Barrera wins; Punch Stats Slightly Favor Barrera

Barrera wins; Punch Stats Slightly Favor Barrera

By Johnny Benz (Sep 17, 2006) Photo © German Villasenor

It may have been anything but crowd pleasing, but it was everything Marco Antonio Barrera needed to retain his WBC super featherweight belt. The crowd showed their dissatisfaction by booing often throughout the 12 rounds, but when the dust settled Barrera was awarded with a unanimous decision over Rocky Juarez.

One Judge scored it 117-111, and two other Judges had the same score of 115-113.

After the fight Juarez expressed his displeasure. "I felt like I was the aggressor again." said Juarez. "He didn't want to fight

. He never hurt me, not once, except with one punch to the eye."

Barrera was more than content with the outcome and said he stuck to his game plan. "I gave him a boxing lesson." Barrera said. "It's exactly what I intended to do. I learned never to fight on the level of my opponent. I'm the champion. I moved very fast and I used my jab."

The punch stats slightly favored Barrera, giving credit to him with landing 178 of 564 punches. Juarez landed 134 of 542 punches. Barrera landing 105 of his Jabs whereas Juarez only managed to get off 34.