Ricardo Juárez (born April 15, 1980) is an American former professional boxer. He is a former WBC Silver featherweight champion and a multiple-time world title challenger. Juarez was known over his career for his aggressive fighting style and incredible durability.

Amateur career Juarez had a lustrous amateur career with a 145–17 record, which included a 68 fight winning streak, a Featherweight Olympic silver medal and a Junior Olympic World and National gold medal. In 1999 he won the world title at the 1999 World Amateur Boxing Championships in his home town. During the 2000 Olympics Gold medal round, Juarez loss controversially against Bekzat Sattarkhanov who was warned several times for holding and not penalized. It should be also noted that by the end of the second round Juarez was losing 11 points and had only 4 points to lose the match by RSC.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8IrM2gywvo, Bekzat Sattarkhan vs. Rocky Juarez Sindey 2000 Final Juarez accepted the silver medal.

1998 United States Amateur Featherweight champion. Results were: Undepited Daniel Chavez points Defeated Darling Jimenez points Defeated Aaron Torres points Defeated Hong Gu points 1999 United States Amateur Featherweight champion. Results were: Defeated Jose Santa Cruz points Defeated Francisco Valentin TKO 3 Defeated Ray Martinez points Defeated Aaron Torres points Defeated Steve Luevano points 2000 United States Amateur Featherweight champion Member of the 2000 U.S. Olympic team as a Featherweight, winning a silver medal. Results were: Defeated Bijan Batmani (Iran) RSC-3 Defeated Falk Huste (Germany) points Defeated Somluck Kamsing (Thailand) RSC-4 Defeated Kamil Dzamalutdinov (Russia) points Lost to Bekzat Sattarkhanov (Kazakhstan) points

Professional career Juarez turned pro on January 25, 2001, with a unanimous decision against Pascali Adorno. A highly touted prospect, Juarez rose up the ranks with wins against Hector Velazquez, and Joe Morales. Juarez's 10th-round knockout of Antonio Diaz was named Ring Magazine Knockout of the Year for 2003. His first challenge came from 1996 Olympian Zahir Raheem on July 17, 2004, in which he won by controversial decision, possibly due to the fight taking place at Juarez's hometown in Houston, Texas. Juarez's first career loss came to Humberto Soto, who was a late sub replacement to In Jin Chi. Soto won the Interim version of the WBC featherweight title. Juarez bounced back with back-to-back wins against Reynaldo Hurtado and Backlin Medrano and earned a shot against Mexican legend, Marco Antonio Barrera for his WBC Super featherweight title.

Juarez fought Barrera on May 20, 2006, in the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Barrera used his jab to win the early rounds, but it was obvious from the start that Juarez wasn't backing down hurting Barrera's nose in the process. During the second half of the fight Juarez took control by rocking Barrera and making him spit out his mouthpiece several times. In a very close fight, the bout was announced originally as a draw, but later it was revealed that two of the judges scorecards had an error, as Barrera was granted the win by split decision. Despite losing, Juarez gained notoriety by standing toe to toe with one of the best pound-for-pound boxers in the world. Although not required by contract, Barrera and Juarez met in a rematch on September 16, this time Barrera winning comfortably on points through a unanimous decision (117-111, 115–113, 115–113).

As a replacement for Jorge Rodrigo Barrios, Rocky Juarez stepped in and fought Juan Manuel Márquez for the WBC Super Featherweight title on November 3, 2007. He lost to Marquez on a unanimous decision. Juarez fought most of the fight with a bad cut above his left eye due to an accidental headbutt in the first round.

On September 6, 2008, Rocky Juarez, (27-4, 19 KO's) won by TKO at 2:55 in the 11th round of the 12-rounder over former WBO Junior Lightweight Champion Jorge Rodrigo Barrios, (47-3-1, 34 KO's).ringsidereport.com, Houston Fighters Juan Diaz and Rocky Juarez Win Big, but Judges are the Big Losers abs-cbnnews.com, Diaz takes IBO lightweight belt via split decision

In his fourth attempt at a title, Juarez fought Chris John to a controversial draw on February 28, 2009, in his hometown of Houston. Most ringside observers thought John won. The two were supposed to fight a rematch on June 27 of that year but John withdrew from the fight due to problems with his blood tests. The rematch finally took place on September 19 and the fight was won by John.

Rocky Juarez fought Jason Litzau on April 3, 2010, losing by a controversial technical decision when the fight was halted in the seventh round due to a cut on Litzau's cheek which referee Jay Nady ruled was caused by an accidental head butt. The judges scored it 68-65 and 67-66 twice, in favour of the winner, Jason Litzau.

Professional boxing record

ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes42LossRobinson CastellanosUD1226 Jan 201541Win30–10–1René AlvaradoUD1226 May 201440Win29–10–1Antonio EscalanteTKO8 (10), 27 Oct 201239Loss28–10–1Andrew CancioUD102 Jun 201238Loss28–9–1Vicente EscobedoUD1023 Sep 201137Loss28–8–1Alejandro SanabriaUD1219 Feb 201136Loss28–7–1Jorge LinaresUD1231 Jul 201035Loss28–6–1Jason Litzau7 (10), 3 Apr 201034Loss28–5–1Chris JohnUD1219 Sep 200933Draw28–4–1Chris John1228 Feb 200932Win28–4Jorge BarriosTKO11 (12), 6 Sep 200831Loss27–4Juan Manuel MarquezUD123 Nov 200730Win27–3José HernándezUD125 May 200729Win26–3Emmanuel LuceroTKO5 (10), 9 Feb 200728Loss25–3Marco Antonio BarreraUD1216 Sep 200627Loss25–2Marco Antonio Barrera1220 May 200626Win25–1Backlin MedranoTKO4 (10), 21 Jan 200625Win24–1Reynaldo HurtadoTKO3 (10), 9 Dec 200524Loss23–1Humberto SotoUD1220 Aug 200523Win23–0Juan Carlos RamírezTKO1 (10), 4 Mar 200522Win22–0Guty Espadas Jr.KO2 (12), 3 Dec 200421Win21–0Zahir RaheemUD1217 Jul 200420Win20–0Joe MoralesUD1024 Apr 200419Win19–0Héctor VelázquezUD1222 Nov 200318Win18–0David MurilloKO1 (10), 13 Sep 200317Win17–0Antonio DíazKO10 (10), 19 Jul 200316Win16–0Frankie ArchuletaTKO6 (10), 3 May 200315Win15–0Jason PiresTKO9 (10), 1 Feb 200314Win14–0Natalio PonceTKO9 (10), 6 Dec 200213Win13–0Hector Acero SánchezUD1019 Oct 200212Win12–0Ivan AlvarezTKO6 (8), 30 Aug 200211Win11–0Isidro TejedorTKO2 (8), 13 Jul 200210Win10–0Len MartinezTKO1 (6), 25 May 20029Win9–0Javier OrtizKO5 (8), 27 Apr 20028Win8–0Jorge GarciaUD615 Feb 20027Win7–0Frankie MartinezTKO4 (6), 5 Jan 20026Win6–0Corey AlarconTKO2 (6), 10 Nov 20115Win5–0Juan Rafael GutierrezUD61 Sep 20014Win4–0Fabian EspinosaTKO3 (4), 20 Jul 20013Win3–0Edward Utorov4 (4), 19 May 20012Win2–0Mike Jones1 (4), 2 Mar 20011Win1–0Pascali Adorno413 Jan 2001

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