Campbell Decisions Diaz

By Eric Thomas: In a shocking upset, 36 year-old Nate Campbell (32-5-1, 25 KOs) had too much stamina for WBA/WBO lightweight champion Juan Diaz (33-1, 17 KOs), beating him by a decisive 12-round unanimous decision tonight at the Plaza de Toros, in Cancun, Quintana Roo, Mexico. The final judges’ scores were 116-111, 115-112 and 114-113, all for Campbell. The first card, though, seemed the most accurate of the bunch, for Campbell dominated the fight after the sixth round when Diaz faded badly after tiring out from his early fast start.

The timing of the fade for Diaz conveniently came about at the same time that Diaz was cut over his left eye, which perhaps gives him an excuse for his loss. However, Campbell appeared to just have better overall endurance than Diaz, and just plain out-hustled from the six though the twelfth as he landed both the sharper and more numerous shots during that time.

Not seeing the punch himself, the referee wrongly assumed that the cut was caused by a head butt from Campbell, so he promptly penalized him a point. Lucky for Campbell that he had enough of a cushion so that this bad call didn’t effect the outcome of the fight. The Mexican crowd, naturally, were backing Diaz, and screaming loudly in the first half of the bout. They were less pleased, however, in the final six rounds of the fight as Diaz began to tire out and take punishment from the much older fighter.

It doesn’t take a genius to see that this loss is a crushing blow for Diaz, for he’d been hoping to continue winning and thereby set up potential big money bouts in the future against a variety of opponents. Now, though, Diaz will have to start from the drawing board and perhaps focus on his stamina issues.