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WBO Jr Featherweight Champion Marco Antonio Barrera defends his title against Eddie Croft on TVKO HBO PPV Boxing
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00:00I'll see you next time.
00:30Here's Jim Lampley.
00:33All right, thank you very much, Nick Charles.
00:35And there's a look at Marco Antonio Barrera, 21 years old, a professional since age 15,
00:44already with 36 professional fights on his dossier.
00:49You know, any time we see a fighter from south of the border,
00:53it evokes a kind of feeling that we've seen this before,
00:58that here is another poor kid trying to fight his way up into some respectable lifestyle,
01:06trying to fulfill some dream of the stardom.
01:11This couldn't be less true for this kid, even though he did start his professional career at 15.
01:18As Nick says, he has ambitions to be a lawyer.
01:21His father works in the movie business in Mexico City.
01:25And yet he himself has fought most of his fights in Los Angeles and wants to become a star in America,
01:32is taking English lessons, and is not that well thought of yet in his native Mexico for all of those reasons.
01:42He's not a macho, preening kind of fighter, the kind of fighter that they love south of the border.
01:51He's a thoughtful kid, but he can fight.
01:56You've seen a lot of fighters over the years in these lower weight classes who might be called boxers who can punch.
02:06Barrera's most enthusiastic fans like to say, he's a puncher who can box.
02:13He's got it all.
02:14And one of the odd things is he's fighting at 122.
02:17He's 5'7 1⁄2", very tall at that weight.
02:20You would think that eventually he would move up to being a featherweight.
02:24In fact, his hero was the great Salvatore Sanchez.
02:28Yet he says he wants to go back to 118 at bantamweight instead of 122, which is junior featherweight.
02:36And let's take a look at Barrera's record.
02:37Did I say 36-0 correction?
02:39Make it 38-0 with 26 knockouts.
02:43He already holds a junior featherweight championship.
02:46And we asked him if he might move up to featherweight, 126 pounds.
02:50He said, no, I'm a natural 118-pounder.
02:52I'd still like to go back down in weight to find the fights there.
02:57Fighter's records are brought to you tonight by the ring, the Bible of boxing.
03:03And Barrera's opponent is Eddie Lee Croft from San Mateo, California.
03:08Very intelligent, very well-spoken 26-year-old.
03:11You see his boxing record, 22-2-1, 10 KOs.
03:16He is strictly a boxer, not a power puncher.
03:20Has a deep background in martial arts.
03:22He's the martial arts instructor for former San Francisco 49er running back Roger Craig.
03:28A good friend who would have been here tonight were it not for the fact that he's been working out for the 49ers
03:34in anticipation of possibly returning to active football duty.
03:39Tale of the tape, Marco Antonio Barrera and Eddie Lee Croft.
03:47And you see that Croft is one inch taller and has a two-inch reach advantage.
03:53But Barrera, despite his youth and despite the fact he's five years younger,
03:59Barrera is by far the more experienced boxer.
04:03Punched at numbers, Larry.
04:05Once again, a profile of the activity of these fighters.
04:09And you can see Barrera's class in those numbers.
04:1270 punches around and landing a high percentage.
04:16And unlike a lot of Mexican fighters, he uses that jab to advantage.
04:25Rules of the bout with our unofficial ringside scorer, Harold Letterman.
04:28The Marco Antonio Barrera-Eddie Croft fight will be 12 rounds.
04:32There is no standing eight count.
04:34The three knockdown rule is in effect.
04:36Only the referee can stop the fight.
04:38And you can be saved by the belt only in the last round.
04:40Jim.
04:40He rose to the occasion again, Harold.
04:42Let's go to Michael Buffer in the ring.
04:46Ladies and gentlemen, here at Caesars Palace, by way of Spencer Promotions,
04:51your undisputed King of Beers, Budweiser, and Main Events Monitor, the action continues.
04:57This next bout is sanctioned by the Nevada State Athletic Commission,
05:01along with the World Boxing Organization President, Francisco Barcarcel,
05:06Supervisor and Attendance at Ringside, Luis Perez.
05:10The three judges scoring this bout on a 10-point must system will be Lou Moret,
05:16Dolby Shirley, and Paul Smith.
