During the 2000 Olympics Gold medal round, Juarez loss controversially against Bekzat Sattarkhanov who was warned several times for holding and not penalized.

His first challenge came from 1996 Olympian Zahir Raheem on July 17, 2004, in which he won by controversial decision, possibly due to the fight taking place at Juarez's hometown in Houston, Texas.

Juarez bounced back with back-to-back wins against Reynaldo Hurtado and Backlin Medrano and earned a shot against Mexican legend, Marco Antonio Barrera for his WBC Super featherweight title.

In a very close fight, the bout was announced originally as a draw, but later it was revealed that two of the judges scorecards had an error, as Barrera was granted the win by split decision.

[3] As a replacement for Jorge Rodrigo Barrios, Rocky Juarez stepped in and fought Juan Manuel Márquez for the WBC Super Featherweight title on November 3, 2007.

[5][6] In his fourth attempt at a title, Juarez fought Chris John to a controversial draw on February 28, 2009, in his hometown of Houston.