By Jake Donovan

The defending Super Bowl champions, the New York Giants helped officially kick off the 2008 National Football League season, with the rest of the games following on Sunday and two more on Monday evening.

It was in that same spirit that marked a month flooded with top rated lightweights making ring appearances, with three bouts facing meets between Top 10 fighters.

Among many other things, the major difference between boxing and most other sports is the guarantee that the best teams – or at least the last two standing – eventually face each other to determine the superior squad for that season. 

There’s no such guarantee in boxing; sometimes it pans out, while far too often, the best fights are often left at the negotiating table.

There is no greater example of the latter than the lightweight division as we know it today.

The reason there are so many battles featuring 135 lb. fighters are because too few of them are indicative of the best fighting the best. Last week’s battle on HBO and this weekend’s SHOWTIME main event are the two closest examples, though neither will paint a clearer picture by month’s end as to who is the world’s best lightweight.

Chances are that the same problems that plagued the division in 2007 will remain status quo in 2008. Even in an election year, when a political bone is thrown in efforts to help erase four previous years of broken promises, the lightweight division still can’t their act together.

What we’re left to settle for, is entertainment from pieces that don’t quite form a puzzle.

The month began with its most lucrative offer off of the table. Golden Boy Promotions went out of its way to scoop up seemingly every last remaining unattached fighter at or around the 135 lb. limit, former champions Juan Diaz and Carlos Hernandez being their latest acquisitions, joining Joel Casamayor, Juan Manuel Marquez, Michael Katsidis, Rocky Juarez and Jorge Barrios among others in their growing stable.

None of them will be fighting Manny Pacquiao in the near future. Marquez had his chance in March, securing a rematch some four years after their first meet. Don’t expect a third fight, or for Pacquiao to face anyone else at lightweight until at least midway through 2009, at which time he should be able to shed most of the excess weight (12 lb) he’s forced to put on for his year-ending money grab in his December dance with Oscar de la Hoya.

That leaves the rest of the division to chase after another in his absence, which comes just one fight into his life as a lightweight.

Diaz spent a good portion of 2007 chasing Casamayor, the division’s linear champion, while pleading his own case as the best lightweight on the planet. In the span of two fights, he added two more belts to the one he already had in tow when he signed a promotional contract with Don King in late 2006.

Oddly enough, the two may now get a chance to face one another, although the bout will no longer represent a battle for true lightweight supremacy. Diaz is still among the best lightweights in the world, as evidenced by his convincing unanimous decision win over Michael Katsidis last weekend.

What he no longer represents is the best case argument to those who refuse to claim Casamayor by default strictly due to title lineage.

Diaz removed himself from that part of the equation the moment things fell apart in his March battle with Nate Campbell. He bounced back strong in the aforementioned Katsidis bout, which headlined HBO’s Boxing After Dark doubleheader last weekend in Diaz’ Houston hometown.

It comes one week before his conqueror, Campbell, makes his first defense of three unified titles when he meets undefeated Joan Guzman. The Dominican moves up in weight to challenge for an alphabet belt in his third weight class, having previously claimed hardware at 122 and most recently at 130 before vacating.

Guzman left 130 after failing to nail down an on-again, off-again mandatory defense against Alex Arthur. He decided enough was enough after Arthur’s promoter, Frank Warren pulled shenanigans with their May date, indefinitely postponing the bout, citing the lack of immediate televised dates for the delay.

For the moment, Guzman gets at least the first laugh. Arthur proved himself to be the severely flawed pretender most assumed, falling apart against former featherweight contender Nicky Cook last weekend in Manchester, England.

The bout served as a co-feature to what was supposed to be the next step in the rise of 2004 Olympic silver medalist and, prior to Saturday evening, undefeated lightweight Amir Khan. The plan was for Warren to groom Arthur as a future opponent for Khan, who was to become the crown jewel in the Sports Network stable, following defections by Joe Calzaghe and Ricky Hatton in recent years.

The evening instead turned into the worst case scenario for the promoter. Shortly after Arthur dropped a decision to Cook, Khan was violently twice dropped by unheralded Breidis Prescott in a bout that lasted just 54 seconds.

