“Dinamita” Seeks Pacquiao After Domination of Diaz

In the main event from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, NV, lightweight champion Juan Manuel “Dinamita” Marquez (51-5-1, 37KO), once again defeated Juan “Baby Bull” Diaz (35-4, 17KO), in a rematch of the “2009” fight of the year en-route to a unanimous decision victory defending his championship strap.

Diaz came out much slower than in their first meeting trying to box with “Dinamita” but was getting hit with flush shots to the head and body by Marquez who came out looking very strong. At :44 of the first three minutes Marquez landed a hard left-uppercut right-hand combination to the head of Diaz who retaliated with a good left-hook and three hard right-hands upstairs to finish a good 1st round for both fighters.

To start the 2nd round Diaz was fighting well and landed a good right-left combination up high followed by a left-hook to the jawline. The fighters were sharing the real estate alternating in agression and at 1:00 remaining Diaz landed a hard left-hook to the side of Marquez’ head then a hard jab that snapped his head back in a good round for the “Baby Bull.”

Marquez came back in the 3rd with well placed rights and lefts upstairs and the fistic combatants began trading heavy leather. The fourth started with Diaz landing two good left-hooks to the cheek bone and Marquez came back with a hard left-uppercut that knocked back and hurt Diaz. Marquez followed up with a stiff left-hook and right-hand on the button while Diaz’ legs still weren’t under him. Diaz went against his natural instincts keeping distance between himself and Marquez instead of attacking with wild abandoned as is his normal M.O., while “Dinamita” did not come after him too hard and Diaz overcame his first bit of adversity.

The 5th saw Diaz boxing keeping his distance, circling and pumping his jab but was still caught with hard flush right-hands to his skull by Marquez at the end of the round. Marquez took the 6th with crisp effective punching, beating Diaz up and dominating the first half of the fight as opposed to the first showdown where he did not take over till the later rounds. Diaz made adjustments and was trying to box technically but it wasn’t working and if Diaz was going to make a run in the second half he was going to need to morph back into the “Baby Bull” and let it all hang out.

Marquez was boxing beautifully while flat-footed planting his feet and ripping into the “Baby Bull.”

“Dinamita” won the 7th with virtually one punch, a hard right-hand to the top of Diaz’ head. Going into the 8th Marquez’ right eye was almost swollen shut and he complained to referee Vic Drakulich that he was being thumbed in the eye, which may have been but Diaz had also been working on that eye with his jab which served as his best punch through the first eight rounds.

At 1:48 of the 9th Marquez landed a good left-right up top and hurt Diaz again causing him to clinch for the first time in the fight, or both fights for that matter. The round also saw a bad cut open up on the corner of Diaz’ mouth. Diaz responded to the cut well winning the 10th and 11th heading into the 12th and final round.

Diaz won the final round as well and landed a hard left and a couple hard rights upstairs as the swollen right eye seemed to affect Marquez going down the stretch. They exchanged like true champions in the last ten seconds but it was too little too late for Diaz and Juan Manuel “Dinamita” Marquez won a unanimous decision with scores of 116-112, 118-110 and 117-111 in a very good performance that saw him fade a little at the end, more than likely due to the swollen right eye.

When asked by commentator Jim Lampley if he would rather chase a third fight with Manny Pacquiao or dominate the 135lb division which he sits atop of, Marquez replied, “The trilogy is what we want I think it’s the best thing for boxing for the fans. The people want it, we want it, the Mexican fans, the Filipino fans, and everyone that follows boxing.” When Lampley asked Juan Diaz if he would seriously think of retiring, considering his other opportunities at hand, Diaz left it open to consideration but stated, “Come October 7th, I am going to knock that dang LSAT out,” referring to his law shool admissions test.

So while Marquez seeks out an unlikely trilogy with the pound-for-pound kingpin Manny Pacquiao, Diaz whose 2-4 in his last six bouts will have to ponder continuing his fine boxing career.

In the co-main event for the vacant WBO middleweight championship title, Russian “From Russia With Love” Dmitry Pirog (17-0, 14KO), shocked the boxing community with an impressive 5th round knock out of undefeated Brooklyn, NY, sensation Daniel “The Golden Child” Jacobs (20-1, 17KO).

