Barrera Uses Savvy for Win

At 32, having spent 17 years in the ring, fighting a total of 66 times, Marco Antonio Barrera has learned his trade.

Now, having declared that he will only fight for one more year, he is like a pitcher who has lost his fastball but can still get by on a wide assortment of off-speed pitches and a vast memory bank of experience.

So it was Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay Events Center where Barrera was defending his World Boxing Council super-featherweight title against Ricardo Rocky Juarez (25-3, 18 knockouts), six years his junior, full of passion and aggression in search of his first title after five years as a pro.

Barrera won a unanimous decision in a fight that wasn’t pretty nor particularly entertaining. The most evident sound coming from the crowd of 10,421 was a torrent of boos from the middle of the match on.

Barrera stayed away from Juarez for much of the fight, playing it safe this time, doing the minimum necessary to assure a victory. He landed the crucial punches in a fight largely devoid of action, caused Juarez’s right eye to badly swell up and generally left his opponent reduced to throwing air-ball punches or fighting through clinches.

Judges Chuck Giampa and Dave Moretti both had Barrera (63-4, 42 knockouts) winning 115-113. The third judge, Hubert Minn scored it 117-111.

“I gave him a boxing lesson and that is exactly what I intended to do,” Barrera said. “People are used to seeing me as an explosive fighter, but, this time, I wanted to show I could box. I learned never to fight on the level of my opponent. I am the champion. I am very fast and I used my jab.”

Still fresh in Barrera’s mind was his first match against Juarez last May at Staples Center. That one ended in controversy and, ultimately, a slim victory for Barrera. Initially, it was announced that the fight was a draw. After a second check of the scorecards revealed an error in the tabulation, both fighters were informed in their respective dressing rooms that Barrera had won on a split decision.

That was crushing news to Juarez. He knew that he had started slowly in that fight, perhaps hesitant fighting a big-name opponent like Barrera. Juarez came on strong at the end, however, to make it close.

He was determined to be more aggressive early in the match if he got a second chance against Barrera. That’s exactly what Juarez did Saturday, trying to put pressure on Barrera from the start.

“I felt like I was the aggressor,” Juarez said. “He didn’t want to fight. He never hurt me. Not once, except for a good punch in the eye. I think I fought better than the first fight.”

After the final bell, Barrera said it soon will be time to start thinking more of his role as a family man rather than as a fighter.

“I want to spend time with my [5-year-old] son Marco,” Barrera said. “My best opponent for my next fight would be Manny Pacquiao, but I will take whoever [promoter] Oscar De La Hoya tells me to fight.”

But no one will tell Barrera how to fight. At this stage of his career, he’s not interested in style points, only in cementing his legend.

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In the first title fight of the night, Joan Guzman (26-0, 17) won the World Boxing Organization junior-lightweight championship by split decision over Jorge Rodrigo Barrios (46-3-1, 33). Barrios had already lost the title before he stepped into the ring by stepping onto the scales at the weigh-in one-and-a-half pounds over the 130-pound limit. Had Barrios won Saturday night’s match, the title would have remained vacant.

Judges Bill Lerch (115-112) and Carol Castellano (114-113) had Guzman winning the match. Judge Bill Graham (114-113) gave it to Barrios.

Barrios was penalized a point in the sixth round for a low blow. Had that penalty not been assessed, the fight would have been a draw.

In the co-main event, WBC super-bantamweight champion Israel Vazquez (41-3, 30) defended his title against Jhonny Gonzalez (33-5, 28) with a 10th-round TKO.

Both fighters went down twice in the match. An overhand right by Vazquez to finish a volley of punches became the final blow.

Gonzalez got to his feet, but his trainer, Oscar Suarez, white towel in hand, indicated from the corner that his fighter had had enough.

steve.springer@latimes.com.