“We did our homework on Marco Antonio Barrera,” said Carl Moretti, vice president of Main Events, promoter to Rocky Juarez, at the post-fight press conference to ‘Too Close To Call.’

“Unfortunately, we did not do our road work . . .”

Juarez put it another way: “I tried to make it a fight—but he did not want to fight tonight.”

That was not only the sentiment of the Rocky Juarez camp, but a hefty portion of the 10,421 fight fans who showed up at the MGM Grand Casino in Las Vegas hoping to see another war between Juarez and Barrera. The crowd booed consistently during the 12 round rematch that had Barrera retaining his WBC 130-pound belt by—depending on your point-of-view—by either outboxing and putting on a clinic, or running and holding.

“Obviously in most of my fights, the fans are used to seeing me in explosive fights,” Barrera stated shortly after the fight.

“But I wanted to prove that I can beat him with one hand—my left hand. I wanted to do something different.”

When questioned how he felt about the booing, Barrera responded:

“It’s understandable. People pay money for entertainment—whichever way they are entertained is fine with me. But this is a sport where you are supposed to hit and not get hit.”

Promoter Oscar De La Hoya called it a “boxing lesson.”

“He told me he wanted to give Juarez a lesson. The challenger was a tough, tough cookie, a real tough, tough son of a gun, but Marco put up an excellent performance. He used his skills and his intelligence . . .

“He ran a marathon!” interrupted someone in the media center.

“He ran!” yelled another.

“Some people say he ran,” De La Hoya went on, “but he used his jab all night long. You have to give him credit for being in there with a good champion like Rocky Juarez . . . in my opinion.”

De La Hoya and Barrera’s take on the fight, as expected, was on one end of the spectrum, while Juarez represented the other.

Sporting a closed eye, Juarez was respectful of Barrera—to a point.

“I came up short again,” he told the media. “But I gave it my all. I felt it was my time to be a world champ. He’s a great champion and He gave me this eye—from an uppercut . . . but a ‘boxing lesson?’

“I came to fight tonight. I tried to make him fight, and he wouldn’t. He’s a Mexican icon, I give him that, but I’m very disappointed. He came up with the right game plan . . . he clinched, and he smothered my punches. But he didn’t want to trade shots . . . he was too hard to catch.”

Juarez plans to swing between featherweight and super feather.

“If I can get a title opportunity at 126, I’ll definitely take it—or any champ at 130. I can make feather, but I feel comfortable at 130.”

Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy, told the media that we can expect to see Barrera fight again in March, on another HBO card. He also said rematches from both co-main events were on the table.

As for an opponent for Barrera, the obvious target is a rematch with Manny Pacquiao, depending on the outcome of his rubber match with Erik Morales in November.