05:19And when the bell rings, the man in charge of the action referee, Jay Nady.
05:26And now, ladies and gentlemen, 12 rounds of boxing for the WBO Junior Featherweight Championship of the World.
05:35Introducing first, fighting out of the blue corner,
05:40wearing the purple trunks with silver letters,
05:43and weighing in at 121 and one-half pounds.
05:47He comes to us from San Mateo, California,
05:50with a professional record of 22 victories,
05:5310 by KO, with only two defeats and one draw.
05:57Ladies and gentlemen, introducing the challenger,
06:01Eddie Primetime Crawl!
06:05And his opponent across the ring, fighting out of the red corner,
06:14wearing the white trunks with gold letters,
06:17and weighing in at 122 pounds.
06:19From Mexico City, Mexico, he brings a perfect record of 38-0,
06:2526 KOs.
06:27Ladies and gentlemen, presenting the undefeated WBO Junior Featherweight Champion of the World,
06:36Marco Antonio Barrera!
06:40Do you have any questions?
06:55Or be at my commands, defend yourself at all times.
06:58We have 12 rounds of boxing.
07:00Let's go to work.
07:03Eddie Croft studied political science at a junior college in Northern California.
07:09Barrera wants to be a lawyer.
07:11What in the world is this sport coming to?
07:14Eddie Croft became a boxer because Gil Clancy,
07:19frequently a colleague of ours on telecasts like this,
07:23in substitution for George, when George is training for fights,
07:26Gil Clancy walked into his martial arts gym in San Mateo one day to visit a friend,
07:32watched Croft in the ring, and said he could be a boxer.
07:35Eddie was 15 at the time, and 10 years later,
07:38here's the product of Clancy's vision in there against Marco Antonio Barrera.
07:42Hard left hook to start the fight for Barrera.
07:44One of the first things you notice about Barrera is how relaxed he is in there.
08:03Up on his toes part of the time, but when he gets ready to punch,
08:07he settles down onto his feet and throws hard.
08:10One of the first things you notice about Barrera is how relaxed he is in there.
08:13Hold the cap, hold it up!
08:24Croft starting out very cautiously and trying to get a good look at Barrera.
08:32Barrera with another hard left hand, and that one landed flush.
08:40He's got a good look at his arm and he's got a bad look at his feet and he's got his foot.
08:44He's going to stop it.
09:06Body shot from Barrera.
09:09Get a sense of his patience as he picks his spots
09:12and looks for the right opportunities
09:14to get aggressive against Eddie Croft.
09:16Croft hasn't thrown much in this first round
09:19as he continues to wait on Barrera.
09:23Tries to stay away from Barrera's hard left hook,
09:25which has already found Croft twice.
09:36Croft goes body then up with his jab.
09:40It would be the beginning of something,
09:42but now Barrera comes right back
09:43with a left to the body and a right cross.
09:48When they get ready to trade punches,
09:50it appears that Barrera is the quicker man.
09:55One thing I noticed about Croft,
09:57he has that right hand poised to block the left
10:00at every opportunity.
10:02He's keeping it in and using it judiciously
10:05as an offensive weapon.
10:14Barrera was a little short with the right cross,
10:16but he came back with the left hand and landed that.
10:18Now there's another good left to the body.
10:21And Marco Antonio Barrera with the left hook
10:24and occasional combinations has dominated this first round.
10:34And as we go to Barrera's corner,
10:36our translator there, as always, is Hector Garcia.
10:40When you throw your right hand, just lift your hands up.
10:43Keep your hands up.
10:44And go with your right hand up and down at the bottom then.
10:57Set him up with your left hand.
10:59Set him up with your left hand.
11:01Prepare him with your left hand,
11:03and then throw your right hand into the chest.
11:09With confidence.
11:13With confidence.
11:14You've got to come out one side or the other, okay?
11:17And be ready to get off again.
11:19All right.
11:20Come on out.
11:21It's very rare that we have heard
11:23corners of Mexican fighters talking that way,
11:26and that's why Barrera is considered such a complete fighter.
11:30Start with your left hand, he is told.
