By William Mackay: Former IBF lightweight champion Julio Diaz (38-7, 27 KO’s) gets to the next fighter that tries his hand at attempting to beat Ireland’s Paul McCloskey (23-1, 12 KO’s) on May 5th at the King’s Hall in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Diaz, 32, is likely going to have to be especially impressive in this fight in order to walk out of the King’s Hall with the win, because we saw last September how hard it can be for someone to beat the 32-year-old McCloskey, #9 WBA, in Belfast.
Breidis Prescott dominated McCloskey for 12 rounds but went home a loser by a 12 round unanimous decision by the scores of 114-113, 115-113 and 114-113.
It showed you that it’s very hard to beat McCloskey at home, because Prescott appeared to win 11 of the 12 rounds in the eyes of some people, and yet he ended up the loser. Diaz, 5’9″, may not have enough left in the tank to beat McCloskey, but it’s not a good feeling when you saw the last guy that fought him in Belfast going home a loser despite pretty well dominating the fight.
Diaz at one time was one of the best fighters in the lightweight division. It seems like only yesterday when boxing fans were raving about his talent between 2003 and 2007. However, since losing to Juan Diaz by a 9th round TKO in October 2007, Diaz hasn’t looked the same. Since that fight, he’s lost three out of his last seven fights against the likes of Rolando Reyes, Victor Cayo and Kendall Holt. I’m not sure if Diaz ever could have beaten those guys during his best years, but I’d like to think he could because those are beatable fighters all of them. Diaz hasn’t fought since being stopped in the 3rd round by Holt last May. That’s a considerable amount of time. It’ll have been a year since he last fought when steps into the ring against the light hitting McCloskey.
I like Diaz in this fight due to his much better offensive skills. McCloskey doesn’t have the power to dent Diaz’s chin, but I still feel it’s going to be hard for Diaz to get a win unless he stops McCloskey.
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