By Sean McDaniel: Cuban bantamweight prospected Yan Barthelemy (6-1) was upset by a little known Ernie Marquez (7-4, 3 KOs) in a six-round unanimous decision loss on Friday night at the Desert Diamond Casino, in Phoenix, Arizona. Barthelemy, 28, a former Olympic Gold Medal winner for the Cuban National team at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, in the Light Flyweight, didn’t have the speed or accuracy to deal with the quicker more elusive Marquez, who showed himself as clearly the better fighter in the opening minute of the first round when he repeatedly tagged the slower, awkward Barthelemy with fast right hands to the head.
Normally an elusive fighter who specializes on being a crafty defensive wizard, Barthelemy found himself getting hit often by Marquez, while at the same time having tremendous problems trying to land his own slower shots. Holding often, Barthelemy received repeated warnings from referee Robert Ferrara until the 6th round, when Barthelemy was finally penalized a point for his constant holding. In contrast to other fighters like Bernard Hopkins and Wladimir Klitschko, Barthelemy appeared to clinch much less often than them. However, the referee clearly wasn’t interested in seeing a fight filled with clinches, and warned Barthelemy often until finally tiring of it, and docking him a point in the last round.
By Jim Slattengren: Former 2004 Olympic light flyweight Gold Medalist for Cuba Yan Barthelemy (5-0), now fighting as a bantamweight, easily defeated Antonio Maria Cochero Diaz (9-9, 6 KOs) by a six-round unanimous decision on Friday night at the Xtreme Indoor Karting, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The final judges’ scores were 59-53, 59-53 and 59-53. Barthelemy, a southpaw, who defected from Cuba in December 2006 along with fellow Olympic Gold medal teammates Yuriorkis Gamboa and Odlanier Solis, dominated the slower, mostly limited Diaz.