11:32And as round two begins,
11:34we are joined at ringside by 135-pound world destroyer Oscar De La Hoya.
11:39Oscar looking forward to his December 15 date in Madison Square Garden.
11:43Welcome aboard, Oscar.
11:44Oh, thank you very much for having me.
11:45What do you think of Marco Antonio Barrera?
11:47Well, once again, we have a young, tough Mexican fighter up here,
11:51and he's a great prospect.
11:53He's a world champion now,
11:54and I believe he's going to be one of the best.
11:56Been fighting a lot at the Forum in Los Angeles.
11:58Have you seen him before?
12:00I've never seen him live, but I've always seen him on TV,
12:02and he's a very exciting, very flashy fighter with a lot of power.
12:07Right now, Barrera starting the second round
12:10with a couple of fierce combinations,
12:12and Eddie Croft is reduced to playing defense at this point.
12:17It's awfully hard to find opportunities to be aggressive
12:19against a guy who's hurting you every time you open up the way Barrera does.
12:23Well, I believe what's happening now is Eddie Croft is intimidated by Barrera's power.
12:29Once you step inside that ring, Barrera can look inside your eyes
12:33and just he can show you that he's very strong,
12:35and he's just going there and trying to knock you out.
12:38And Croft is right now scared of Barrera.
12:42Croft not getting much of a chance to throw.
12:45Barrera hammering with the right hand there.
12:48I would say that he's more respectful at the moment than scared, Oscar,
12:53but I know a fighter sees it a little differently.
12:55Well, then punches hurt, and he can be nervous, he can be scared.
12:59Maybe he'll warm up in the later rounds,
13:01but I believe Barrera can just take him on because he's so powerful young,
13:06and like I said, he's a very good prospect for the future.
13:09You think he's ready for someone like Canizales with his experience?
13:17I believe, truthfully, Canizales is a very good boxer,
13:21and if Barrera faces a boxer, I think he would have more trouble
13:25than facing these guys like Croft that stay still and don't move their body too much.
13:29Canizales can give trouble to Barrera because he does box and move side to side.
13:34Oscar, what do you expect to see later this evening between Bowe and Holyfield?
13:39Well, I can't say because, of course, Mr. Holyfield is an excellent heavyweight champion.
13:45Riddick Bowe, another one who's an excellent champion,
13:48and it's hard to say for me because they're both ready.
13:51They both want to win, and it's just going to be a very good fight.
13:54May the best man win.
13:57Respectfully said and properly so.
14:03George Foreman, what do you make so far, Barrera and Croft?
14:06Yeah, you tell a young boy to go into the gym,
14:08and you give him some films to study boxing, Barrera.
14:11You get a film of Barrera. This guy's a picture book. Excellent.
14:15Left hook, right cross, does it all right by the book.
14:18That's the kind of punching technique that we see
14:21when we have Oscar De La Hoya in the ring.
14:24Oscar writes another book.
14:31Another rousing round for Marco Antonio Barrera.
14:36And quickly now, let's check in with Roy Jones.
14:39Roy reporting from the locker rooms, the dressing rooms, I should say,
14:42as we get ready for the main event.
14:44And, Roy Jones, I understand you have a report about referee Joe Cortez.
14:47What's up?
14:48Yeah, Joe Cortez was warned by Evander Holyfield about the problem of Riddick Bowe
14:55hitting him on the back of the head.
14:57Now, I don't know if this is a show of concern about his health
15:00because guys are being injured from rabid punches,
15:03or is it just him kind of over worrying about Riddick Bowe coming out doing bad tactics.
15:08But whatever, we should find out early which way, which direction that it's leaning to,
15:12because most guys that show concern either show up for their care,
15:17worrying about something bad happening to them or injury,
15:20or could be just, you know, a little bit nervousness of Bowe being over anxious to win.
15:25So I don't know, but we'll see.
15:27Hey, Roy, let me ask you something.
15:29Holyfield and the people in his camp have been trying to get into Cortez's head
15:33about this low blow, rabbit punch issue from the first fight.
15:37Do you think that might backfire against them the way they've gone after Cortez?