Jacobs entered the ring wearing a jacket that read “Lady Bird” down the front in reference to his grandmother Cordelia Jacobs who passed last weekend, in a fight that Jacobs was dedicating to her.

Pirog started the scrap coming forward throwing straight right-hands aimed at the skull as Jacobs was showing respect for his opponent by keeping distance, jabbing and throwing straight rights as well. With twenty-one seconds to go in the 1st and Jacobs backing into the ropes, Pirog landed a hard right-hand winning the round on my score card.

To start the 2nd, at 2:37 Pirog landed a left-hook to the body, left-uppercut to the head, straight-right to the head three-punch combination that buckled Jacobs nearly flooring him and putting a concerned look on his face. Pirog followed it up landing lefts to the body, left-uppercuts, right-hands and was landing a stiff jab, all while Jacobs was in retreat mode. Pirog dominated the 2nd with damaging blows.

Jacobs came out in the 3rd busier looking to gain the Russian’s respect with hard right-hands and body work but the punches were having no effect on Pirog. Jacobs landed some more crisp punches for his best round of the fight.

In a close 4th, midway through a boastful Pirog landed a straight-right to Jacobs jaw then gestured toward the Brooklyn, NY, native with his gloves as if to say, “How do you like that?” Jacobs responded with a right upstairs and Pirog was inclined to respond again gesturing that it did not hurt! Jacobs landed a hard left-hook to the body and the now cocky Pirog just smiled and came forward. Jacobs tried to make adjustments like switching his stance to unorthodox a couple times but had only minimal success and was having a hard time landing flush shots on Pirog because of all the Russian’s head movement, bobbing and weaving. Jacobs had moments landing hard blows but Pirog walked right through all of them.

At 2:00 of the 5th with Jacobs back against the ropes Pirog landed a right-hand bomb to Daniel’s jaw that viciously laid him out. Pirog threw his hands in the air as winners do and indeed he was victorious. Jacobs lay sprawled out on his back as if he were out but may have just been laying there trying to catch his bearings while the referee Robert Byrd counted because at the count of six Jacobs flung his body upwards very fast to get up but Byrd pushed Daniel back down by his chest stopping the fight, not finishing the count and leaving a disgruntled defeated Jacobs. The call was questionable and Jacobs deserved the chance to fight on but he did go to sleep momentarily as he fell prompting Byrd to end it giving the Russian a very impressive and shocking knock out victory claiming the WBO middleweight championship belt and improving to (17-0, 14KO).

In the post-fight interview with Jim Lampley Jacobs stated, “Everything was just too fast, you know with the devastation of a lot of things going on in my life right now with my granmother passing, everything. I did not have the time to train as hard as I wanted to, but you know, no complaining I just hope my family can forgive me. I know everybody back home watching me I love you in this hard time that we are going through. Everbody keep your faith in me we are going to make it through this time.” Jacobs needs not be forgiven because he did nothing wrong, he came out and fought valiantly and lost, this is boxing it happens but Jacobs came to fight and that’s all us fans can ask for. My prayers go out to Daniel and his family in this tough time and I expect him to be back wiser and improved.

In a ten round junior welterweight clash Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero (27-1-1, 18KO), won a unanimous decision over his old mentor Joel “El Cepillo” Casamayor (37-5-1, 22KO), in a lackluster performance although he hurt “El Cepillo” numerous times.

The fighters came out doing what fighters do, learning about eachother feeling their way through the first round with Robert the agressor coming forward. With forty-two seconds to go in th opening round “The Ghost” landed a hard straight left upstairs that slightly wobbled “El Cepillo” causing him to grasp onto Guerrero. I don’t think many including Guerrero noticed Casamayor got buzzed and if “The Ghost” did notice, he didn’t follow up. Casamayor did not look confident once the fight commenced and his reflexes and timing were poor.

At two minutes of the 2nd round the third man in the ring, Jay Nady, stopped the action and deducted a point from Casamayor for having to warn him for the third time of holding. A few moments after Casamayor was penalized he landed a good right-hand to the jaw of Guerrero only to be one-upped seconds later when Guerrero landed a hard left to the face of “El Cepillo” that staggered and hurt him causing him to hold some more. After they were broke up Casamayor stumbled forward into his opponent and at that same moment Guerrero landed a right-jab as Joel held onto Robert falling to the floor in what was a questionable knock-down ruling by Jay Nady, giving “The Ghost” a 10-7 round.

