Juan Seizes the Day of the Diaz

JUAN BULLS OVER JULIO IN BATTLE OF DIAZ CHAMPIONS

The baby bull ran through the kid and collected the third of four lightweight belts when Juan Diaz halted Julio Diaz and united his WBA and WBO titles with Julio’s IBF version in a highly entertaining fight on the “Day of the Diaz.”

A disappointingly sparse crowd was on hand to see the important championship unification bout that helped to clear up the lightweight division, but that didn’t stop Juan “Baby Bull” Diaz from putting on an enthusiastic performance, which culminated in the eventual destruction of Julio “The Kidd” Diaz after nine rounds of relentless pressure and an unending serving of punches. In a remarkable first round, Julio made it clear he wasn’t going to back down to the onslaught of energy coming his way and traded with the younger Juan but found himself on the receiving end of the more snapping punches.

The unbelievable pace continued into the second round where Juan, who has been criticized as lacking a big punch, turned Julio’s head with some vicious combinations, but Julio stayed in the pocket and fired back with his best, despite being unable to match the fantastic punch output of Juan. Eager to exert his physical dominance over the untested Juan, Julio called out his fellow Diaz as early as the summer of 2004 when Juan first became WBA Champion, but the IBF Champion found out rather quickly that his younger opponent was more than comfortable brawling with him and, in fact, better at it.

Julio turned southpaw on several occasions, but Juan continued to find his senior regardless of the stance he chose. Twice in round five, Juan unloaded on Julio with half a dozen unanswered punches, creating a terrific fight that was slowly becoming more and more one-sided in his favor. By choosing to brawl, Julio played right into Juan’s hands until he could no longer return fire and, after losing every round quite clearly, finally quit on his stool following the eighth round. A loss may have been inevitable, but by refusing to box, a move that Juan later revealed surprised him, Julio never really gave himself a fighting chance. In the end, Juan simply overwhelmed him.

With a big 2007, Juan solidifies himself as a must-see attraction, the type of fighter that boxing desperately needs to regain popularity in the world of combat sports. Unfortunately, few turned out to see him on this momentous occasion. Blame it on poor promotion or the by and large unknown opponent, but Juan needs to be seen. He leaves no doubt as to who is victorious, and he never stops punching; furthermore, his ambitions are admirable in that he wants to unify titles and fight big names.

Surely, Juan can expect a much better turnout should he return to Chicago to fight its native son and WBC Lightweight Champion, David Diaz, who was in attendance, to complete the division’s unification series that he instigated when he forced Acelino Freitas to quit after eight rounds this past April. Juan found Freitas a bit more difficult to eliminate than Julio, but the result was the same: sustained action until the pace became unsustainable for the opponent. There’s no shame in quitting against a guy who doesn’t include “stop” in his vocabulary.

Juan’s best opportunity for superstardom, it would seem, is to face Manny Pacquiao, who has expressed a desire to move up to the lightweight division in the near future. Juan wasted no time in challenging Pacquiao following his victory, stating that the “Pacman” should stop wasting his time with fading Mexican warriors like the now retired Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales and instead consider competing against an up and coming Mexican warrior like himself. Pacquiao has mentioned David Diaz as his first opponent should he make the lightweight jump, which means another unification bout is most likely in the cards for Juan, whether he finds himself across the ring from Pacquiao or another Diaz next. Either way, boxing wins again and continues to win as the sport steamrolls into the fall and impending winter.