By Cliff Rold

After many contentious weeks, the question of what comes next for arguably the World’s best 135-lber is answered.  It won’t be a trip to court (at least for now) to fight promoter Don King; instead, 24-years young Juan Diaz (33-0, 17 KO, Ring Magazine #1 Contender, WBA/WBO/IBF titlist) of Houston, Texas will make a March 8th trip to Cancun for a showdown with his IBF mandatory, 35-year old Nate Campbell (31-5-1, 25 KO, #5) of Tampa, Florida.  Nate should be, just slightly, the simpler fight of the two.

Diaz is not the first fighter to butt heads with, or become disgruntled with, the fabled King.  He is though one of the least sympathetic.  Diaz isn’t a fighter who can be painted with the symbolic brush of the under-educated, aww-shucks contender of old black and white movies.  Instead, he is an articulate, college educated young man who one assumes had access to his college library.  In that library was certainly a listing for one “Newfield, Jack” and had Juan added to his elective reading lists he might have one less headache today.

It’s a headache that will subside eventually.  In the meantime, Diaz has a legitimate challenge in front of him.  It’s not a challenge he can’t overcome.  Campbell, at 35, is already past his best days and has never quite been able to conclusively seal his place amongst the games upper echelon warriors.  In that respect, he has much in common with Diaz’s last two foes, Acelino Freitas and Julio Diaz, both of whom were solid fighters that just seemed to miss those small, key ingredients that separate titlists and champions.  Put another way, sometimes good just isn’t good enough and that appears the case for Campbell in this fight.  It should be a good show regardless. 

Ultimately, Diaz-Campbell could be the best case scenario for the young titlist as well as the man he almost faced in February, Michael Katsidis (23-0, 20 KO) of Australia.  Diaz-Katsidis is already the most sought after viewing experience in the Lightweight division amongst the hardcore fistic faithful.  What it is not, at least not yet, is the superfight it can become.  The all-action style of both men deserves the highest possible payout and largest possible viewing audience.  It could turn out to be that special.

Katsidis has a March 22nd shot at the hotly-debated World championship of aged veteran Joel Casamayor (35-3-1, 21 KO) on HBO, and Katsidis should be favored to defeat the old Cuban.  With Diaz going two weeks prior on the same network, the potential audience for a Diaz-Katsidis World championship fight will only grow.  As it does, each man can anticipate growth in their wallet equal to the anticipation of the everyday fans that are waiting for the rest of the world to catch up with what they really want out of this division.

Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com