| 03 April 2010
It's time for the co-feature on the Hopkins-Jones II card, with Rocky Juarez battling Jason Litzau. Joe Tessitore, Sugar Ray Leonard and Doug Fischer are on hand to call the action at Mandalay Bay.
Juarez is 28-5 with 20 KOs. He has had several shots at some of the sport's best but come up just short every time.
Litzau is 26-2 with 21 KOs. He's an exciting fighter who has a tendency to either put his opponent on his back or end up there himself.
Michael Buffer handles the introductions, and we are set for a scheduled 10 rounds for a minor super featherweight title.
Round 1
Juarez can be a slow starter, but he is coming forward. Litzau lands a right set up by his jab. Rocky roughs him up a bit along the ropes. Juarez tries to work on the inside. Litzau is swinging and missing with some hooks. Rocky scores with a wide right hand. Litzau uses two-punch combinations to keep his man back. Juarez is warned for a low shot. Litzau lands a couple of right hands right before the bell.
Tylwalk: 10-9 Litzau
Parker: 10-9 Litzau
Round 2
Litzau flicks out some jabs without much conviction. Juarez uses a hook and quickly backs away. Litzau escapes some wrestling and uses a left hook, but Juarez scores with some harder ones. Neither man is landing anything too significant right now. Juarez connects with a stiff jab. He doubles up with more jabs and gets into close range.
Tylwalk: 10-9 Juarez
Parker: 10-9 Litzau
Round 3
Litzau reaches with a pair of right hands. He's landing some hooks with both hands, but Juarez seems undeterred. Rocky keeps his head down and bulls forward but is getting peppered from the outside. Both guys trade jabs, and Juarez's is sharper.
Tylwalk: 10-9 Litzau
Parker: 10-9 Litzau
Round 4
Rocky immediately closes in and ties up. Both men are staying very cautious, and Juarez is warned again for low shots and punching behind the back. Litzau lands a nice body shot and tries to push Juarez away. Nice combination punching by Litzau punctuated by a left hook. Rocky responds with body work and a right to the head. Litzau does some dancing to open up space. Both men swing away to try to steal it in the final 10 seconds.
Tylwalk: 10-9 Litzau
Parker: 10-9 Litzau
Round 5
Rocky needs to have another plan of attack besides just putting his head down and charging in. He gets off to a better start here, keeping Litzau on the defensive with jabs and hooks. Juarez tries some hooks and uppercuts in tight. Plenty of wrestling in this frame. Rocky scores with some jabs down the stretch.
Tylwalk: 10-9 Juarez
Parker: 10-9 Juarez
Round 6
Litzau flashes some fast hands right out of the gate. Rocky blocks a lot of punches but gets his head snapped back by a few more. Juarez goes to the body with both hands. He just misses a big overhand right. Litzau triples up on left hooks. He follows with a three-punch combo and Juarez scores with a short left hook. Jason's mouthpiece falls out, halting things for a minute. Rocky closes the range with a right hand but Litzau answers immediately. Jason stays busier and lands a solid left hand. Rocky leans into a big right hand that connects at the bell.
Tylwalk: 10-9 Litzau
Parker: 10-9 Litzau
Round 7
We'll see if that final punch turned things around for Rocky. He's definitely still going forward, throwing jabs and body blows. The ref stops the fight for a cut to Litzau caused by a clash of heads. It's below his left eye. He returns to his crisp combination punching. Juarez tries to turn it into a brawl. He lands about four shots in a row and targets the cut. Litzau comes right back with some left hands and a big right. Rocky is much more accurate now than he was earlier.
Tylwalk: 10-9 Juarez
Parker: 10-9 Juarez
The fight is stopped between rounds as the ringside physicians feel Litzau's cut is too bad for him to continue. We will go to the scorecards as seven rounds are in the books.
Tylwalk: 67-66 Litzau
Parker: 68-65 Litzau
The judges score it 68-65 and 67-66 twice, all for the winner, Jason Litzau.
Litzau tells Dougie Fischer that the win is the biggest of his career. He gives a lot of credit to Juarez for being a true champion, but he says he felt very calm and could have fought for 10 more rounds.
Asked about specific strategy, Litzau says he was supposed to circle to his right but failed to do so. He also says he got multiple headbutts to the area of the cut and was disappointed because he thought it would have been a great show in the late rounds.
Juarez is upset because he thinks the cut was caused by a short left hook. The fans are chanting his name in the background. He's adamant that he would have stopped Litzau in the later rounds.
Rocky says he won't duck anyone, but you can tell he doesn't have much desire to be a gatekeeper.
