RICARDO JUAREZ

     “We used to box in the streets in my neighborhood.  We’d have rivalries:  street vs. street, neighborhood against neighborhood.  I had an advantage because my grandfather, Pedro, taught me the basics of boxing when I was very young.” 

     Pedro Garcia, Sr. boxed as an amateur in Monterrey, Mexico.   

     In 1993, Juarez’s carpenter father, Pedro, Jr., visited the local lumberyard for material.  The owner, a boxing trainer who had seen Rocky boxing in the streets, suggested that Pedro send his son to the local boxing gym.  “Let him box for something, instead of doing it in the streets for nothing.” 

     Hence, Rocky became a member of Ray’s Boxing Club, the same facility once utilized by former junior middleweight champion Raul Marquez.  The owner, Ray Ontiveros, still operates as Juarez’s head trainer today.  

     Juarez captured several amateur titles while attending Jefferson Davis High School in Houston, TX: 

• In 1996, he earned gold medals in both the Junior Olympics National Championships and the Junior Olympics World Championships. 

• In 1997, he won the Muhammad Ali Cup and earned a bronze medal at the U.S. Championships.  He also won the “Under-19” U.S. National Championships.

• In 1998, he won the National PAL Championships.

• In 1999, he won the U.S. Championships and earned a gold medal at the World Championships.

     After graduating in 1999, Juarez continued his assault on the amateur boxing world by winning the 2000 U.S. Championships for the second consecutive year, and by earning the “Outstanding Boxer” award at the Olympic Trials.    

 He capped off his successful amateur career by reaching the gold medal round at the 2000 Sydney Olympics by defeating the following opponents:

Bijan Batmani (Iran)                          TKO 3 (15-0)

Falk Huste (Germany)                      W 4     (17-15)

Somluck Kamsing (Thailand)          TKO 4 (31-16)

Kamil Dzamalutdinov (Russia)        W 4     (23-12)

     Unfortunately, in the gold medal round, Juarez lost a highly-controversial decision to Kazakhstan native Bekzat Sattarkhanov and was forced to accept the silver medal.  Russian referee Stanislov Kirsanov repeatedly warned Sattarkhov for holding, but refused to penalize the Eastern European featherweight.  U.S. Olympic Boxing Team Manager Gary Toney argued that Kirsanov “issued nine cautions and never penalized the guy [Sattarkhov].”  

     The loss snapped Juarez’s 68-fight winning streak, leaving him with a career amateur record of 145-17. 

     In his pro debut on January 13, 2001, Juarez punished Pascali Adorno with crippling body punches to earn a unanimous decision by the scores of 40-36, 40-36, and 39-37 (W 4).  In the second round, Juarez dug a left hook to the ribs of his undefeated, southpaw opponent that forced Adorno to turn his back on Juarez momentarily in pain.  Despite Juarez’s relentless style, the rugged Adorno fought competitively throughout the bout, which was broadcast live on SHOWTIME’s Championship Boxing series. 

     On March 2, 2001, Juarez stopped Terre Haute, IN native Mike Jones at :44 of round one (KO 1).  After absorbing a partially deflected left hook from Juarez, Jones fell to the canvas where he curiously sat until the 10-count expired.  

     On May 19, 2001, Juarez battered Eddie Uturov from the opening bell to earn a fourth round stoppage (TKO 4).  Juarez wore down the Las Vegas, NV native with a stiff left jab and a punishing body attack.  With just seconds left in round three an overhand right followed by a combination dropped Uturov to the canvas.  In round four Juarez jumped on his opponent immediately, forcing the referee to halt the bout at the :38 mark of round four. 

     Two months later on July 20, 2001, Juarez stopped Fabian Espinoza in three rounds (TKO 3).  Juarez floored Espinoza twice in round two, and then finished off his gutty opponent in round three with a crippling left hook to the body that sent Espinoza to his knees.  Espinoza rose at the count of nine, but refused to continue. 

     On September 1, 2001, Juarez pummeled Juan Rafael Gutierrez to pitch a six round shutout by the score of 60-53 (3 times).  Juarez dropped Gutierrez in the first round and then rocked him repeatedly throughout the bout, nearly stopping the durable East Los Angeles, CA featherweight on several occasions (W 6).  

     On November 10, 2001, in Houston, TX, Juarez blasted fellow undefeated featherweight Corey Ben Alarcon in two rounds (TKO 2).  The Houston, TX native electrified his hometown friends and family, twice dropping Alarcon with left hooks to the ribs in the second round.  The bout was waved to a halt at the 1:57 mark of round two following the second knockdown, the result of a left hook to the body that sent Alarcon through the ropes and nearly onto the laps of ringside spectators.  The ShoBox-televised bout was Juarez’s first hometown bout since turning pro in January 2001.   