15:41Yeah, I think it will because since they're going after Cortez so hard,
15:44this may make Cortez say, look, I'm just going to back out and let them fight,
15:47and whatever happens, happens.
15:49And this would be bad for both fighters because you don't want the fight to turn into a dirty fight.
15:53They're too good of fighters to turn into a bad fight.
15:56All right, thank you very much, Roy Jones, super middleweight champ,
15:59acting as reporter tonight and doing a heck of a job of it so far.
16:03We go back to the ring, third round.
16:05Marco Antonio Barrera in the white trunks and Eddie Croft in the blue.
16:15Or purple. I guess I should say purple.
16:26Croft getting a little bit more aggressive now in round three as he realizes he's not going to get anything done against Barrera by being as cautious as he was in the first two.
16:41I don't know if it's in Croft to be able to make a brawl of this, but it seems to me that he's unlikely to win a boxing match with Barrera.
16:54He might have to do something unconventional, George.
16:56He might have to do something unconventional, George.
16:58He's got to be asking himself, why isn't this guy on the canvas now?
17:01Why isn't this guy on the canvas now? And that may be a major concern with him, too.
17:06You start thinking and you start hearing a footstep in the dark, too.
17:11You start thinking, is this guy strong? I can't hurt him? I better conserve myself.
17:16Croft taking some hard shots here as he has throughout the first three rounds.
17:23Barrera with more left hooks.
17:27Left hook to the body is one of his most effective blows.
17:31And now Eddie Croft's right eye is beginning to close, and that damage can be attributed to both the jab and the left hook of Marco Antonio Barrera.
17:40Incidentally, the word Tapia on the back of Barrera's trunks has nothing to do with Albuquerque New Mexico fighter Johnny Tapia.
17:52That's Barrera's mother's maiden name, Tapia.
17:55So he honors her by putting it on the back of his trunks.
18:01My God, he not only wants to be a lawyer, he's sensitive and politically correct.
18:07That's it, man. Work, work, work.
18:10That's it, man. Work, work, work.
18:14Body shots by Barrera after Croft landed a straight right.
18:15That's it, man. Work, work, work.
18:23Body shots by Barrera after Croft landed a straight right.
18:28That's one of his better blows so far.
18:30And a left-right combination punctuates the round for Barrera,
18:34who's having a pretty easy time of it so far against a very game, Eddie Croft.
18:40Aerial view of the outdoor ring at Caesars Palace,
18:44scene of so much boxing history over the course of the past two decades.
18:49And a full house here tonight in anticipation of Evander Holyfield and Riddick Bough.
18:55Hey, this guy is backing up.
18:58Eddie, when you come forward with the jab, the guy backs up, okay?
19:00And he's just trying to wait for you.
19:01All right.
19:02You come with the jab, you're close, throw that short stuff at him, okay?
19:04You throw that right hand following by a left hook, okay?
19:07You're getting there and you're not doing anything, man, okay?
19:09Don't give this guy so much respect.
19:11Right.
19:12Okay?
19:14Let him respect you.
19:15Now you throw them punches.
19:16You can throw hard.
19:17Eddie, Eddie, punch right off the bench.
19:19Okay?
19:20Yeah, you're...
19:26Along about now, I think Eddie Croft has got to start thinking about
19:29turning to a little kickboxing.
19:35All right.
19:36Come on.
19:37Come on.
19:38He might need a third appendage in order to even things up
19:42with this remarkable young athlete.
19:44Use the three.
19:45Can you get it?
19:46Use that jab and get there.
19:47Use the jab and get there.
19:48Move ahead, Eddie.
19:55There you go.
19:56Round four, and you heard the folks in Croft's corner saying,
19:59Don't pay this guy so much respect.
20:01Easy for them to say,
20:03They're not the ones whose eyes are swelling shut.
20:09Oscar was right.
20:10Early on, this guy was scared.
20:12Now he's courage, this guy.
20:13He's gotten his courage now.
20:14He can make a fight out of this.
20:15You get a guy scared, keep him scared.
20:17Barrera didn't do that.
20:20He's suggesting, George, that Barrera might have shown a little bit more killer instinct in the first two rounds.
20:35Yeah, once the guy was fighting for a while.
