WBC NAMES MARIANA JUAREZ AS THE FEMALE ?CHAMPION OF THE YEAR'
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 04 Jan 2012
Mariana Juarez.
The World Boxing Council headed by its president Don Jose Sulaiman has named the talented and attractive Mariana Juarez as the organization?s female ?Champion of the Year? for 2011.
The 31 year old Juarez, nicknamed ?Barbie,? is the reigning WBC flyweight champion.
She was born Maria Anastasia Trejo in Mexico City and has a record of 32 wins, 5 losses, 3 draws and 15 knockouts to her name.
Juarez won the WBC Interim flyweight title with an eight round unanimous decision over another excellent fighter, Irma Sanchez, on June 5, 2009 and defended her interim title successfully 6 times.
She then went on to win the regular title with a ten round unanimous decision over Simona Galassi on March 11, 2011 and within the same year made four successful title defenses.
In her last title defense Juarez won a unanimous ten round decision over Diana Gonzalez on December 10, 2011.
The Women Boxing Archive Network WBAN reported that Juarez made her pro debut at the age of 18 with a 2nd round knockout over Virginia Esparza on May 22, 1998 in Mexico City for which, according to Juarez, she was paid $53.
WBAN reported that on July 3, 1999 Juarez faced Ana Maria Torres on a fight card that featured the first sanctioned women?s professional bouts to be held in Mexico City.
Torres won a four round split decision in a junior flyweight clash which started a rivalry that turned into one of the better ones in Mexican female boxing.
Torres would often appear in the boxing shows of former four-division world champion Erik ?El Terrible? Morales whom she considers her mentor and advisor while Juarez is similarly mentored by Morales? bitter rival and another Mexican legend Marco Antonio Barrera.
The Women Boxing Archive Network said that Juarez, tired of fighting the same opponents in Mexico on infrequent low budget cards took the advice of Barrera to establish herself in the US. Struck by her beauty an American television crew who watched Mariana train with Rudy Perez in a gym in Mexico suggested that she go to Miami to try out as a fashion model.
But Juarez preferred to seek fame with her fists. She was quoted as saying "I thought that among female boxers, with my abilities and dedication, I will be one of the best, God willing, and among models I would have been just one in a bunch.".
Juarez finally went to the US to further her boxing training with Ben Lira in South El Monte, California. Lira had trained several female fighters including 1998, 1999 and 2002 national 106 pound champion Linda Carillo.
Lira compared Juarez to ?The Golden Boy? Oscar De La Hoya. He noted "People love her because she can really fight and she has that special thing. I can?t explain it. But she has it.?
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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