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The well-traveled Rocky
Juarez promised to retire if he didn't come out victorious on Monday night
against Nicaraguan Rene Alvarado in a 12-round bout for the WBC Silver featherweight
title at the Fort Bliss Arena in El Paso, Texas.
In the early stages of the
fight, nationally televised on Fox Sports 1, Juarez, 30-10-1 (21), had problems
contending with the size and activity of Alvarado, 20-3 (14), who held a
significant advantage in height and is nine years Juarez’s junior at age 25.
But slowly but surely, Juarez’s experience began to control this fight. He
consistently banged away at Alvarado’s body on the inside and as the night wore
on, landed big left hooks and right hands over the top that stunned Alvarado.
The troops - who were given
free admission to this card on Memorial Day - really got into the action as they
chanted, “Rocky! Rocky! Rocky!” for the 34-year old from Houston, who
represented the United States in the 2000 Olympics. There was back-and-forth
action in the championship rounds as both Juarez and Alvarado refused to
capitulate but Juarez landed the harder, more forceful punches. Alvarado,
perhaps worn down by the steady body attack of Juarez, lost much of the steam
off his punches.
When the scorecards were
read, Juarez came out on top by the scores of 117-111 and 116-112, twice. It
was a well-deserved and hard-earned victory for a man who gets to fight another
day.
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