by David P. Greisman
Chris Cozzone © Fightwireimages.com

The game plan. It is the strategy from which victory is possible, the tactics devised and defined during the path from preparation to action.

Juan Diaz and Michael Katsidis had long ago earned their warrior stripes through nonstop aggression. That they would meet in the same ring meant the likelihood of much punching, little retreat and delightful drama.

As expected, they came to the Toyota Center in Houston with the same strategy. But this past Saturday night, that game plan would mean boxing over brawling. That would work out in one man’s favor, costing the other the fight.

Diaz was no stranger to working off of his jab. Though his previous two outings had seen him conquer Julio Diaz on the inside and then lose in a phone-booth battle with Nate Campbell, he had also taken out Acelino Freitas with combinations thrown from a distance. Without fight-changing power, Diaz had learned to make do with volume, turning it up and then making sure not to turn it off.

Katsidis, meanwhile, had but one gear: forward. Yes, it meant punishment, the knockdowns he suffered against Graham Earl and Joel Casamayor, the wounds opened by Czar Amonsot. But it also meant perseverance. He put up his dukes until Earl was forced to remain on his stool. He sent out shots that left Amonsot worse for wear. And he rallied back against Casamayor, building a close lead until he left his chin open and let the win topple down with one perfect left-hook counter.

Controlled aggression. Boxing doesn’t necessarily equate into boring. Whether it was working on the inside with hooks to the body and follow-ups to the head or waiting on the outside with combinations off of his jab, Diaz had found the formula to which he should stick. As for the controlled aggression Katsidis had used to come back against Casamayor, it was cast aside prematurely in favor of a bum rush that saw him wide open to be struck.

To thine own self be true. Katsidis is an Australian who wears his Greek heritage openly, donning a warrior’s helmet on the way to the ring. He is headstrong, even if he is skin and chin weak.

Katsidis had recently been given the mantle as heir to Arturo Gatti’s human highlight reel. Gatti, too, excited many with his tendency to take heavy artillery and respond back with bombs. But after repeatedly being forced to fight through serious swelling and bad beatings, Gatti adjusted. He learned to box, to use his speed when foes were bigger and slower, and for his power to come out when opponents were weaker and smaller.

The transition wasn’t seamless. Gatti’s defense remained porous, and he often would be drawn into war. But the additional dimension lengthened Gatti’s career, augmenting what he could do in the ring and how much longer he would be able to do it.

The fit wasn’t as comfortable for Katsidis.

Against Diaz, Katsidis threw more jabs than he’d ever done before, landing few – 39 total, or an average of slightly more than three a round, according to CompuBox punch statistics. His connect rate for jabs and power punches combined was a paltry 17 percent, some of which Diaz would counter over with right hands. From the outside, many of Katsidis’ shots were caught on Diaz’s gloves. And on the inside, Katsidis would attempt to shoulder Diaz into the ropes but Diaz would respond by circling around, keeping the fight in the center of the ring.

Katsidis was fighting Diaz’s fight.

Diaz used his jab to set up the rest of his offense, landing 110 of 346, or about nine per round. Katsidis kept his right glove affixed to his cheek, never parrying the jabs that blocked his vision while the power shots followed. Diaz landed those power punches at a 41 percent rate, an average of 15 hooks and crosses a round. Diaz had his rhythm. Katsidis was getting beat.

The duration of the fight, Katsidis’ trainer, Brendon Smith, gave his charge little but positive reinforcement. He was winning the fight, Smith said, and should stick to his strategy. By all appearances, Smith was wrong, though the official scorecards would somehow bolster his perspective.

The opposing trainer, Ronnie Shields, similarly wanted Diaz to stay with their game plan. They were winning handily; Diaz needed to box to fend off any desperate charges from Katsidis.

It worked. Diaz doubled Katsidis’ connect rate in eight of 12 rounds, and did the same with power punches in five rounds, outlanding him in that category in all but two. Diaz was more effective, and Katsidis was unable to even the action with his superior power.

Diaz appeared to have soundly defeated Katsidis by quite the wide margin. Not so, said the judges.

Glen Hamada found seven rounds to give to Katsidis, meaning he had the Aussie ahead 115-113. Levi Martinez and Gale Van Hoy fortunately had Diaz as their winner, though their scorecards of 115-113 and 116-112 still seemed too close for comfort.

Diaz got taken to the proverbial deep waters against Campbell six months ago, trapped in an inside battle, unable to paddle away from the shark that smelled blood and was circling in for the kill. Scorecards aside, his performance Saturday against Katsidis reaffirmed that he could fight inside and out, the latter necessary in case he again finds himself outgunned in close.

Katsidis, meanwhile, took the same punishment with his new strategy as he had with the old. Cuts over his eyes. Bruising and bleeding. He was too true to his new self, not faithful enough to that which had previously brought him along.

Diaz, the student, can learn new strategies for the battlefield. Katsidis, the warrior, can follow orders but is best suited for that which he was made – taking fire from the trenches and then returning with his own barrage.

Katsidis crammed for this test, and Diaz took him to school.

The 10 Count

1.  Rocky Juarez scored the damaging blows, but Jorge Barrios opened the door to his own defeat on the televised undercard of Diaz-Katsidis on HBO’s “Boxing After Dark.”

Barrios had appeared to be well on his way toward a surprising decision win over Juarez in a bout that saw Barrios, known for being a wild slugger, disciplined in how he was essentially out-boxing an opponent who had better amateur credentials and technical proficiency.

That was the first half of the fight.

Barrios seemed to go into overdrive, increasing his output in an apparent attempt to score a knockout. That effort included an astonishing 160 punches thrown during the 10th round.

