Houston, We Don’t Have a Problem

Posted by Igor Frank on 09.07.2008

Ringside Report: Local stars Juan “ Baby Bull’ Diaz and Ricardo “Rocky” Juarez shined in front of capacity crowd of loyal near fanatical fans at the Toyota Center, but neither one had an easy night.


Photos by Ed Mulholland

HOUSTON, TX - In the main event of the evening, televised by HBO after Dark, Juan "Baby Bull" Diaz (34 – 1, 17 KO'S) battled Australian warrior Michael Katsidis (23 – 2, 20 KO'S) for twelve hard fought rounds to earn a well deserved split decision victory (113-115,116-112,115-113) and a vacant IBO lightweight title. But the appetizer, which was a brutal super featherweight slugfest between Rocky Juarez and Jorge Barrios with Rocky seemingly being outworked by bigger, stronger and more active man and coming back to score a dramatic 11th round TKO, has definitely turned into a hot main course and has stolen the show.

Houston is obviously a fight town, which was well illustrated by a live gate of 14,555 thunderous fans that topped the attendance of Las Vegas blockbuster between Cotto and Margarito. Aside from Mario Lopez, who himself trains at Wild Card Gym in Hollywood and is a huge boxing fan, all celebrities to attend this event were boxers ; George Foreman, Evander Holyfield, Oscar De La Hoya, who is still golden, Israel Famoso Hernadez, Dominick Guinn and a hot young super welterweight prospect Vanes Martirosyan. Lennox Lewis who is to be inducted in World Boxing Hall of Fame on November 15th in Los Angels was on hand as a commentator for HBO and to take pictures and sign autographs for fans.

Baby Bull Diaz has started the contest very impressively, by using a stiff, hard jab that was moving Katsidis back at times and getting on the inside and throwing hard combinations to the body then moving and turning his foe around and continuing with the attack downstairs. Michael Katsidis was firing back with regularity, but he was being pushed back and seemed puzzled by Diaz's jab and superior boxing skills and just when it seemed that the fight was getting away from the Greek brawler, he dug deep and found another dimension to his game and made it a very competitive battle down the stretch. Katsidis turned the fight around in the eighth stanza, either because Diaz forgot to use his jab or because Michael found a way to neutralize it, by increasing his punch output and out working his adversary. Katsidis edged most late rounds, even though they were highly contested, but the final stanza with both combatants feeling that the fight was still in the balance featured relentless two way assault, with neither man willing to back down nor stop punching and irrepressible crowd on their feet raucously cheering the unbelievable melee inside the ring. Both brave warriors were happy with their performances and neither one has anything to be ashamed of: Diaz is a champion again and Katsidis, despite two consecutive losses, is still a must see TV.

Rocky Juarez came into the ring in a must win fight being wildly cheered by his adoring fans, while his opponent flamboyant Argentinean Jorge Barrios was loudly booed.

Soon after entering the ring Rocky had to take a deep breath, he was seemingly being overwhelmed by an opponent who was stronger, taller with reach advantage who threw a lot of punches from every direction. Rocky blocked a lot of punches with his tight defensive stance and was firing back using a hard jab and a short compact left hook that surprisingly found a home early. Even though Barrios threw twice as many blows as Juarez, Rocky's compact accurate punches seemed a lot more effective. In the second round a head butt caused a deep gash on the side of the right eye of the Argentine, which only made the action look more violent and gory, as if it needed any help. But local referee obviously thought that Rocky needed assistance and took a point off Barrios for marginal low blow in the third stanza when Juarez was doing damage with sharp left hooks and crisp right crosses. In the fourth round I started to think that Rocky' left hook was finding home a little bit much and that sooner or later it would do more damage, but Barrios fought like an animal released from the cage and threw a barrage of punches from all different angles meant to overwhelm his opponent, who at times seemed a lot slower to return fire. Their contrasting styles only intensified the dynamic action inside the squared circle. The crowd was on their feet roaring in appreciation of witnessing of one of a kind brutal blood bath. Juarez started to come on in late rounds and was rocking Barrios with his patented left hooks. In the ninth frame referee took another point off Barrios for a questionable low blow and inspired the Argentine, for fear of being behind on score cards, to go for broke in the tenth, which produced such fierce two way brawl that I have no words to describe it, except to call it a Round of the Year. In the eleventh round Rocky finally landed a series of hooks that put Barrios down in a dramatic fashion. The brave Argentine got up and beat the count but was a bloody mess from a split lip caused by a punch. The ring side doctor waved the fight off at 2minutes an 55 seconds of the 11th and Michael Buffer announced Rocky Juarez a winner by a TKO.

What a night, nobody in the crowd was disappointed. Kudos to Golden Boy Promotions for taking their show on the road and making a major event in a fight town that could really appreciate it. Let's do it again real soon.