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Toyota Center-Houston, Texas

Chris John (42-0-1, 22 KO's, 125.25 pounds) (c) vs. Rocky Juarez (28-4, 20 KO's, 125.5 pounds)

John won the vacant interim version of this championship via 12-round split decision over Oscar Leon on September 26, 2003 at the Kartika Plaza Hotel in Kuta, Indonesia. It was quickly upgraded to a regular championship and later became a Super Championship*. John is making his eleventh defense of some form of this belt.

This is the champion's first professional match in the United States. John has boxed primarily out of his native Indonesia where it is considered nearly impossible for foreign boxers to defeat him via decision. Juan Manuel Marquez faced John on March 4, 2006 in Indonesia, and appeared to impartial viewers to win the match. However,when Marquez appeared on his way to a decision victory, the foreigner was deducted a point for repeated low blows in round 10 and 11. Then the final scorecards revealed, Marquez had lost badly, only winning 3 rounds on 1 of the judge's scorecards. After seeing what happened to Marquez, Gilroy, California's Robert Guerrero, who became the top ranked boxer at 126 pounds in 2008, moved to 130 pounds, rather then risk a trip to Indonesia for a title unification match.

John's last match a blowout 12-round unanimous decision victory over Hiroyuki Enoki on October 24, 2008 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan.

John is entering the match as The Ring magazine's number 1 contender to their vacant championship at 126 pounds.

Juarez had a stellar amateur boxing career that culminated when he took home the silver medal for the United States in the 125-pound weight class at 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics.

The challenger had surgery before his last match to remove a cartilage build up on his left eye. It was so bad that reportedly before Juarez had surgery when he was asked to pick up a shaker off a kitchen table, the boxer would occasionally miss the shaker completely when going to grab it. Juarez is still very young in real life. However, his extensive amateur career and a series of brutal pro matches against elite competition have taken a toll on him. Juarez, at less then 30-years-old, is probably on the downside of his career.

Juarez' last match was a technical knockout at 2:55 of round 11 over Jorge Barrios for the vacant WBO Latino Championship at 130 pounds on September 6, 2008 in the same building that is housing this event. The match was nearly a complete debacle with Juarez, a native Houstonian, given a huge hometown advantage from the referee and judges in the match. Barrios was deducted a point for a minor low blow in round 3. Barrios appeared to completely out-class Juarez for much of the match. In round 5, Juarez took on the body language of an "opponent" who was content to lose. Barrios was out-working Juarez, who appeared listless the entire match. Then in round 9, Barrios was deducted another point on a bad low blow call. However, Barrios still appeared comfortably ahead despite the 2 point deductions after 9 rounds. Then, Barrios ran completely out of gas in round 10. In round 11, Juarez caught Barrios with a combination that knocked him down and had blood spewing from the Argentine's mouth. Barrios beat the referee's count, but time was immediately called for the doctor to check on the fresh cut on Barrios' lip. The doctor said the sickening cut made it unsafe for Barrios to continue and stopped the match giving Juarez the technical knockout win. The scorecards were then revealed and shockingly, Juarez who at that point had thrown more then 500 fewer punches then Barrios had an insurmountable lead on 2 of the official judges' scorecards. Both of those judges were from Juarez' native Texas. It appeared Juarez had at best won 3 of the first 10 rounds, but one judge had scored 6 rounds for Juarez. A full recap of that match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2009/3/11/recap-of-rocky-juarez-vs-jorge-barrios.html Juarez has already vacated the relatively meaningless title, and it will not be at stake in this match.

Juarez entered this match unranked by The Ring at 126 and was instead inside their top 10 at 130 pounds.

At 28-years-old, Juarez is 1 year younger then the 29-year-old John. John has the height advantage standing 5' 7.5" tall, while Juarez stands 5' 5" tall. John has the reach advantage with a 22.5" arm length measured from the armpit to the end of the fist, compared to the 22" arm length of Juarez. Juarez will be the heavier boxer in the ring having unofficially rehydrated to 135 pounds approaching match time on HBO's unofficial scale. John has only rehydrated to 133 pounds approaching match time on HBO's unofficial scale. Both boxers will employ the orthodox stance.

