Monday, Sept. 18, 2006 | 7:16 a.m.
Disappointing fans who had hoped to witness another of his signature slugfests, Marco Antonio Barrera instead unearthed a technical and defensive gem to hold off challenger Rocky Juarez for the world super featherweight title Saturday night at the MGM Grand.
The Barrera supporters who jeered the performance - some even showed their displeasure by marching out of the arena early - revealed themselves as either bloodthirsty or victims of temporary amnesia, forgetting that defense is a crucial part of the fight game.
"It's understandable," Barrera said after defending his WBC belt at 130 pounds. "People come, they pay their money and they want to be entertained. That's fine, but this is a sport where you're supposed to hit and not get hit."
The one person more frustrated than the boo-birds was Juarez, stymied in his attempt to make the most of his second shot at a world title. Barrera granted Juarez a rematch after beating him by split decision in May, a bout marked by furious exchanges of power punches by both men.
In the rematch, Barrera (63-4, 42 knockouts) opted to forgo his aggressive style that has led to a series of memorable brawls in the center of the ring during his splendid 17-year career as a pro.
Instead, he channeled slick tacticians of the ring such as past champions Pernell Whitaker and Roy Jones Jr., keeping Juarez off his rhythm and inflicting enough damage to secure a unanimous decision.
Barrera repeatedly denied Juarez's efforts to move the action inside and relied on a heavy jab to control the fight's tempo. Barrera landed 105 of 369 jabs thrown, according to the CompuBox tally, while Juarez landed only 34 of 198.
"Obviously in most of my fights people are used to seeing explosive fights," Barrera, 32, said. "I wanted to show I could do something different - I wanted to show I could beat him with one hand, my left hand
"I wanted to give him a boxing lesson, and that's exactly what I did."
Juarez came into the fight with the same game plan he had for their first encounter: try to mix it up with Barrera, always press the action. He appeared unwilling, or unable, to adjust to Barrera's defense-oriented approach.
"I tried to make it a fight, and he wouldn't trade shots with me," said Juarez (25-3, 18 KOs), nursing a swollen right eye, the result of a clean uppercut from Barrera. "He didn't come to fight. He came to box.
"I thought it was my time to be a world champion. I'm disappointed I came up short again."
Barrera's promoter Oscar De La Hoya said he's confident Juarez, 26, will rebound to win a world title and remain a force in the division.
"All credit to Rocky Juarez," De La Hoya said. "Barrera, with his skills, his intelligence, he won the fight in that fashion, (using) his experience and knowledge. He used his jab and his combinations all night long to keep (Juarez) at bay."
Barrera said he would like a chance to avenge his 2003 loss to Manny Pacquiao before retiring next year. HBO is holding a date in March for that potential matchup.
After tuning up with a seventh-round technical knockout of Jairo Ramirez in the headliner of a card at the Orleans on Thursday, Las Vegas lightweight contender Kid Diamond wants a world championship fight.
Diamond, a native of Kyrgyzstan whose real name is Almazbek Raiymkulov, wants to fight either WBA champ Juan Diaz or the winner of the Oct. 7 WBC title match between Diego Corrales and Joel Casamayor, Diamond's trainer Miguel Diaz said. Diamond fought Casamayor to a draw in a nontitle bout last year.
Despite sustaining an injury to his right knuckles in the second round, Diamond (23-1-1, 14 KOs) knocked Ramirez (20-3, 7 KOs) to the canvas three times before Thursday night's fight was halted.
"When he told me his knuckles were hurting, I told him to keep using the jab, work in the right, then open it up around the fifth, sixth round," Diaz said. "That's exactly what happened."
Diamond has been working with Diaz for his past three fights, since his lone loss to Nate Campbell last year.
"He's helped me a lot," Diamond said. "We're doing a lot of sparring, a lot of work on technique."
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