By James Blears
WBC Executive Secretary Mauricio Sulaiman and a senior HBO official are predicting Marco Antonio Barrera should win his L.A Super Featherweight clash with hard hitting Rocky Juarez, but it won’t be plain sailing or showboating.
At a press conference in Mexico City to preview the fight, Alberto Islas who HBO Latin America Director of Affiliate Relations patriotically chose Barrera, but also pointed out his compatriot’s wealth of experience by suggesting:
“We think it’s going to a great match like the last fight we had on HBO Plus- namely De La Hoya against Mayorga.
“I think the experience of Barrera is going to be the main point. He is a tremendous boxer- for example his fights with Erik Morales.
“But it’s not going to be easy. Rocky is a great young fighter. However I think Barrera’s experience will make the difference.”
Mauricio Sulaiman agreed with this analysis. He also compared this upcoming fight to the Oscar V Ricardo dust up, saying that Marco possesses the polished boxing skills like Oscar, and Rocky has the power and aggression a bit like Ricardo. But he added that if Marco does an Oscar and attempts to wade in, rather than box coolly and clinically, he could risk walking into Rocky’s proven power shots, and that could prove highly dangerous.
Alberto Islas also revealed that HBO is planning to present special programs about Legends of Boxing in Latin America. He did not name who’s been picked by hinted: “ We are going step by step and choosing one by one. But obviously there are the legends of Mexico, Nicaragua and Panama.
With a time frame of about two months in mind, the provision plan is to initially make ten programs. These would include interviewing with the legend, followed by a special presentation of his most memorable fights from HBO’s extensive archives.