The unified rules of boxing are in effect for this event. The official judges keeping score of this match from ringside are from California, Ohio and Texas. The referee is Laurence Cole. Harold Lederman will be keeping HBO's unofficial scorecard for this event.

John uses a solid jab to win a relatively close round 1, 10-9. Lederman scores round 1 for John, 10-9. The champion wins a very close round 2, 10-9. There is some tremendous defense being shown by both boxers in the early part of this match. Both boxers are blocking an unusually high percentage of punches making the rounds very difficult to score. On the outside, John is doing better. However, Juarez is pressuring the champion and forcing the match to be an inside brawl that favors the American. Juarez wins round 2 on Lederman's scorecard, 10-9. With about 30 seconds to go in round 3, the left eye of Juarez is beginning to swell shut. Juarez will probably have significant vision problems by the end of the match. John was much busier then Juarez in round 3, but Juarez appeared to land the more significant power punches in the round. Therefore, Juarez wins round 3 on my scorecard, 10-9, but after 3 rounds John leads on my scorecard, 29-28. Lederman scores round 3 for John, 10-9, and has the champion ahead on his scorecard after 3 rounds, 29-28.

Round 4 is contested on the outside. Therefore, John wins round 4, 10-9. John takes round 4 on Lederman's scorecard, 10-9. A straight right hand opens up a bad cut over the left eye of Juarez with 1:13 to go in round 5. For drawing first blood, John wins round 5, 10-9. In between rounds, the HBO camera reveals that the cut above Juarez' left eye may be one that leads to an early stoppage. The cut is directly above the eye and below the eyebrow. It is already moderately wide. If it gets much worse the referee will be forced to stop the match. It is bleeding into Juarez' already swelling eye, further inhibiting his vision. In addition, Juarez has a small cut under his left eye. However, that cut should play no factor in the match. The referee did not see the blow that cut Juarez. Whenever a referee is not sure that a cut was caused by an accidental clash of heads, they are supposed to give the boxer the benefit of the doubt and rule that the cut was caused by a punch. However, it appears the referee is ruling that the punch was caused by an accidental clash of heads in this case. There is no video replay in Texas. (Former New Jersey Commissioner Larry Hazard had his state be the first and so far only state to enable video replay for cuts. As an aside, for being one of the best commissioners in the history of boxing and MMA, Hazard was fired for caring too much about athlete safety.) Lederman scores round 5 for Juarez, 10-9. The doctor checked on Juarez' cut following round 5 and said the boxer was fit to continue. With 36 seconds to go in round 6, Juarez' gloves touch the mat. However, it was a slip. The referee correctly rules it a slip and the action is quickly resumed. John easily wins round 6, 10-9. That was the best round of the match for the champion, who was smiling as the bell rang to signal an end to the scheduled first half of the match. After 6 rounds, John leads on my scorecard, 59-55. The champion wins round 6 on the Lederman scorecard, 10-9, and John leads on Lederman's scorecard after 6 rounds, 59-55. Through 6 rounds, John has landed 134 of the 492 total punches he has thrown, for a 27% total connect percentage. Meanwhile through 6 rounds, Juarez has only landed 87 of the 365 total punches he has thrown, for a 24% total connect percentage. Regardless of the numbers, the official judges could have this match much closer. Max Kellerman, who is doing color commentary of this event for HBO, thinks that some of the judges may have this match even after 6 rounds, 57-57. Kellerman believes the first 2 rounds could have been scored for Juarez with a judge finding another round for the local boxer somewhere in the next 4 rounds.

John continues to dominate Juarez, winning round 7 on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. Juarez' cut man has done an excellent job. The cut above the challenger's left eye has not been bleeding, since after round 5. However, John is targeting the cut with twisting right hands designed to have the cut gushing blood when they connect properly. Round 8 is contested at close distance for most of the 3 minutes. However, John continues to out-work Juarez winning the round, 10-9. Juarez is boxing possibly the best match of his career. Unfortunately, Juarez is facing an elite boxer where that effort appears to not be good enough to win. Lederman scores round 8 for Juarez, 10-9. With a little over 1 minute to go in round 9, Juarez is beginning to bleed from the bridge of his nose. The busier John wins a close round 9, 10-9, and leads on my scorecard after 9 rounds, 89-83. At the end of round 9, John has a slight cut over his left eye. It is not bleeding and should play no factor in the match. Lederman scores round 9 for John, 10-9, and has the champion ahead on his scorecard after 9 rounds, 88-83. However, the local judging could have Juarez ahead by a point giving the Houstonian rounds 8 and 9.

