Former super featherweight champ Barthelemy goes up 10 pounds, routs DeMarco

It’s pretty certain that Rances Barthelemy’s venture at 140 pounds won’t always be as easy as Sunday’s.

The 28-year-old Cuban who now lives and trains in Las Vegas had his way with veteran Antonio DeMarco, shutting him out over 10 rounds at the MGM Grand Garden to remain undefeated.

Barthelemy, a former world super featherweight champ, left 130 pounds and bypassed 135 in search of big-money fights at junior welterweight. He showed speed, power and versatility in dominating DeMarco and improving to 23-0. All three judges — Ricardo Ocasio, Burt Clements and Adalaide Byrd — had Barthlelemy ahead by identical 99-89 scores.

“I was very, very calm through the entire fight,” Barthelemy said. “I came into the fight in great shape and my trainer Ismael Salas had me well-prepared. I feel very comfortable (at 140 pounds) and I could have fought 20 rounds.”

Barthelemy knocked DeMarco down with a minute remaining in the fourth round. And while he was unable to put him away, Barthelemy did little wrong, save for a few low blows which ultimately cost him in the ninth round as referee Kenny Bayless dinged him a point.

DeMarco (31-5-1) struggled to figure out how to deal with the awkward Barthelemy and he could never mount a sustained attack to give himself a chance to win.

“I could tell he was confused,” Barthelemy said. “Any fighter can be confused when you switch from southpaw to orthodox back to southpaw like I did. He couldn’t afford to come in against me. I was in total control.”

Barthelemy said he wasn’t so sure the punches Bayless said were low were below the belt.

” A lot of those shots were right on the belt,” he said. “But the referee was just doing his job. I am not angry with him.”

Barthelemy said at this weight level, he needs to sit down on his punches more, use his power and not move as much. He said he’d like to face Omar Figueroa, the former lightweight champion who has also recently moved up to junior welterweight.

“It would be a great fight,” Barthelemy said of a meeting with the undefeated Figueroa, who is 25-0-1 with 18 KOs. “It would be a (Diego) Corrales-(Jose Luis) Castillo-type fight.”

In the co-feature, welterweight Sammy Vasquez survived cuts above both eyes and a bloody nose to win a 10-round unanimous decision over Wale Omotoso. The 28-year-old Army National Guard veteran from the Pittsburgh suburbs who did two tours of duty in Iraq was ahead 98-92 with judges Patricia Morse-Jarman, Robert Hoyle and Dave Moretti.

“My objective was just to box him, move around and not let him hit me because I know he has the power that his record shows,” said Vasquez (19-0). “Wale’s a tough competitor. Obviously, I haven’t been this beat up ever.”

Accidental head butts in the fourth and sixth rounds and an accidental elbow in the seventh caused the lacerations above both of Vasquez’s eyes along with his nose being bloodied. But despite the cuts, he was able to stay in control of things in handling Omotoso (25-2) and probably made a lot of new fans who were watching on CBS.

“This was an incredible opportunity for me and my career,” Vasquez said. “I have an exciting fighting style and I like to bring that to my opponent like I showcased (Sunday).”

On the undercard, two of Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s fighters scored knockout wins. Super middleweight J’Leon Love stopped Jason Escalera in the seventh round to improve to 20-1 after Escalera (15-4) knocked Love down in the first round, while cruiserweight Andrew Tabiti KO’d Thomas Hanshaw (6-6) in the second round with a huge right hook to the head to remain undefeated at 10-0.

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow him on Twitter: @stevecarprj.