20:37Now he's got his courage up and he has an excellent defense.
20:41He's catching a lot of those hard blows now.
20:43He's catching a lot of those hard blows now.
20:44Catching him with the tip of his glove and his elbow.
20:46Short right hand by Barrera as Croft was coming in.
20:49But in point of fact, as George Foreman said,
20:52Croft is blocking more punches now.
20:54He got a piece of that one with his left arm.
20:56Croft who backed up through all of the first two rounds, listening to his corner and beginning to go forward now.
21:07What can it do to a puncher like Barrera when a guy bears in forward on him, Oscar?
21:11Well, one thing now that's happening is Croft is making Barrera move back,
21:16which is very surprising because Barrera was making the fight the first few rounds
21:20and now Croft is showing that he is a courage fighter and that he is going to show some hard work in there.
21:27And I believe right now Barrera is getting hit now by some punches from Croft
21:31and is just giving more confidence to Croft, which can change the fight in the later rounds.
21:36Croft's last fight in May was a loss to Tom Boom Boom Johnson.
21:42He went the distance against Johnson, who's a world-class fighter.
21:48A featherweight champion.
21:59Nothing low.
22:01Barrera got in a low one and referee Jay Nady says,
22:03No, no, bring him up.
22:05Good warning.
22:07That one was right on the borderline.
22:14And as Croft has moved forward,
22:17Barrera is losing some of his sharpness.
22:20The texture of this fight changing slightly as round four comes to a close.
22:33And now let's check in with another of our reporters, Frank DeFord. Frank?
22:36Well, Jim, as you can see, we're giving you the weather as well as sports tonight,
22:39and a warm front has just come through here.
22:42But in most of Las Vegas, it's still pretty chilly.
22:45And as you can see from the thermometer that Trish is holding,
22:48it's down to about 55 and could go a lot lower.
22:51When Duran and Leonard fought here a few years ago, it was as low as 46.
22:55A lot of people come dressed more for a cotillion than for a sports event.
22:59But the real problem, of course, will be for Evander Holyfield, who has back spasms.
23:04He'll be wearing an insulated robe, and he'll be carrying heating pads
23:09and doing the best that he can to ward off what is becoming a very chilly, cloudless night.
23:15But I'm doing better than anybody else.
23:17So goodbye, guys.
23:20Well, that's visibly apparent, Frank.
23:22And there's the temperature at ringside where we are under a cover and under the lights.
23:26And therefore, as you can see, it's about seven or eight degrees warmer in the ring than over where Frank was standing.
23:33The mayor of Las Vegas is Pam Jones. I don't think that was her.
23:38No, no. Frank said that young lady's name was Trisha.
23:41Oh, oh. Well, now I know it wasn't her.
23:43They've been introduced.
23:46Harold Letterman, give us your score through four rounds.
23:49Okay, Larry. I got it. 40 to 36, four rounds to nothing.
23:52Marco Antonio Barrera. I think this kid with that left hook is terrific.
23:56And notice that step to the side. It's a beautiful move. It really is.
23:59It's nice to bring generalship.
24:01Eddie Croft came forward really nice in the third round, but still, I know Barrera's outpunching him.
24:0540 to 36, Barrera.
24:07Straight right hand against the ropes as the bust punch landed in the fight so far by Eddie Croft.
24:13And Barrera seems befuddled by Croft's new aggression.
24:17And George Foreman, Barrera's gonna have to re-chain or re-seize the momentum here.
24:21And he's gonna get back to where he was in rounds one and two.
24:24Croft has got so much courage.
24:26If he only had the power to go along with the courage, he would really do something tonight.
24:30He's got the courage.
24:32Eddie Croft determined to make a good showing tonight.
24:36Low blow by Barrera.
24:42Might have hurt Croft.
24:45Jay Nady didn't see it.
24:46And now Barrera takes advantage as he pounds away against the ropes.
24:50Eddie Croft wobbly.
24:52Losing his legs and trying to hold on.
25:05Now Croft seems to have regained his balance.
25:10But Barrera has, for the moment, become the aggressor again.
25:25Barrera had been playing wait and see or possum for a while before he unleashed that awesome barrage.
