Rodney Berman’s Golden Gloves and Arthur Pelullo’s Banner Promotions will present a sensational world championship fight card on Saturday, March 21, 2009, at Emperors Palace, located at 64 Jones Street in Kempton Park, South Africa. Featured fights will be televised live on Supersport beginning at 8:00 P.M. local time (2000).
Juan Diaz
Diaz vs. Marquez on Feb 28th
By Sam Gregory: In recent years the welterweight division has been in the spotlight of professional boxing. And for good reason, much of the talent in today’s boxing is in the 147 pound weight class. But just 12 pounds south of the welterweights is the division that has historically been home to some of the greatest fighters to lace up a pair of gloves. Benny Leonard, Joe Gans, Roberto Duran and Pernell Whitaker are just a few who have displayed their talent in the 135 pound division.
Juan Diaz Bio
By Sam Gregory: Juan Diaz was 105-5 as an amateur. He thought he was qualified for the 2000 Mexican Olympic team but was informed he was too young to compete in the 2000 summer games in Sydney, Australia. He decided he didn’t want to wait four more years so he turned pro at the age of 16. Diaz made his professional boxing debut on June 23, 2000 with a first round TKO win over Rafael Ortiz. Diaz won all of his first five fights by KO or TKO.
Hatton-Pacquiao Fight Off: Ricky Looking At De La Hoya & Mayweather
By Jim Dower: In news that will probably be upsetting to Manny Pacquiao, Ricky Hatton has opted to move on to another fight instead of settling for less than a 50-50 split with Manny for their previously talked about fight on May 2nd. The apparently reached a sticking point in their negotiations after Pacquiao asked for a 60-40 purse split and Hatton wasn’t willing to agree to giving Manny the larger share.
Diaz-Marquez: The Punching Machine vs. Dinamita
By Manuel Perez: Former lightweight champion Juan Diaz (34-1, 17 KOs) will be making a step up in competition by facing Juan Manuel Marquez (49-4-1, 36 KOs) on February 28th at the Toyota Center, Houston, Texas. Diaz, 25, is looking to rack up his biggest win of his career against the 35-year-old Marquez, but in order for Diaz to do that, he’s going to have to look a lot better than he’s looked in his last two fights, one of which resulted in a 12-round split decision loss to Nate Campbell in March 2008.
Prescott – Who’s Next For Breidis?
By Nate Anderson: In less than a minute, the hard-punching knockout artist Breidis Prescott (20-0, 18 KOs) destroyed the highly touted lightweight Amir Khan in the 1st round in September 2008, taking him out with powerful left hooks and exposing Khan’s weak chin in the process. The win elevated the 25 year-old Colombian to the 5th spot in the WBO while also moving him up to the #12 position in the IBF and #13 in the WBA rankings.
Diaz vs. Marquez on February 28th
By Eric Thomas: In the latest boxing news, Juan Manuel Marquez (49-4-1, 36 KOs) will take on former IBF/WBA/WBO lightweight champion (34-1, 17 KOs) on February 28th at the Toyota Center, Houston, Texas. There will be no title at stake, other than Marquez’s lightly regarded IBO title. However, the fight, one of the better ones in ages, will match two of the best lightweights in the division in Marquez and Diaz.
Diaz Easily Defeats Katsidis — Boxing News
By Manuel Perez: Showing no ill effects of his previous loss a fight earlier, talented lightweight contender Juan Diaz (34-1, 17 KOs) defeated Australian Michael Katsidis (32-2, 20 KOs) by a 12-round split decision on Saturday night at the Toyota Center, in Houston, Texas. The final judges’ scores were 115-113, 116-112 for Diaz and 11I-115 for Katsidis. I’m not exactly sure what fight the third judge was watching because it seemed like a clear cut win for Diaz, who dominated almost the entire fight other than a couple of rounds. I had Diaz winning 10 rounds to 2 for Katsidis. It was a case of having too much speed, a better work rate and much better overall talent that the slower Katsidis.
The outcome might have been different, however, if Katsidis hadn’t focused so much on trying to box with Diaz. Believe me, Katsidis looked much different from his previous fights. Instead of trying to slug it out with Diaz, which me might have had a chance at succeeding at given Katsidis’s enormous punching power, he tried to use head movement, feints and bob and weave style to box with Diaz. It was useless. Katsidis wasn’t suited for this style of fighting and all it did was take away his best weapon – his power – and turn him into a glorified sparring partner. Along the way, of course, Katsidis took a terrible beating, sustaining nasty cuts over both eyes and a big purple bruise under his left eye.
Diaz vs. Katsidis On Saturday Night
By Manuel Perez: Previously unbeaten lightweights Juan Diaz (33-1, 17 KOs) and knockout artist Michael Katsidis (23-1, 20 KOs) meet up in a do or die bout this Saturday night at the Toyota Center, in Houston, Texas. The bout matches to vastly different fighters against one another, with Katsidis, 28, a slugger with tremendous power and a defense which is pretty much nonexistent, and Diaz, 24, a high volume puncher with average power that normally relies on his nonstop punching ability and superb stamina to win his fights.
Of the two, Katsidis is the less skilled fighter by far, and the most vulnerable, having been hurt badly in wars with Czar Amonsot and Graham Earl in 2007. In both fights, Katsidis was hurt and came close to losing both of them. His tremendous punching power, however, saved him on both occasions letting him stay in the fight against Amonsot despite receiving terrible cuts around both eyes and then bailing him out against Early by allowing him to stop him in the 5th round. Katsidis luck finally ran out in his last fight against Joel Casamayor, who stopped him in the 10th round in March.
Diaz, Katsidis & Pacquiao In The Cards For Hatton?
By Nate Anderson: Whether he likes it or not, Ricky Hatton (44-1, 31 KOs) may have to earn his rematch the hard way by beating a trio of smaller fighters, such as lightweights Juan Diaz and Michael Katsidis, and super featherweight Manny Pacquiao, before he can make himself relevant for another fight with the great Floyd Mayweather Jr. Hatton, 29, has done little to warrant a rematch with Mayweather at this point. His last fight, a disappointing points win over veteran Mexican fighter Juan Lazcano, was a mixed bag where Hatton looked good at time, almost seeming to be back to his 2005 form, but then later in the fight Hatton began to get nailed with many of the same punches (short left hooks) that he was hurt with against Mayweather.
Indeed, the most worrisome part of all, however, was that Hatton was hurt badly twice by the relative light-hitting Lazcano, and if not for the assistance from the referee in the 10th round, Hatton may have been knocked out in the fight. To be sure, it wasn’t something that was missed by neither Mayweather nor Hatton’s promoters, Golden Boy, who will likely want him to take on several top fighters in order to rebuild his status as a near invincible punching machine.