By Jim Dower: If you’re interested in seeing one of the best pay-per-view cards in many years, you can’t go wrong in purchasing the July 31st card between headliners WBA/WBO lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez (50-5-1, 37 KO’s) vs. Juan Diaz (35-3, 17 KO’s) at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Diaz-Marquez fought previously last year in an exciting fight that resulted in Marquez stopping Diaz in the 9th round on February 28th, 2009. The fight was so well received by boxing fans, that many of them immediately started clamoring for a rematch.

Unfortunately, the rematch had to wait awhile as Marquez took the opportunity to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. in September 2009, but lost a one-sided 12 round decision. Now both Diaz and Marquez are coming off losses and can’t afford to get beaten again for them to ensure that they stay big attractions. Diaz in particular can no longer afford to lose because he’s slost three out of his last five fights and can’t get beaten yet again if he still wants to remain relevant in the lightweight division.

The undercard of the July 31st Marquez-Diaz care is loaded with stand alone fights that have the potential, each of them, to be the main event on their own. The undercard fights are as follows:

Daniel Jacobs vs. Dmitry Pirog – These two talented middleweights, ranked number #1 and #2, will be fighting for the WBO middleweight title. It’s a classic match-up of power vs. speed and defensive ability. Jacobs has the power and youth going for him, while Pirog, 29, has the speed and defensive ability. Pirog is a Floyd Mayweather Jr. clone and it should be interesting to see how Jacobs can deal with that kind off style.

Joel Casamayor vs. Robert Guerrero – Former WBC lightweight champion Casamayor, now 38, and slightly faded, will have a huge test in front of him with the 27-year-old Guerrero. Likewise, Casamayor could be a big test for Guerrero, who has fought most of his career at featherweight and super featherweight.

Jorge Linares vs. Rocky Juarez – Former WBA featherweight champion Linares (28-1, 18 KO’s) is still trying to rebuild his career after being destroyed in one round by Juan Carlos Salgado last year. Juarez, a tough fighter, who has lost his last two fights to Chris John and Jason Litzau, could give Linares some rounds and boost his confidence by losing to him. This is a fight that Linares should be able to win without too many problems. If he can’t be Juarez, then there is some serious problems for Linares that he will need to deal with if he wants to continue with his once promising career.

Jean Paul Mendy vs. Sakio Bika – Despite being one of the best super middleweights in the division, Bika (28-3-2, 19 KO’s) needs to be more active in his career and move forward while he still can. Mendy (28-0-1, 16 KO’s) should be a big test for Bika.