Prescott looked vulnerable in his previous bout, a razor thin decision over then-unbeaten Richard Abril on ESPN2 this past June. Against Khan, the Colombian looked like a world beater in a win that will easily rank high among the year’s biggest upsets and knockouts, regardless of whatever else happens between now and New Year’s Eve.

Khan was one of four Boxingscene-ranked fighters between 130 and 135 to have suffered a loss on Saturday, joining Katsids, Arthur and Jorge Barrios as fighters now presently on the outside looking in.

It was just two years ago that Barrios was as close as he will ever get to the junior lightweight throne, having claimed one of the four major alphabet titles at the time. The reign ended on the scales when he weighed in heavy for his September 2006 defense against Guzman, and then for real the following night in a fight that wasn’t quite as close as the split decision verdict suggested.

He only had one stay-busy fight since then, prior to last weekend’s battle with Juarez, having spent most of his downtime healing from surgery to detached retinas in both eyes. As it turned out, his return to the ring after more than 16 months was an unwelcome one, suffering an 11th round stoppage to Rocky Juarez in a bout where HBO and several noted scribes believed he was handily winning prior to that point.

What they felt (and frankly, they were way off base) became a moot point when Juarez put the Argentinean on the deck in the 11th round, splitting his lip in the process. By ‘split,’ we don’t mean a mere flesh wound, but an actual gusher, with Barrios’ blood spurting blood to where the ringside physician had no choice but to call off the bout.

The knockout all but removes Barrios from the fold. He was cited for his toughness, and even suggested by some as a possible comeback opponent for Katsidis sometime next year. But you’d really have to hate the 32-year old to put him through that form of torture, against a fighter who would boast every conceivable advantage over him, including general health.

Where it lands Juarez remains to be seen. The Houston fighter, who captured Olympic silver in 2000, has been something of a ‘tweener in his pro career. Good enough to beat the rest, but often falling short against the best. That a win over a faded Barrios represents the best of a career already eight years deep tells you how badly he’s underwhelmed thus far.

Talks emerged of possibly dropping back down to 126 to face Chris John, but Juarez instead has his eye on another winner from last Saturday in Nicky Cook. He also mentioned in the post-fight about all of his career losses coming against the very best – Humberto Soto, Marco Antonio Barrera (twice) and Juan Manuel Marquez. The statement suggested that his next would be possibly calling out one of his prior conquerors, particularly Marquez, who fights this weekend. But he did no such thing, instead suggesting he won’t quit until he wins a title.

If nothing else, his stance was in line with his stablemate Diaz, who after beating Katsidis mentioned the possibility of facing this weekend’s Casamayor-Marquez winner. What he didn’t offer, nor was he even nudged in that direction by color commentator Max Kellerman, was the possibility of avenging his lone loss in a rematch with Nate Campbell, or even possibly facing Guzman should he emerge victorious Saturday night on Showtime.

Given who now signs Diaz’ checks and also who serves as lead promoter for this weekend’s pay-per-view card from Las Vegas, there stands a great chance that neither Casamayor or Marquez will utter any other name than a Golden Boy fighter at or near lightweight.

By the same token, you can bet your next paycheck on the Campbell-Guzman winner calling out every fighter with a belt or the slightest of claims in the lightweight sweepstakes.

If you have cash left over from somewhere, double down on the probability of either fighter getting within sniffing distance of Golden Boy’s lightweight winners from last weekend and this upcoming show – zero percent would be your wager.

That would take us exactly to where we were this time last year – the debate between the linear champ who sits at the top of the ratings by default and the belted titlist who may very well be the division’s best fighter.

Casamayor-Campbell II remains the one bout that definitely answers any and all questions. Should both win this weekend, it’s still the fight to be made – that’s if anyone still gives a crap about lending credence to an old cliché tossed around oh so many times. Something about the best fighting the best in order to prove themselves as the best.

The equation remains the same, no matter who emerges this weekend – Casamayor-Guzman, Marquez-Campbell, Marquez-Guzman.

Instead, what will emerge from the rubble is last year’s campaign promise, yet another bout that will prove to be as effective any other lightweight we’ve seen in the past two years.

Jake Donovan is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the Tennessee Boxing Advisory Board. Comments/questions can be submitted to JakeNDaBox@gmail.com .