Saúl Juárez Gil vs. Mario Andrade Padilla II

Fun domestic battle Friday night, headlining Boxeo Telemundo from Iztacalco. This is a rematch for the WBC Latino 108lb title (2nd defense of Juárez). In his first defense, Juárez fought Andrade to a split draw last July.

2 division world title challenger Juárez has to be the among the sport's unluckiest individuals. First he arguably got robbed (of a draw at least) in the Philippines against then unbeaten Milan "The Methodical One" Melindo in an IBF junior flyweight title eliminator. He then defeated the once broadly-feared and still dangerous 2x WBC light flyweight champion Adrián "El Confesor" Hernández twice in 2015 (by TKO from a cut inflicted by punches and then by SD in their rematch)...just a year after Naoya Inoue received universal acclaim for knocking Hernández out to claim his first professional world title. Immediately after that, he fought Oswaldo "El Gallito" Novoa, former WBC minimumweight champion, twice in a row in Mexico - with Baby J pitching a near shutout in a rematch assembled within three months following an unsatisfactory TD1 (after less than a minute because of a head clash). He finally got his world title opportunity in August 2016 and went into the champion's backyard only to arguably be robbed again in a challenge of Chayaphon Moonsri (aka Wanheng Menayothin) for the very belt Novoa had dropped to Moonsri two years earlier. Then in 2017 he was caught a dodgy MD loss to Abraham Rodríguez, who ten months later got a crack at the WBO light flyweight title. With all due respect to Ángel "Tito" Acosta Gómez, he would have been a MUCH easier mark than Ken Shiro, who defeated Juárez in his second try for a world title. Who knows? With the nod over Rodríguez it might have been possible to go the WBO route and realize his ultimate dream, instead of the far more precipitous WBC path left available to him.

All that said, Andrade himself is no stranger to bitterly close (and perhaps sometimes unfair) judges' renderings. Three of his losses have come by split decision and the first Juárez fight last summer was his SIXTH career draw (the previous one came against none other than Oswaldo Novoa).

Here is their original showdown:

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Interesting. They're both Mexico City fighters so it wouldn't have been a question of home cooking, but I guess Baby Juárez is the higher-profile name, having been involved over the years with some much bigger fights. I think he's also promoted by Tuto Zabala Jr.'s All Star Boxing, who put on last July's show and is staging this Friday's. Andrade is a free agent, I believe.

 

There's no listed height on BoxRec for Andrade but the "¿Quién es quién?" graphic on the Boxeo Telemundo broadcast has:

Juárez 5'1" (on BoxRec he's 5' even)
Andrade 5'5"

(with Andrade's reach at 65", three more than Juárez's)

To my eyes I'd say he's, yeah, at least 4-5" taller.

 

@CST80 @Drew101 @Chuck Norris @PinoyProdigy did any of you ever watch/score the original? I looked through and there was never a RBR thread made for it (nary a peep about it on the board, as far as I can tell) last July so @f1ght3rz might've well been the only person who caught it.

 

Odds:

Juárez 3/5
Andrade 5/4
Draw 17/1

Very good payout for the draw, all things considered. Don't let that whole "lightning can't strike twice" logic trip you up. It can.