Evan Korn has written for Ring Magazine and is an editor for the boxing blog www.newyork.fighthype.com.
In the wake of the stalled negotiations between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, there is something to be said for fighters who just shut up and fight.Enter Juan Manuel Marquez and Juan Diaz, two top-flight boxers who might as well carry a hard hat and toolbox into the ring.
Diaz and Marquez will slug it out from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas Saturday in a rematch of 2009’s Fight of the Year. In their first go-round, Marquez rallied from an early deficit to stop Diaz in the ninth round.
If you rewind the clock back to that February evening in Houston, Marquez was making the first defense of the lightweight title he snatched from Joel Casamayor. In 2008, he lost a controversial split decision to Pacquiao.
Diaz had rebounded from a 2008 loss to Nate Campbell with an impressive decision win over Aussie bruiser Michael Katsidis. They were both, arguably, at the peak of their respective careers.
That was then and this is now. And in the here-today, gone-tomorrow fistic world, “then” seems like an awful long time ago.
In the two fights since Marquez drilled him to the canvas, Diaz has split a pair of fights with Paulie Malignaggi (including a December 2009 decision loss), looking nothing like the fresh-faced dynamo that charged through the lightweight ranks.
Marquez looked old and slow losing a welterweight bout with the bigger and faster Mayweather in September of last year. Marquez was out his element as a welterweight, so a return to lightweight might recharge the engine of the future hall-of-famer.
Diaz’s mediocre showing against Malignaggi and Marquez’s advanced age (36) has left experts wondering whether this pay-per-view main event will be a showcase of shopworn fighters. Shopworn or not, boxing protocol dictates that these two do it again. There is money to be made, after all, and a good fight is a good fight, regardless of diminished skills and blunted reflexes.
Despite being a decade younger than Marquez, the hard-charging Diaz does not have many miles left on his pugilistic odometer. Marquez, criticized earlier in his career for his sometimes-cautious boxing style, has been forced to fight in the trenches more as he has aged.
As a -425 favorite or greater at most online books, the consensus says that Marquez’s superior skills will win out.
Either way, bettors should a have a dynamite fight on our hands. And when it is all said and done, we cannot ask for anything more.
Undercard wondersBoxing undercards have become waste dumps for promoters with onerous contractual obligations and personal interests that leave hardcore fans feeling cheated.
The Marquez-Diaz undercard bucks that disturbing trend, as all three preliminary bouts have the potential to produce back-and-forth fireworks.
Undefeated Daniel Jacobs (-135) fights fellow unbeaten Dmitry Pirog (+105) for a vacant middleweight belt. Mostly untested as a pro, Pirog represents the toughest test of the Jacobs’ career.
Former wunderkind Jorge Linares, two fights removed from a shocking first-round knockout loss, takes on Rocky Juarez in a crossroads lightweight match. Juarez, a perennial bridesmaid, has a tendency come up just short in his biggest fights.
Joel Casamayor, the 39-year-old Cuban legend and former two-division champion, seeks to turn back the clock against Robert Guerrero in a junior welterweight fight.
So, for the first time in a long time, we have a pay-per-view undercard worth embracing.
Weekend picks
Evan is 26-15-3 with his boxing picks- In Marquez-Diaz, take the under (-110) of 11.5 rounds.
- Jacobs (-135) should win a competitive fight against Pirog.
- Khoren Gevor (-105) is the pick against Dimitri Sartison.
- Sakio Bika (-280) over Jean-Paul Mendy.
- Simphiwe Nongqayi (-160) against Juan Alberto Rosas.
- Casamayor (+415) over Guerrero.