LAS VEGAS – The crowd didn’t appreciate it, but Rances Barthelemy boxed well enough Saturday night to convince two judges that he defeated Omar Juarez.
The former junior lightweight and lightweight titleholder defeated the aggressive, game Juarez by majority decision in a 10-round welterweight fight Showtime televised Saturday night from The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. Judges Dave Moretti (97-93) and Patricia Morse Jarman (98-92) scored their competitive contest for the 37-year-old Barthelemy.
Judge Max De Luca scored Barthelemy-Juarez a draw, 95-95.
Much of the crowd booed loudly after Jimmy Lennon Jr. announced Barthelemy the winner.
The 23-year-old Juarez (14-2, 5 KOs) fared well against the most experienced, accomplished opponent of his four-year professional career in Showtime’s co-feature before Rolando “Rolly” Romero and Ismael Barroso boxed in the main event.
The Cuban-born Barthelemy fought for the first time since his controversial sixth-round, technical-knockout loss to Gary Antuanne Russell (16-0, 16 KOs) last July 30 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Barthelemy hopes this win will lead to him securing a rematch with Russell later this year.
Juarez suffered his second defeat in his past four fights. Filipino southpaw All Rivera (22-5, 18 KOs) handed him his first defeat – a 10-round majority decision in June 2021 at The Armory in Minneapolis.
Juarez, perhaps sensing he needed to do something dramatic, took it to Barthelemy as soon as the 10th round started. He kept Barthelemy on his back foot at the start of the final round, but Barthelemy made those final three minutes competitive.
A left hand by Barthelemy made Juarez reset his feet about a minute into the ninth round. Barthelemy also landed an overhand left with about 20 seconds on the clock in the ninth round.
Barthelemy landed a hard left near Juarez’s belt line in the eighth round and quickly came back up top to connect with a left hook to his jaw.
Juarez cracked Barthelemy with a right hand to his head and quickly followed with a left hook to his body with about 10 seconds to go in the sixth round. A straight left by Barthelemy moved Juarez backward about 1:15 into the sixth round.
Juarez blasted Barthelemy with a left hook to his body about 1:10 into the fifth round. Juarez continued to pressure Barthelemy for most of the remainder of the fifth round.
Barthelemy landed a left to the top of Juarez’s head, which backed him up in the opening minute of the fourth round.
Juarez blasted Barthelemy with two hard body shots in the final 30 seconds of the third round.
A straight left by Barthelemy backed up Juarez 1:10 into the third round. Juarez and Barthelemy engaged in a sustained exchange that started 25 seconds into the third round.
Barthelemy countered Juarez with a sweeping left hand after taking a right to the body late in the second round. Juarez landed a right hand barely 1:20 into the second round.
Juarez lunged forward and landed a left hook with just over 20 seconds to go in the first round. Barthelemy responded about 15 seconds later by catching Juarez with a straight left as Juarez backed into the ropes.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for krikya360.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.