By Manuel Perez: Marco Antonio Barrera (65-6, 43 KOs) received a scare on Saturday night, beating the unknown Freudis Rojas (1-8-1, 1 KOs) by a 3rd round disqualification at the Auditorio Telmex de UG, Zapopan, in Jalisco, Mexico. The bout ended in the 3rd round after Rojas was Rojas DQ’d after rushing forward, lowering his head and ramming into the face of Barrera, opening up a big cut above the left eye of Barrera.
The fight was immediately stopped, with Rojas being disqualified and Barrera badly cut with blood streaming down his face from the foul. It’s unclear whether the bad cut, which required stitches to close, will cause the cancelation of Barrera’s March 14th bout against Amir Khan at the M.E.N. Arena, Manchester.
But in hindsight, it seemed like a crazy idea for Barrera to take a risky fight a mere two months before his mega fight with Khan. It seemed like Barrera was asking for trouble no matter who he fought. In the case of Rojas, 33, a last second replacement for a fighter that failed to show up at the weigh-in, Barrera was asking for problems.
Though the fight probably would have ended if it were allowed to have continued for much longer, because Rojas was taking a beating and not in the least bit competitive with Barrera, there was always the chance that Barrera might be cut because of Rojas’ tendency to charge forward every now and then in the fight.
Barrera, 35, looked in fine form, having lost the extra weight that he had been carrying around since his loss to Manny Pacquiao in October 2007. Barrera looked lean, tan and in the best shape in years, not starved or bloated the way he had looked in fights in recent years.
Barrera stalked Rojas around the ring in the 1st round, hammering him with left hooks to the body and combinations to the head. Rojas circled a lot, trying to keep from getting hit, but it wasn’t working because Barrera caught up to him often in the round despite his movement. Barrera landed a flurry of shots at one point, hitting Rojas hard with each punch.
In the 2nd round, Barrera landed well, hitting Rojas hard with a big right and a left to the head among his many other punches that Barrera landed in the round. Rojas moved continuously, and was stinking the place up with his non-fighting, survival oriented style. Barrera landed some hard uppercuts, after intercepting Rojas while he ran around the ring.
At the start of the 3rd, Rojas attempted to throw some rare punches, landing a weak left and then missing three straight right hands. Barrera then hit him with a hard combination, causing Rojas to once again step on the gas and began circling the ring to avoid problems.
Barrera then followed him around the ring, battering him with uppercuts and hooks to the head. Just when it looked like it was getting bad for Rojas, he suddenly lowered his head and charged forward and rammed into the face of Barrera, opening up a big cut above Barrera’s left eye. The referee, seeing the blatant foul, immediately disqualified Rojas, while Barrera sought attention for his bad cut above his eye.
Afterwards, Rojas jumped up and down, posing for pictures and acting as if he had won the fight instead of being disqualified. It was all quite strange, because he seemed happy and it’s hard to see why. He was never a factor in the fight and was getting pummeled the whole time and if not for his constant running, he probably would have been taken out in the 1st round by Barrera.
Rojas then walked over and attempted to congratulate Barrera for the victory, but one of Barrera’s corner persons, perhaps angry at the foul, roughly shoved Rojas away before he could get to Barrera. Rojas then turned around and walked away, still looking happy, which I suppose was a victory for him because he wasn’t knocked out.