In the 4th Guerrero walked into a hard left to the chin and took it well but allowed Casamayor to get back into the fight. They were fighting standing a good distance away from each other for the first four rounds and at a pace that favored Joel. With ten seconds to go in the 6th Robert landed a flush straight-left up top that hurt Joel again for the third time in the fight and Casamayor’s legs were very unstable to end the round.

Thirty seconds into the 7th Guerrero connected with a straight-left to the mouth that wobbled “El Cepillo” yet again, it seemed as though every time Robert landed the left upstairs he hurt Joel. At 1:20 of the round another left to the side of the cheek buzzed Casamayor, again!

Rounds eight and nine were slow and uneventful and going into the 10th and final round Guerrero was way ahead in a non-competitive fight. Joel’s corner told him he needed a knock down in the final three minutes and he took heed to those words. The 10th saw “El Cepillo” come out slow but with a minute-in-a-half to go he landed a hard left to Guerrero’s chin then at 1:16 of the round “The Ghost” walked right into a Casamayor right-jab that floored the California fighter for the first time ever in his career. Joel came after Robert a little bit after he was back on his feet but “The Ghost” evaded well and was hit with nothing significant for the duration of the round. The jab knock down Robert sustained put a big damper on an already frustrating performance victory by “The Ghost.”

Robert won a unanimous decision with scores of 98-89, 98-89 and 97-90. Guerrero took his time after hurting Casamayor numerous times taking a methodical approach, when if he would have pressed a little more and let his hands fly he may have been able to get Joel out of there early. Guerrero pumped his jab all night and threw more then few hard impressive single shots that did damage but he never really put his punches together in combination and gave Casamayor way too much space.

Joel has been known to be dirty with head-butts and such which is probably why Guerrero cautiously kept his distance but Robert was too cautious and gave his opponent who seems to be done physically way too much repsect. Casamayor stayed in the fight for the duration because Guerrero allowed him to and Robert will need to press the action more with future big name opponents if he wants to captivate the public with his fighting as he did with his inspiring personal story.

Fleshing out the portion of the televised HBO-PPV event Jorge “El Nino de Oro” Linares (29-1, 18KO), won a safe dominating decision over Ricardo “Rocky” Juarez (28-7-1, 20KO).

Rocky started the fight coming forward taking control of the ring applying pressure while Linares was circling to his left. The opening stanza was pretty uneventful as they traded jabs and felt each others style out.

In the 2nd Linares picked up the pace and was mixing it up well from head to body with left-uppercuts and rights to the mid-section as he continued to move. Juarez was having trouble getting his punches off as he’s been known for and was really only using his jab while stalking Linares but not cutting off the ring very well. Juarez was keeping a high guard yet Linares was having no trouble going through or around it.

Linares’ technical boxing was looking very good and he was utilizing his left-hand beautifully. Linares was landing a wide left-hook to the body then would immediately follow it up with a left-uppercut to the head.

The end of the 4th saw Juarez have a little success when he trapped his opponent against the ropes and they began to trade in the first real good exchange. The problem was Linares got the better of the exchange. At the end of the 5th right when Juarez started finding his range with his classic left-hook, Linares caught “Rocky” with a left-uppercut that dropped him but he survived.

The fight got a little stale in the later rounds as Linares’ stayed on his bicycle out-boxing Juarez but taking no chances. “Rocky” would land pretty good shots periodically especially his straight-right up top but not in combination and never followed up. The narritive of the evening was Linares’ left-hand, throwing it from all angles and making the left-uppercut his go to punch as well as using it for many left-hooks and jabs which opened things up for his right-hand as it started landing in the later rounds.

Going into the final round Juarez’ trainer Joe Chavez told his pupil, “Take nothing back to the dressing room, I want everything left out here, I do not want anything left out of you!” Juarez came out strong in the round pressing and landing some nice leather but it wasn’t enough and once again Juarez came up short in a big fight leaving future world title opportunities in jeopardy. Linares won a dominant unanimous decision with scores of 99-90, 97-92, 99-90.

Photos by Tom Hogan – Hoganphotos/GBP