LAS VEGAS – Omar Juarez was knocked down three times in his amateur boxing debut.
The Brownsville, Texas, native lost each of his first 10 amateur matches and started his boxing career with a remarkably bad record of 8-37. No one would’ve blamed Juarez, who fought for the first time when he was 8 years old, if he found something else to do with his spare time.
“It was bad, man,” Juarez told BoxingScene.com. “The sport was literally telling me to quit. And it was to the point where my older brother [Rudy] and I were the laughingstocks of where we’re from.”
By the time he turned 16, a more mature Juarez had dedicated himself to the boxing lifestyle and started seeing results from his hard work. He won numerous tournaments and estimated that he finished his amateur career with an 80-40 record.
Those sometimes-embarrassing lessons he learned as an amateur boxer prepared Juarez to deal with his only professional loss – a 10-round, majority-decision defeat to the Philippines’ All Rivera in June 2021 at The Armory in Minneapolis. Rivera (22-5, 18 KOs) knocked Juarez to the canvas in the ninth round and narrowly won their televised fight on two scorecards (96-93, 95-94, 95-95).
“Losing that time definitely made me feel that way,” Juarez said in reference to how he felt as an amateur. “And I was just like, ‘Wait a minute, I’m used to this. I’m used to being the underdog. I’m used to being laughed at. I’m used to not having people believe in me.’ So, after the loss, I took maybe a day or two to feel sorry for myself, cried it out like a baby.
“And then I was in the gym the next day. And I was like, ‘You know what? I’m born for this. I love this. Win, lose or draw I’m gonna be great in this sport.’ To be a fighter, you have to adapt to whatever uncomfortable feeling life throws at you.”
The 23-year-old Juarez will get his opportunity to redeem himself Saturday night at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. The young junior welterweight is scheduled to box Cuban contender Rances Barthelemy (29-2-1, 15 KOs, 1 NC) in the 10-round co-feature of a “Showtime Championship Boxing” tripleheader (9 p.m. EDT; 6 p.m. PDT).
Juarez (14-1, 5 KOs) has won three straight fights since his loss to Rivera, but Barthelemy is the most experienced, accomplished opponent of Juarez’s four-year pro career.
“I’m excited to show that I’m on this level,” Juarez said. “It’s my Showtime debut, so I’m gonna take full advantage of it. This camp was perfect, man. We’ve gone through blood, sweat and tears, and I’m excited to demonstrate all my hard work and dedication.
“Even with that loss [to Rivera], it would show that as long as you don’t give up, as long as you stay consistent, stay disciplined, you can achieve whatever it is you want. And that’s exactly what I’m gonna do. Beating [Barthelemy] would get me one step closer to a world title shot, and that’s my goal.”
The 37-year-old Barthelemy will fight for the first time since his controversial sixth-round technical-knockout loss to undefeated contender Gary Antuanne Russell on July 30 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
The hard-hitting Russell (16-0, 16 KOs) dropped Barthelemy with a right hook early in the sixth round. Barthelemy answered the count of referee Shada Murdaugh quickly, promptly responded to his commands and seemed fit to continue in a 10-round fight Showtime televised.
Murdaugh still stopped their fight, which drew boos from the crowd and harsh criticism from Orlando Cuellar, Barthelemy’s trainer. Barthelemy buzzed Russell in the first round, but he trailed on all three scorecards at the time of the suspect stoppage (49-46, 49-46, 48-47).
“He’s a dangerous fighter,” Juarez said of Barthelemy. “He’s a veteran and he has a lot of experience. I feel like as the rounds went by he was kind of slowing down a little bit. Maybe it was age catching up to him. I’m definitely looking forward to him coming at me in the first, second, third, fourth rounds, whatever it is, however long it may last. But I’m willing to go 10 rounds like that if that’s what he wants.”
Barthelemy-Juarez will immediately precede a 12-round main event in which Rolando “Rolly” Romero (14-1, 12 KOs), of North Las Vegas, will battle Venezuela’s Ismael Barroso (24-3-2, 22 KOs) for the vacant WBA super lightweight title. Uzbekistan’s Batyr Akhmedov (9-2, 8 KOs) and Chicago’s Kenneth Sims Jr. (19-2-1, 7 KOs) will square off in the opener of Showtime’s telecast, a 12-round WBA 140-pound elimination match.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.