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Boxing

Judging blunder gives Barrera win

21/05/2006

Marco Antonio Barrera has retained his WBC super featherweight title after a judging blunder gave him a majority points win over Rocky Juarez.

The fight had been scored as a draw before the fight was awarded to Barrera after it was announced that one of the judges had added up his scorecard wrong.

The decision was rough justice on Juarez, who had dominated the latter stages of the fight and inflicted some decent blows on the champion, leaving the Mexican with a badly bruised face at the end.

Originally, the fight had been scored 115-113, 114-115, 114-114 but Ken Morita's drawn card was found by the California Athletic Commission to have been added up wrong and it should have been scored 115-114 in favour of Barrera.

In an entertaining fight, both boxers spent much of the opening rounds trading blows, with Juarez landing a good left hook in the third which knocked Barrera back.

However, Barrera was still on top thanks to his high work-rate but it wasn't until the tenth that the fight exploded.

Juarez produced a big right which rocked the champion but despite moving in for the kill and pinning Barrera on the ropes, the American couldn't produce the knockdown.

The champion responded in the 11th as he came back and both fighters traded punches in the centre of the ring, unable to find a telling blow.

A draw had seemed a fair reflection and both fighters looked happy with the result but controversy ultimately took over and Juarez is now certain to demand a rematch.

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