By: Sean Crose
Junior welterweight Omar Juarez, 8-0, stepped inside the ring at LA’s Microsoft Arena on Sunday to face the 13-3-2 Dakota Linger in a scheduled eight round affair. Juarez was able to land clean and hard in the first. Linger was sharp and game, but it was clear in the second round that Juarez was able to land at will while maintaining distance. The third round saw Juarez continue to do well – but Linger was getting in shots of his own. Linger showed he wasn’t going to be wiped out in the fourth, throwing and landing effectively.
Things became something of a fistfight in the fifth. Both men looked sharp throughout the chapter. Juarez ended the sixth with a powerful body shot. Linger continued to fight gamely in the seventh, but it was Juarez who was in control. Linger was tough and competitive throughout the eighth, but he didn’t have enough to top Juarez. In fact, it looked like Juarez might have had his man on the verge of being stopped.
The judges ended up ruling in favor of Juarez by scores of 80-72, 79-73, & 79-73