25:45Come on, come on, come on.
26:08Round five, Marco Antonio Barrera in white.
26:10Eddie Lee Croft in the purple.
26:12First two rounds belong completely to Barrera.
26:16Croft has stepped up his level of aggression since then and made it much more of a battle.
26:21Barrera going back to body punching in this round
26:24to try to generate some of the momentum he had in the first two.
26:28Boy, that's some of the most fearsome body punching I've seen this side of Julio Cesar Chavez.
26:35Go!
26:36I'll find that, God damn it!
26:38Okay, breathe.
26:39Here you go.
26:40Okay, baby.
26:41Thanks, Albie.
26:42I got you.
26:43Where's that mouthpiece?
26:44Right here.
26:45I need another water.
26:48Where's another water?
26:50There's two low blow warnings for our next one's a penalty.
26:54You gotta do it.
26:55What's working?
26:56You're abandoning him.
26:57Eddie, you're standing in front of him, and you're letting him throw three, four, five punches.
27:01Okay?
27:02You gotta use that jab.
27:03You gotta throw the right hand, too.
27:05Okay?
27:06All right, let's take a look at that sequence of punches.
27:09The low blow began it, and the referee was not in a position to see it.
27:14And how much Croft was affected, Kent, we don't know.
27:17But Barrera certainly followed up and took advantage of it.
27:22What do you think, George?
27:23Was the low blow a big factor in setting up that rally?
27:26I don't think it was actually low.
27:27They have a cup.
27:28At that point, there's a cup to protect them.
27:30The last shot was probably on the tip of that cup.
27:32Because it was right in the middle?
27:34But you're not supposed to hit there anyway.
27:36It looks to me like he hit him right at prime time there on his trunks.
27:41Well, the cup is in prime time.
27:48Hit him up, Eddie.
27:50Hit him up, Eddie.
27:51Round six between Croft and Barrera.
27:57And Eddie Croft continues gradually to warm to the task
28:01against the technically superior Barrera.
28:04Yeah, and Barrera threw a new one in there,
28:06a beautiful right uppercut in close.
28:09Nothing low.
28:12A very sophisticated 21-year-old prizefighter.
28:17The baby-faced assassin.
28:23You gotta do it.
28:24Hey, take that!
28:26And I notice now, Jim, that Flip Homansky, the commissioned doctor here,
28:31is watching this very closely because Croft is starting to get busted up a little.
28:37He's taking a lot of punishment, is showing his courage, and they want to keep an eye on that.
28:41And Homansky is seated over in Croft's corner.
28:45It's not a good sign for a fighter when Homansky is seated in your corner.
28:55But Eddie Croft continues to become more aggressive than he was earlier.
28:58There's a left hook that lands flush.
29:01Again, one of his better punches of the fight.
29:04Barrera comes back with a four-punch combination and a left hook.
29:08Go away, Eddie!
29:19Barrera has dispensed with the body-punching to a certain degree in this round.
29:23It was his basic staple in round five.
29:28Here, he's landing straight hard shots to the head and trying to set up a finish.
29:32Croft stunned by the right hand and now driven into the rope by another.
29:37How much of this does Jay Nady want to watch?
29:40He's gonna fight, Eddie!
29:41Now Croft begins to throw back.
29:43He's gotta do that to keep himself in the fight.
29:46Go away!
29:48Come on, Eddie!
29:49Barrera again shows patience.
29:52Too much patience, George?
29:53Not at all.
29:54As a matter of fact, it's seldom you see a young fighter,
29:56takes his time, assess your damage, start again.
30:00This guy Barrera has got the stuff.
30:03The right and the left stuff, George.
30:06Good balance and a good left hook to the body by Barrera.
30:12And another good left hook to the body.
30:16And two more.
30:21The last minute of the round, Barrera going back to the thing that has worked best for him in the fight,
30:26left hook to the body.
30:31And a flurry to finish the sixth round as Barrera has gotten back into a position of dominating this fight the way he did in the first two stanzas.
30:40And Flip Romanski is going into the ring to look at Croft.
30:45This is the kind of fight in which is one-sided.