John wins rounds 10, 10-9. Lederman scores round 10 for Juarez, 10-9. However in round 10, John threw more punches and landed more punches then Juarez. John has thrown and landed more punches then Juarez in every round of the match, so far. In addition, John has thrown over 100 punches in each of the last 4 rounds. Juarez landed some good power punches that brought the crowd to their feet in round 11, and were good enough to win the round on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. In round 11, John landed 34 of the 119 total punches he threw, for a 29% total connect percentage. Juarez landed the flashier punches in round 11, but only landed 23 of the 73 total punches he threw, for a 32% total connect percentage. With the crowd chanting "Rocky! Rocky" in between rounds 11 and 12, Juarez' trainer, Ronnie Shields, tells his charge that the crowd wants a knockout and the boxer needs to give it to them. Juarez only has 1 knockout in his career past round 10. That was when the Houstonian knocked out Barrios in round 11 in his last match. Round 12 is very good and very close. The crowd gave the match a standing ovation when the final bell sounded. Once again, John throws more punches and lands more punches then Juarez in round 12. Again in round 12, Juarez hit John with some hard punches. However, the more consistent work from John probably wins the exciting round, 10-9. John wins the match on my scorecard, 118-110. Lederman scores round 12 for John, 10-9, and has the champion retaining the title on his scorecard by the score of, 116-112.

The official decision courtesy of the legendary Michael Buffer is that the judges have scored the match: 114-114, 114-114, 114-114, an unanimous decision draw. All 3 judges gave the last 2 rounds to Juarez to give him the draw. On champion's advantage, still the WBA Featherweight Super Champion of the World, Chris "The Dragon" John. The draw moves John to 42-0-2 with 22 wins coming by way of knockout.

The final punchstat numbers have John landing 344 of the 1190 total punches he threw, for a 29% total connect percentage. John landed 157 of the 628 jabs he threw, for a 25% jab connect percentage. Juarez landed 206 of the 797 total punches he threw, for a 26% total connect percentage. The Houstonian landed 84 of the 358 jabs he threw, for a 23% jab connect percentage.

Juarez said in his post-match interview that he failed to win by not pushing the pace in the middle rounds. The Houstonian said he had the energy, but did not push hard enough. Both boxers showed tremendous conditioning in this match and were able to finish very strong. They probably could have gone 15 rounds at this insane pace if they had to do it.

In John's post-match interview he said that he thought he won and was ready to take on anyone including a rematch with Juarez.

John boxed about the best match possible here, but only got a draw. This was reportedly the lowest payday of his near 6 year title reign. After this, it probably makes no sense to take less money and face biased judging in the United States. The draw was not a terrible decision. However, it is better business to get paid well to box in Indonesia and not worry about the judging. John says he only wants to box a few more times. The careers of lighter weight boxers are much shorter then those of heavyweights. He can probably get a relatively big money rematch with Juarez in Indonesia. That would be the best move for him.

Juarez probably boxed the best match of his career versus John. However, John is a better boxer. Following this match, The Ring made Juarez their number 4 contender at 126 pounds. Juarez should do everything he can to face John in a rematch under any circumstances. The Houstonian is also running out of time in his career. He is probably better then some of the champions in the weight class, but has endured a lot of damage in the ring. Juarez can either go after a championship at this point or the most money. John probably offers both. A rematch in Houston would be ideal on the undercard of another Juan Diaz match or as the undercard match on a PPV from Las Vegas. Shane Mosley will probably face Miguel Cotto in the fall in Las Vegas, Nevada. A Juarez-John rematch on the undercard of that match would probably pay both boxers well.

This match was very good and worth catching on a replay.