     Juarez began the year 2002 the way he ended 2001:  chopping down his opponents.  On January 5 Juarez twice floored Frankie Martinez in the fourth round to earn a referee’s stoppage (TKO 4).   The official time was 1:11 of round four. 

     On February 15, 2002, Juarez dominated Jorge Garcia to win a unanimous decision (W 8). 

     Juarez added another knockout to resume on April 27, 2002, destroying Javier Ortiz in five rounds (TKO 5).  Juarez floored Ortiz in the final seconds of round one, and then dismantled the Salinas, Puerto Rican in rounds 2-4 with a punishing barrage of blows to the head and body.  Midway through round five Juarez battered Ortiz with over a dozen unanswered punches to force a referee’s stoppage.  Ortiz sagged to the canvas as the bout was waved to a halt.  In Ortiz’s last bout on August 4, 2001, he went the distance with 2000 Olympic Gold Medalist Brahim Asloum, losing a six-round decision.         

     On May 25, 2002, Juarez floored Len Martinez three times in the first round with crippling left hooks to the body to earn the second first-round knockout of his career (TKO 1). 

     On July 13, 2002, Juarez gave the most impressive performance of his young career when he crushed Isidro Tejedor in two rounds (TKO 2).  Tejedor, who in his last two bouts had gone the distance with former WBC featherweight champion Guty Espadas and former WBC Continental Americas jr. lightweight champion Julian Wheeler, admitted he was unable to overcome Juarez’s crippling body attack:  “He’s [Juarez] stronger than Espadas.  He’s a strong body puncher and he throws fast right hands.  He hurt me with the left hook to the body.”  The knockout was Juarez’s fifth in his last six bouts. 

     He returned to the ring on August 30, 2002, blitzing Ivan Alvarez in six rounds (TKO 6).  Juarez floored Alvarez once in round four with a devastating right uppercut, and then dropped him again in round five courtesy of a left hook to the body.  Juarez’s persistent attacked wore down the tough, awkward Alvarez, forcing him to retire on his stool following the completion of round six.  Prior to the Juarez bout, Alvarez had been stopped only once in his career—on June 7, 1996, by multiple world champion Johnny Tapia (TKOby 8). 

     On October 19, 2002, Juarez dominated former world champion Hector Acero-Sanchez to capture a lopsided unanimous decision (W 10).  In the words of Houston Chronicle boxing writer William Stickney, Juarez’s “combinations and relentless siege had Acero-Sanchez backing up the entire fight.”

      Juarez capped an exceptional year on December 6, 2002, by hammering durable veteran Natalio Ponce to earn a ninth round knockout (TKO 9).  Juarez rocked Ponce in round nine with a devastating overhand right, sending Ponce reeling across the ring.  Moments later Referee Sam Garza halted the bout because of a sever cut above Ponce’s left eye.    

     On February 1, 2003, Juarez dismantled former USBA champion Jason Pires to earn his sixth stoppage in his last seven bouts (TKO 9).  Juarez battered the former champion from the opening bell, stunning him late in round one and then flooring him in round two with a thunderous combination to the head.  After punishing Pires in rounds three thru seven, Juarez dropped him with just seconds remaining in round eight.  Valiantly, Pires rose to his feet and answered the bell for round nine.  However, at the start of round nine Juarez pounced on Pires, landing blistering combinations to the head to force referee Frank Cappuccino to halt the bout at the :16 mark of the round. 

     Juarez returned to the ring on May 3 to headline professional boxing’s return to network television.  The NBC-broadcasted “Budweiser Boxing Series” bout ended in six rounds as Juarez punished Frankie Archuleta with crippling left hooks to the body and stinging counter-overhand rights to earn a dominating sixth-round knockout and further stake a claim as perhaps the finest prospect in the sport (TKO 6).    

     In his last bout on July 19, 2003, Juarez fought his toughest opponent yet as a pro, battling for 10 exciting rounds against former world title challenger Antonio “Chelo” Diaz.  Diaz’s awkward movement frustrated Juarez early in the bout, but the 2000 U.S. Silver Medalist solved the riddle in the later rounds, breaking down Diaz with left hooks and overhand rights to the head.  At the 1:33 mark of round 10, Juarez landed “a shuddering, hellacious, dramatic left hook that caught ‘Chelo’ Diaz on his chin midway through the final round and dropped him like an oak tree hit by lightning” (Fran Blinebury, Houston Chronicle).  The electrifying knockout was Juarez’s 10^th in his last 12 bouts. 

     Juarez plans to attend college while boxing professionally, majoring in either Business Management or Computer Science. 

     His hobbies are fishing and dancing.