lpinoy
07-29-2010, 04:24 AM
C/P
Will Marquez put Diazout of his misery this Saturday?
By Jason Kim:
WBA/WBO lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez (50-5-1, 37 KO’s) will be facing a struggling former IBF/WBA/WBO lightweight champion Juan Diaz (35-3, 17 KO’s) this Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada. Diaz, 26, may not like to admit it to himself, but he’s in a situation where he cannot afford to lose this fight if he wants to stay relevant in the lightweight division or in any division for that matter.
Diaz has lost three out of his last five bouts, and is pretty fortunate that he hasn’t lost four out of his last five bouts, because his win over Paulie Malignaggi in their first fight in August 2009 was controversial. Diaz has already been stopped by Marquez last year in a 9th round TKO loss in February, and Diaz is a huge underdog going into this Saturday’s fight with Marquez. Supposedly, Diaz has been working on the problems that he had in his first fight with Marquez.
Specifically, Diaz seemed unable to stop Marquez’s uppercuts, no matter if they thrown in close or at the distance. I think Diaz may do a little bit better job defending against them in the rematch this Saturday, but with Marquez, he has a lot of other weapons to fall back on if one thing isn’t working for him.
Diaz looked like a world beater up until his fight with Nate Campbell in 2008. Diaz lost that fight by a 12 round decision after suffering a cut midway through the fight. Before that fight, Diaz had beaten guys like Acelino Freitas, Julio Diaz, Fernando Angulo, Randy Suico, and Jose Miguel Cotto without too many problems. Even after the loss to Campbell, Diaz was able to beat Michael Katsidis by a 12 round decision. However, Diaz was no longer looking nearly as impressive as he had in his earlier bouts.
For whatever reason, Diaz was starting to get hit a lot more and was looking tentative. Diaz looked good against Marquez earlier in the fight, but Marquez started opening up with power shots around the 6th round, and Diaz started to have problems from then on. Some of it seemed to be stamina related, but other part was because he just didn’t seem to have a clue on how to stop an uppercut. Marquez didn’t overuse the punch earlier in the fight, but in the 8th and 9th, Marquez went to that weapon repeatedly and Diaz looked lost.
Diaz has a lot to be fighting for this Saturday night. If he beats Marquez, his career will be back to where it was and he’ll be getting a nice payday against WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan in December. However, it’s more than likely that Diaz is going to get beaten again by Marquez and possibly stopped one more time. It’s too bad because Diaz looked so good in his earlier bouts, but the punishment he took in the fights against Campbell and Marquez seems to have taken something from him.
Will Marquez put Diazout of his misery this Saturday?
By Jason Kim:
WBA/WBO lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez (50-5-1, 37 KO’s) will be facing a struggling former IBF/WBA/WBO lightweight champion Juan Diaz (35-3, 17 KO’s) this Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada. Diaz, 26, may not like to admit it to himself, but he’s in a situation where he cannot afford to lose this fight if he wants to stay relevant in the lightweight division or in any division for that matter.
Diaz has lost three out of his last five bouts, and is pretty fortunate that he hasn’t lost four out of his last five bouts, because his win over Paulie Malignaggi in their first fight in August 2009 was controversial. Diaz has already been stopped by Marquez last year in a 9th round TKO loss in February, and Diaz is a huge underdog going into this Saturday’s fight with Marquez. Supposedly, Diaz has been working on the problems that he had in his first fight with Marquez.
Specifically, Diaz seemed unable to stop Marquez’s uppercuts, no matter if they thrown in close or at the distance. I think Diaz may do a little bit better job defending against them in the rematch this Saturday, but with Marquez, he has a lot of other weapons to fall back on if one thing isn’t working for him.
Diaz looked like a world beater up until his fight with Nate Campbell in 2008. Diaz lost that fight by a 12 round decision after suffering a cut midway through the fight. Before that fight, Diaz had beaten guys like Acelino Freitas, Julio Diaz, Fernando Angulo, Randy Suico, and Jose Miguel Cotto without too many problems. Even after the loss to Campbell, Diaz was able to beat Michael Katsidis by a 12 round decision. However, Diaz was no longer looking nearly as impressive as he had in his earlier bouts.
For whatever reason, Diaz was starting to get hit a lot more and was looking tentative. Diaz looked good against Marquez earlier in the fight, but Marquez started opening up with power shots around the 6th round, and Diaz started to have problems from then on. Some of it seemed to be stamina related, but other part was because he just didn’t seem to have a clue on how to stop an uppercut. Marquez didn’t overuse the punch earlier in the fight, but in the 8th and 9th, Marquez went to that weapon repeatedly and Diaz looked lost.
Diaz has a lot to be fighting for this Saturday night. If he beats Marquez, his career will be back to where it was and he’ll be getting a nice payday against WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan in December. However, it’s more than likely that Diaz is going to get beaten again by Marquez and possibly stopped one more time. It’s too bad because Diaz looked so good in his earlier bouts, but the punishment he took in the fights against Campbell and Marquez seems to have taken something from him.