By William Mackay: Some would say that there’s no reason for WBA/WBO lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez (50-5-1, 37 KO’s) to fight a rematch with former lightweight champion Juan Diaz (35-3, 17 KO’s), since Marquez destroyed Diaz by a 9th round stoppage last year in February. However, if you were fortunate to have seen that fight, you will have witnessed one of the most action packed fights of all 2009. even though the Diaz-Marquez bout didn’t last a full 12 rounds, it still more than enough for most fans. Diaz and Marquez will be fighting again on July 31st at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada.
If either of these two are interested, the winner of this bout will have option of moving up in weight to take on World Boxing Association light welterweight champion Amir Khan, who is looking for a big named opponent to help make a name for himself. It’s unclear why Golden Boy Promotions, who promotes both Marquez and Khan, haven’t talked about Khan moving down in weight to fight the winner of the Marquez-Diaz bout.
Last time Marquez and Diaz fought, Marquez was knocked down early in the fight, but came back and was able to hurt Diaz later on in the bout with big uppercuts. Diaz was attempting to work on the inside against Marquez and kept leaving himself open for uppercuts. Marquez, an excellent inside fighter who learned his trade in Mexico, kept punishing Diaz with heavy shots when they were in close.
Eventually, Diaz went down in the 9th from a huge right hand from Marquez and was unable to get back up. I’m sure Diaz has been working on what he did wrong in the last fight and is going to make a point not to make the same mistake again. However, Marquez seemed to really have Diaz’s number in their last fight. Marquez knew Diaz’s style really well and had an answer for everything that Diaz attempted to do.
Whether Diaz can come up with some new ideas to keep Marquez guessing remains to be seen. He’s going to have to do something different because trying to bore in on Marquez and throw a lot of shots probably work again. Marquez, unless he’s aged since their last fight a year ago, will probably be equally tough and be looking to take advantage of Diaz’s mistakes that he makes in the ring. Diaz doesn’t have the arm length, so he’s got little choice but to come right at Marquez and try to overwhelm him with shots.
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