30:48Croft doesn't appear to have any chance to hurt Barrera, in which you've got to think of a different standard of stopping the fight than you would some other fights.
30:58This is early in the round, Barrera landed a wonderful combination, wonderful from his point of view, not from Croft's, on the ropes.
31:11But Croft is dead game.
31:15And this is the one who can really get hurt in this kind of a situation.
31:18And punch that number, so that in round six, Barrera, in the first round,
31:20quick right hand, digging that left to the body.
31:25And this is how the round finished.
31:30I've been told that he can stop this fight any time, which is the proper way.
31:35Even though Croft is fighting back, we have seen that the game fighter is the one who can really get hurt in this kind of a situation.
31:43And punch that number, so that in round six, Barrera landed 44 of 60 power shots.
31:48Those are forbidding statistics for Eddie Croft at this moment.
31:52Croft responding now as referee Jay Nady told his corner,
31:55if he doesn't fight back in this round, I'll have to stop it.
32:00Let's go!
32:05Scheduled for 12.
32:19Meanwhile, our interpreter Hector Garcia tells us that something is bothering Barrera.
32:24That much he could pick up from the conversation in Barrera's corner between rounds,
32:28but we're not sure exactly what it is that's bothering him.
32:31Something physically.
32:33A small injury, perhaps.
32:34But right now, Barrera pays no attention to any injury.
32:37He's just trying to finish the fight.
32:39He's got Croft in trouble, and a stoppage here would not be unjustified.
32:44Croft fighting back there.
32:46See, there's the problem.
32:49The standard for stopping a fight is if the other guy isn't punching back.
32:52The problem here is it doesn't make any difference if he punches back.
32:56He's absorbing too much punishment.
32:58Because as brave as Croft is, and as game a fighter as he'll show himself to be,
33:03he doesn't have the power to hurt Barrera, George.
33:06Yeah, which is evident.
33:09And that's enough.
33:13A technical knockout in the seventh round.
33:15That was a good start, Eddie.
33:16It's all right.
33:17And the 39th consecutive win for the 21-year-old baby-faced assassin,
33:22Marco Antonio Barrera from Mexico City.
33:38Turn him around! Turn him around!
33:40The victory for Barrera is his fifth in 1995.
33:56Let's watch this prodigy at work.
33:59The best little fighters in the world come from Mexico, in my judgment.
34:03Right now, this kid may be the best of the best.
34:06He can fight.
34:09He was patient where patience was required.
34:12He didn't get excited when Croft came on to him and drove him back for a while.
34:19He's got the complete package, it looks like.
34:22And this is the end where the Nevada officials,
34:28having gone to school on the tragedy of Jimmy Diaz last May.
34:34Jimmy Garcia.
34:35I'm sorry.
34:36Thank you for correcting me, Jim.
34:37Jimmy Garcia stopped this fight when they should have.
34:44So Barrera celebrates there and let's go to the ring for the particulars from Michael Buffer.
34:50Ladies and gentlemen, referee Jay Nady calls a halt to this contest at 38 seconds of round number seven.
34:59The winner by TKO victory.
35:01His record now, 39-0, 27 KO's.
35:07He is still the undefeated WBO junior featherweight champion of the world, Marco Antonio Barrera.
35:20Barrera, as you heard there, is the WBO junior featherweight champion of the world.
35:32It's a title that we don't recognize as an official world championship here on TV KO, but it's one small symptom of the alphabet mentality which plagues and dominates the sport.
35:45We'll have more on that in just a moment.
35:50Believe me, if we wanted to mine the benefit of all of those alphabet world championships, we'd be telling you every 20 seconds that Oscar De La Hoya is the WBO world lightweight champion.
36:00But we think his accomplishments in the ring speak for themselves.
36:04That's our position.
36:05Let's go to Frank DeFour.
36:07Yeah.
36:08What?
36:10이다.
36:11Shanghai
36:12Who
36:13ف
36:18Are you listening to the ring?
36:19That's right.
36:19That's right.
36:22You're listening to RING.
36:27Awesome.
36:28Let's go to 창 cinco.
36:31Oh my goodness.
36:34You're Landscape.
36:35I'm reading this room.
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