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As Pacquiao proved, Diaz must attack Marquez (and Juarez must attack John)
Add a Comment February 27, 6:15 PM
by Colin Seymour, SF Boxing Examiner
« Previous A classic “Far Side” cartoon from the ‘80s contained the best ringside advice ever. The combatants are a buffalo and an Indian inside a small circle, with their right feet parallel and right hands clasped in an agility game you may have played yourself. The buffalo’s entourage yells, “Just trample him, Vince!. He’s drawing you into his kind of fight.”
Stablemates Juan Diaz and Rocky Juarez would do well to take it to heart Saturday when they fight as underdogs Saturday on HBO in their hometown, Houston. Diaz should try to trample Juan Manuel Marquez in their showdown for lightweight supremacy. And that goes double for Juarez, who needs to assert superior strength against unbeaten Chris John, the longtime-yet-obscure featherweight champion from Indonesia. I’m rooting for the Texans but not counting on an upset in either fight.
My penchant for Diaz and Juarez has a regional angle. I lived in South Texas for about five years and root heavily for Mexican-Americans from there, especially those from Corpus Christi and the Rio Grande Valley and usually those from San Antonio. But even for those who hate Texas, Diaz and Juarez have been two of the most attractive lower-weights prospects in boxing, yet neither has truly asserted himself.
Diaz is considered one of the two or three best lightweights, but he has been undermined by his upset loss to Nate Campbell last year and a tendency to rack up far fewer knockouts than you’d think by looking at him and then seeing his aggressive ring style. Against Marquez, a close second to Manny Pacquiao in the current pound-for-pound sweepstakes, Diaz needs to overwhelm the elegant former featherweight and junior lightweight champion. Diaz should risk getting tagged with counter punches, because he won’t win landing fewer punches than Marquez.
Juarez was dominated by Marquez in 2007 at 130, and now he’s down to 126 to chase the defensive-minded champion. Juarez is always trying prove himself the slick boxer and starts posing instead of doing the damage he’s fully capable of doing. His losses to Marquez, Marco Antonio Barrera (twice) and Humberto Soto stamped him as less than elite, but that doesn’t mean he’s unworthy of holding one of boxing’s 70-or-whatever world title belts.
Marquez-Diaz is a genuine world lightweight championship fight. Props to Golden Boy Promotions for insisting that the lightweight belts Campbell squandered two weeks ago when he failed to make weight for his 135-pound defense against Ali Funeca be awarded to the Marquez-Diaz winner. Pacquiao also has given up a lightweight belt and declared himself a 140-pounder.
Campbell is on his way to 140 pounds after barely outpointing Funeca. I must disagree with fellow Examiner Vivek Wallace’s premise that Campbell poses a threat to Pacquiao or Ricky Hatton at 140, but I admit I never saw the Diaz-Campbell fight, in which Campbell’s performance was a blueprint for Diaz to use against Marquez.
A return bout with Campbell would have provided redemption for Diaz, but beating Marquez would redeem him a lot more.
Add a Comment February 27, 6:15 PM
by Colin Seymour, SF Boxing Examiner
« Previous A classic “Far Side” cartoon from the ‘80s contained the best ringside advice ever. The combatants are a buffalo and an Indian inside a small circle, with their right feet parallel and right hands clasped in an agility game you may have played yourself. The buffalo’s entourage yells, “Just trample him, Vince!. He’s drawing you into his kind of fight.”
Stablemates Juan Diaz and Rocky Juarez would do well to take it to heart Saturday when they fight as underdogs Saturday on HBO in their hometown, Houston. Diaz should try to trample Juan Manuel Marquez in their showdown for lightweight supremacy. And that goes double for Juarez, who needs to assert superior strength against unbeaten Chris John, the longtime-yet-obscure featherweight champion from Indonesia. I’m rooting for the Texans but not counting on an upset in either fight.
My penchant for Diaz and Juarez has a regional angle. I lived in South Texas for about five years and root heavily for Mexican-Americans from there, especially those from Corpus Christi and the Rio Grande Valley and usually those from San Antonio. But even for those who hate Texas, Diaz and Juarez have been two of the most attractive lower-weights prospects in boxing, yet neither has truly asserted himself.
Diaz is considered one of the two or three best lightweights, but he has been undermined by his upset loss to Nate Campbell last year and a tendency to rack up far fewer knockouts than you’d think by looking at him and then seeing his aggressive ring style. Against Marquez, a close second to Manny Pacquiao in the current pound-for-pound sweepstakes, Diaz needs to overwhelm the elegant former featherweight and junior lightweight champion. Diaz should risk getting tagged with counter punches, because he won’t win landing fewer punches than Marquez.
Juarez was dominated by Marquez in 2007 at 130, and now he’s down to 126 to chase the defensive-minded champion. Juarez is always trying prove himself the slick boxer and starts posing instead of doing the damage he’s fully capable of doing. His losses to Marquez, Marco Antonio Barrera (twice) and Humberto Soto stamped him as less than elite, but that doesn’t mean he’s unworthy of holding one of boxing’s 70-or-whatever world title belts.
Marquez-Diaz is a genuine world lightweight championship fight. Props to Golden Boy Promotions for insisting that the lightweight belts Campbell squandered two weeks ago when he failed to make weight for his 135-pound defense against Ali Funeca be awarded to the Marquez-Diaz winner. Pacquiao also has given up a lightweight belt and declared himself a 140-pounder.
Campbell is on his way to 140 pounds after barely outpointing Funeca. I must disagree with fellow Examiner Vivek Wallace’s premise that Campbell poses a threat to Pacquiao or Ricky Hatton at 140, but I admit I never saw the Diaz-Campbell fight, in which Campbell’s performance was a blueprint for Diaz to use against Marquez.
A return bout with Campbell would have provided redemption for Diaz, but beating Marquez would redeem him a lot more.