Diaz-Malignaggi II, Ortiz-Diaz on December 12th – News

By Eric Thomas: Former International Boxing Federation light welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi (26-3, 5 KO’s) and former IBF/WBA/WBO lightweight champion Juan Diaz (35-2, 17 KO’s) will be fighting a rematch on December 12th at the UIC Pavilion 525 S Racine Ave , in Chicago, Illinois. The last fight took place in Diaz’s home city of Houston, Texas, on August 22nd, and Diaz, 26, ended up winning a controversial 12 round unanimous decision by the scores of 118-110, 115-113 and 116-112.

Many boxing fans felt that Malignaggi should have won the fight, and saw one of the judges’ scores, the one that scored it 118-110, as an indication that there was home town cooking in the final decision. It was a tough fight to score, mainly because Diaz landed the harder shots, was the aggressor for most of the fight and seemed to be the one trying to make the fight. Malignaggi danced around the ring landing pot shots and keeping out of the way of Diaz.

The fight was not exactly the most interesting fight to watch for many of the boxing fans that saw it. However, many of the agreed that Malignaggi should have won the fight by a narrow 12 round decision margin. Since there was a huge public outcry because of the decision, it was only a matter of time before there was a rematch between the two fighters. This time, the bout won’t be held in Houston so as to avoid any more potential controversy.

No titles will be on the line for the fight, as both Diaz and Malignaggi are top contenders in the light welterweight division and not champions. Diaz, who moved up from the lightweight division to take the fight with Malignaggi, didn’t look nearly as effective fighting at the higher weight compared to when he was fighting as a lightweight. However, it looks as if Diaz is going to stick it out in the light welterweight division where he’s currently ranked number #3 in the World Boxing Association and IBF, as well as number #7 in the World Boxing Council. For his part, Malignaggi is ranked number #4 in the IBF and #8 in the WBC. The winner of the fight will keep their title hopes alive against one of the light welterweight champions.

——

Also on the same card, light welterweight contender Victor Ortiz (24-2-1, 19 KO’s) will be trying to bounce back from 6th round TKO loss to Marcos Maidana in June by taking on Antonio Diaz (46-5-1, 29 KOs) in a scheduled 10-round bout. Ortiz is trying to get back to the winning ways after getting stopped by Maidana in a back and forth fight that saw both fighters getting knocked down multiple times. However, Maidana’s big power won out in the end when Ortiz decided he’d had enough in the 6th after getting dropped again.

Ortiz doesn’t believe in taking the easy way out and is being matched against the tough 33-year-old Diaz, who has won his last seven bouts since being defeated by Hector Quiroz six years ago in 2003. This is a really tough opponent for someone like Ortiz who is coming off a stoppage loss. It could turn out disastrous if Ortiz ends up getting stopped again.

6 Responses to “Diaz-Malignaggi II, Ortiz-Diaz on December 12th – News”