Juarez’s trainer, Ronnie Shields, told his fighter he needed a knockout. That lit a spark under the rear end of Juarez, who came out far more aggressively than he had been in previous rounds. Juarez landed body shots that visibly affected Barrios. And with Barrios open-mouthed, sucking wind, Juarez got in the punch that badly tore open Barrios’ lips, leading to the eventual stoppage.

2.  Not that Barrios would have won had he kept to his game plan. No, Barrios was somehow losing on the scorecards in a Houston arena against a Houston native. A more amusing coincidence was the matching first initials of Juarez and the officials for his bout.

Rocky Juarez had a referee, Rafael Ramos, who took two points from Barrios on questionable low-blow calls. Judge Rocky Burke had the fight a draw, 94-94, going into the 11th round. Ruben Carrion somehow saw things 96-92, or six rounds to four, for Juarez. And Ruben Garcia had the rounds even, meaning he had Juarez ahead 95-93.

Yet the other Houston native, Juan Diaz, almost got ripped off in the main event. It makes no sense, but it wasn’t pretty.

3.  Michael Katsidis-David Diaz, anyone?

4.  Highly touted lightweight prospect and 2004 Olympic silver medalist Amir Khan got knocked out 54 seconds into his bout with undefeated Colombian puncher Breidis Prescott. The puns followed just as quickly: “A Mere Con,” and “Amir Con,” read headlines on various Web sites.

Too predictable. Better: “The Wrack of Khan,” “The Wreck of Khan,” and, my personal favorite, “Shock-a Khan.”

5.  As tough as it must have been for promoter Frank Warren to see his prized prospect in Khan lose – especially since his two former cash cows, Joe Calzaghe and Ricky Hatton, have left for greener pastures – Warren at least got one victory last week.

Warren recently came out atop a libel lawsuit against book publisher Random House over a few items in Hatton’s autobiography, including a claim that Warren had once conned junior-welterweight Vince Phillips out of a higher payment for his 2003 bout with Hatton.

Warren will receive 115,000 pounds in damages, or more than $200,000, plus an estimated 2 million pounds in legal costs, or more than $3.5 million, according to various reports from across the pond.

6.  Floyd Mayweather Jr. should be counting his blessings that the only thing taken in a break-in at one of his Las Vegas homes was jewelry.

Police say at least two burglars broke into Mayweather’s home last month, leaving with some $7 million worth of bling, according to the Las Vegas Review Journal.

This was the same house featured a year ago in an episode of “MTV Cribs,” which, according to the article, saw Mayweather showing off “gold and platinum encrusted rings, watches, bracelets and medallions of horses, boxing gloves and the logo of his company Philthy Rich Records,” plus “a medallion he said was worth $275,000 and a Rolex watch he valued at $500,000.”

Those pieces of jewelry were “displayed near the sink in his master bathroom, steps away from a wall of doors and windows leading into the bedroom where the suspects are believed to have broken into the home.”

It is not known whether the jewelry seen on “MTV Cribs” was that taken in the burglary.

Mayweather was not in the home at the time, and, really, that’s a good thing. As we have seen far too often, athletes, deservingly or otherwise, have become enticing targets for criminals looking to make a big score. Mayweather has made his image one of money and various riches.

In the wake of the break-in that ended with a group of burglars killing former Washington Redskins player Sean Taylor – who had done little to tempt those who wound up taking his life – perhaps this brush with danger will serve as a wake-up call for Mayweather and other athletes and celebrities.

7.  By the way, reporters Antonio Planas and Lawrence Mower of the Las Vegas Review Journal, Mayweather didn’t earn anywhere near $20 million for his appearances with World Wrestling Entertainment, no matter what the Associated Press reported in March.

WWE officials revealed as much in a May conference call. Nice research there, guys.

8.  Boxers Behaving Badly update: Scott Harrison was sentenced last week to eight months in jail on charges stemming from two of his many recent brushes with the law, according to various reports from across the pond.

Two months of Harrison’s time behind bars will come from a May attack on his girlfriend and a police officer. The remaining six months are the result of his driving drunk for three miles in late August in Glasgow, Scotland.

The troubled 31-year-old boxer had also been scheduled for trial this September to face allegations that he assaulted one man on a Glasgow street in January 2007 and threatened to kill another man in a bar in March 2007. Harrison pleaded not guilty to both charges. No word on what will happen with those cases.

Harrison’s hopes of returning to fighting legitimately took a backwards step in May after British officials chose not to license the former featherweight titlist to box.

Harrison lost his license after an eventful 2006 that included multiple legal problems and reported struggles with alcohol and depression. He was suspended after failing to get his weight below 133 pounds for a title defense late that year against Nicky Cook.

Since then, Harrison has donned handcuffs more often than boxing gloves. He’s faced numerous allegations, and he was sentenced in April to 200 hours of community service for a conviction on charges of disturbing the peace and resisting arrest in an April 2006 incident outside of a bar in Glasgow. Harrison was acquitted in February on a related charge of assaulting a police officer.

Harrison last appeared in the ring in November 2005, when he outpointed Nedal Hussein.

9.  And now, hopefully, an eight-month moratorium on Scott Harrison entries in this column.

10.  First, TMZ.com links to a BoxingScene article on the Mayweather jewelry theft. Next, the tabloid Web site will put up paparazzi shots of my date with tennis star Ana Ivanovic.

We can make that happen, right?

David P. Greisman is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. His weekly column, “Fighting Words,” appears every Monday on BoxingScene.com. He may be reached for questions and comments at fightingwords1@gmail.com