Marquez vs. Diaz II: Does Diaz get stopped again?

By Boxing News - 06/22/2010 - Comments

By Jim Dower: On July 31st, WBA/WBO lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez (50-5-1, 37 KO’s) and Juan Diaz (35-3, 17 KO’s) will be going at it in a money fight at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The winner of the fight will likely be moving up in weight to take on WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan for his title.

Diaz, 26, is no longer dominating the way he used to do earlier in his career and is at a point in his career where he is really struggling to find wins. In his past five bouts, Diaz has lost three of them and some say he should have four losses because of his controversial win over Paulie Malignaggi in August 2009.

Marquez, 36, is coming off a 12 round decision loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. last year and could really use a win to boost his confidence. This is a fight that the network was interested in because of how exciting their previous bout was. Other than that, Marquez is mainly interested in getting the biggest money fights possible but unfortunately there are few big name stars at lightweight for Marquez to fight at this time.

Marquez would like to get a rematch with Manny Pacquiao, whom he has fought twice previously. However, the chance of that happening is pretty slim unless Pacquiao’s bout against Floyd Mayweather Jr. doesn’t take place or if Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum doesn’t match Pacquiao up with Antonio Margarito or Miguel Cotto.

Diaz at one time was considered to be the best fighter in the lightweight division. However, he hasn’t seemed like the same dominating fighter he was previously since losing a 12 round decision to Nate Campbell in 2008. What followed was a 9th round stoppage loss to Marquez, and then after beating Malignaggi by a controversial 12 round decision in 2009, Diaz lost a 12 round decision to Malignaggi in a rematch in December 2009.

However, the losses to Malignaggi took place at light welterweight and at only 5’6”, Diaz doesn’t appear to have the size to compete at that weight class. However, Diaz was having problems making the lightweight 135 pound weight limit before, which is why he opted to move up in weight to light welterweight. By moving back down in weight, nothing will likely have changed in that regard other than Diaz getting older.

Diaz can’t afford to get beat by Marquez. That would be Diaz’s fourth loss in his last six fights and it would be a crushing blow to his career if that were to happen. Diaz needs a win and needs badly to stay relevant in boxing. He can’t move back up in weight because of his size limitations. So, he’s going to have to try and make the best of it at lightweight while he still can.

The good news is that Diaz always seems to be carrying around an extra 10 pounds of baby fat around his midsection and if he can lose that weight without taking off muscle, then he will have a good chance of sticking around the lightweight division and not experiencing the hardships of making weight.



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