and he was warned for throwing low. But, just as you though Garcia was done in the round, he came on strong with some hard power connect punches in the closing seconds. This round was the hardest to score so I had to score it even. Round 4 was all Garcia though as MacKillop looked like he began to tire from all the moving and ducking and jabbing. Again, Garcia was warned by referee Sam Garza for throwing a low blow. Round 5 was a copy of round 4. Round 6 was much of the same as Garcia looked to begin to gain a serious lead on the more experienced MacKillop. It looked like MacKillop was headed towards an upset when in Round 7 Garcia came out of his corner with massive swelling on his left eye. Unfortunately Garcia did a dumb thing and threw yet another low blow. Garcia was properly penalized one point by referee Sam Garza. He also lost this round as MacKillop seemed to re-energize and seize the round from Garcia and maybe the fight from Garcia. In round 8 MacKillop kept up the momentum and closed the fight stronger. I felt it was an easy draw to score but the judges though otherwise.
In Other Action…
In the opening bout of the afternoon, Houston’s Lucy Contreras opened up her professional career with a Unanimous Decision victory when she out hustled Evangelina Abeyta 1-7 (1 KO) of Colorado.
Jose Diaz Opens Up Pro Career With A Win!
In the second fight of the afternoon, Juan Diaz’s younger brother Jose Diaz also opened his professional career with a Unanimous Decision victory with his aggressive onslaught on El Paso’s Jose Luis Burgos 0-4. Where it not for Jose’s size difference (which is about two inches than his older brother) you would have thought that you were watching Juan in action. The ripping left hooks and aggression were all identical. In fact one could argue that his defense is better as he bobbed and moved his may around the ring. Not a bad start and he should be an exciting fighter to watch in the years to come.
Rivera Punks The Fans With Shameful Performance; Martinez Wins By DQ!
I’m starting to think all fight cards have at least one shameful display of pugilism and this afternoon only confirmed it when Columbia’s Juan Rivera 12-1 (10 KO’s) was disqualified for excessive holding by referee Bobby Gonzalez. He lost a point in rounds 2 and 3 and by round four Gonzalez had seen enough after numerous warnings. Gonzalez added after the fight, “I could barely pull him apart he was holding so tight.” Houston’s Stephen Martinez improved to 45-5-1 (27 KO’s) and he has nothing to be ashamed of, as he had come to fight. Rivera was roundly booed as the late replacement for Newton Villareal who was without a VISA at fight time. Rivera had the nerve to behave like a coward during the Telemundo portion of the telecast and unfortunately the TV people had allotted a whole hour for this 10 round-scheduled fight. And then it was over in just a few rounds, there was a major lull over the crowd in between fights. You could suddenly tell that something was definitely missing at this promotion. Then I realized the ring card girls were no ring card girls.
In the final fight of the afternoon, Arthur Trevino 2-2-1 (1 KO) of Dallas fought Emmanuel Ford of Brownsville 5-22-2 to a draw.
Carlos “Stiff-jab” Kalinchuk
Contributing Writer & Photographer