By Ian S Palmer
Former Lightweight Champion Rances Barthelemy of Cuba returns to the ring this Saturday, May 13th to take on Omar Juarez of Brownsville, Texas. The 10-round junior welterweight contest can be seen live on Showtime in America and takes place at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas. Barthelemy was stopped in the sixth round by Gary Antuanne Russell in July in his last outing while Juarez beat Austin Dulay by a 10-round unanimous decision in December, despite having three points deducted for low blows.
The 37-year-old Barthelemy is a former IBF Lightweight Champion and IBF Super Featherweight belt holder. He beat Argenis Mendez by unanimous decision in 2014 for the Super featherweight belt and defended it once against Fernando Saucedo. He moved up in weight and captured the vacant IBF Lightweight Title via a unanimous decision over Denis Shafikov in 2015 and defended it against Mickey Bey.
He then beat Kiryl Relikh by unanimous decision with both fighters hitting the deck. He had a rematch with Relikh a year later but lost a unanimous decision in a shot at the vacant WBA Super Lightweight Title. Barthelemy fought Robert Easter Jr. in 2019 in a shot at the vacant IBO and WBA Lightweight Titles with the fight ending in a draw. He’ll enter the ring this weekend with a record of 29-2-1 with 15 Ko’s.
Barthelemy, who now resides in Las Vegas, is stands 5-feet-10-inches tall with a 72.5-inch reach and has fought 192 rounds since turning pro in 2009 after enjoying a fine amateur career. He’s scored his share of knockdowns and knockouts over the years, but isn’t really known as a heavy hitter as his current knockout ratio stands at 45.5 per cent and has scored just two stoppages in his last 10 bouts. He’s also beaten Angino Perez, Antonio DeMarco and Arash Usmanee as a pro and once captured the Universal Boxing Organization International Lightweight title.
Juarez is just 23 years old and carries around a pro record of 15-1 with 5 Ko’s and has boxed 89 rounds since making his pro debut in 2018. Before that he had a pretty good amateur career and fought at the 2016 USA Youth National Championships and the 2017 USA Youth open Tournament. He’s 5-feet-9-inches tall with a 69-inch reach so gives up an inch in height and 3.5-inches in reach to Barthelemy. As far as power is concerned, Juarez isn’t known for heavy hands either as his current knockout ratio sits at 33.3 per cent and he’s gone the distance in his last five fights and in eight of the past nine.
His lone pro defeat came at the hands of All Rivera by 10-round majority decision in June, 2021 after being dropped in the ninth round. Juarez is taking a step up in class here as he’s yet to meet a legitimate contender with his biggest wins being over Austin Dulay, Jairo Lopez, Elias Araujo and Willie Shaw. He also beat Ryan Karl by 10-round split decision in February of last year to capture the vacant WBC International Welterweight Title.
Prediction…
Barthelemy is a polished and experienced boxer but is now 37 years old and is trying to rebound from his one and only loss by stoppage. He has the size advantage over Juarez, but is 14 years older than his opponent. On the bright side for Barthelemy, Juarez lacks power so he might have the confidence to take some chances. This is a good test for Juarez but I have a feeling Barthelemy may have just enough left in the tanks to earn a close victory.
