I?ve alluded to this before but I?ll say it again as definitely as possible. WBC lightweight titlist David Diaz is a good but not great fighter, whose worth is measured by the fact that he is willing to be a political soccer ball. Make no mistake however, he is the financial beneficiary of his exploitation, but the fact remains that he was gifted the title by boxing politics, and he maintains it to simply pass it on to a high profile fighter considered more worthy.
Diaz won the WBC interim lightweight title in August 2006 by scoring a surprise 10th round TKO over Jose Armando Santa Cruz after trailing on the cards, 88-83 (twice), and 87-84. Joel Casamayor won the official title that October by winning a split decision over the late Diego Corrales.
By January the WBC was already pressuring Casamayor to fight Diaz. Meanwhile the Cuban champion, who also happened to be the linear champion decided to explore his options and was negotiating a unification bout with the WBO titlist Acelino Freitas.
Before you could say ?Eric Morales,? Diaz was elevated to full champion status. After some threatened legal action by the Casamayor team, Joel was appointed as WBC interim champion, which just illustrates how useless that designation is.
Given his short reign as champion, one could understand if Casamayor had no use for the word ?interim,? but in any event today his name is nowhere to be found on the WBC rankings.
A knowledgeable source said that Joel?s then promoter, DRL Promotions were ?a bunch of amateurs? who brought the situation on themselves. Still the timing of his stripping, and the seeming lack of diplomacy to settle the matter is questionable at best.
The legendary Eric Morales, a certain Hall of Famer, had lost four of his last five and three straight and was looking for a scenario to go out in championship style by picking up his fourth title in four weight classes. When Diaz was handed the WBC lightweight title, or perhaps even earlier if you?re a cynical sort like yours truly, the WBC and Top Rank, who promoted both fighters, arranged for Eric to move up from 130 and give it a go for the lightweight title.
And so, one year after defeating Santa Cruz for the interim title, Diaz put the official WBC title on the line against Morales. While the WBC was on Casamayor?s back virtually 20 minutes after winning the title, Diaz was allowed to be inactive for a year before defending the title.
Morales came up with a proud but losing effort, losing a unanimous decision, 114-113, 115-113, and 115-112. He floored Diaz in the first and got off to an early lead but ran out of gas and faded in the stretch, leaving Diaz as the belt holder.
Though Diaz received acclaim for beating a legend, at the end of the day it was simply a matter of a naturally bigger, still in prime ?B? fighter having just enough talent to defeat a once great fighter who had engaged in too many wars.
Diaz returned to under the radar status. But when speculation emerged that Manny Pacquiao wanted to move up to 135, he became a household name again. The consensus is that many of the lightweights are too big, too strong and maybe too talented for Manny, but Diaz has a belt, he?s beatable, and he?s available. It?s a match made in heaven.
Diaz was placed on the undercard of the Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez card on March 15 and won a 10 round majority decision over Ramon Montano, 15-5-2, in a non-title fight. The scoring was bizarre — 99-91 and 97-93 for Diaz, with one judge scoring it 95-95.
But any way you look at it, the point of putting Diaz on the card against a cream puff was to showcase him to pump up the June 28 PPV fight, and on that Diaz didn?t deliver.
The Manila Times reported that Diaz is ?agreeable to receiving a measly $900,000 despite he being the defending champion for the 12 round duel with Pacquiao, whose present asking is no less than $6 million?
? I understand that he is the big draw, people come to see him,? Diaz said. ?I know I am not that much of a draw. I understand the sport and I understand the business end of it.?
When you stop and analyze it, Diaz is a fortunate man. $900,000 is far from ?measly.? If David was fighting anyone else he would be lucky to make $300,000 at best. Juan Diaz earned $750,000 when he lost his three belts to Nate Campbell, and he was considerably more highly regarded.
Diaz was quoted in the Times as saying, ?I give myself a very good chance.?
It seems safe to say that he will not suffer from over confidence.
However Diaz told us this week that, ?This fight means a lot to me, a fight where Pacquiao is at the top of the boxing scene. This is a once in a lifetime chance to test myself against the very best in the sport. Personally, I feel so good about this fight. We are going to shock a lot of people.?
Juan Manuel Marquez is not quibbling over the details either. After losing the WBC super featherweight title to Pacquiao by split decision on March 15, he flew to the Philippines last weekend to personally challenge Pacquiao to a third fight.
Pacquiao essentially blew him off and said in a radio interview, ?I think Marquez should stop crying?He?s still screaming that he won the fight.?
The Philippine Star reported that, ?The dethroned Mexican champion said he?s ready to fight Pacquiao anytime, anywhere, any price. He said he?s willing to make concessions just for the fight to happen.?
The Star also wrote that in their recent rematch Pac-Man earned a guaranteed purse of $5.5 million and a couple of million more on the $20 million pay per view shares. Marquez received $1.5 million.
If Marquez received $1.5 million as the defending champ, those further concessions he referenced might be quite painful. But as the Star story reported, it?s money on the table, nothing else, and no one else that will decide whether we see a Pacquiao-Marquez III.
The reality is that whether you?re a David Diaz or Juan Manuel Marquez defending your title, you have to defer to Pacquiao?s international celebrity and box office appeal. The upside of fighting Manny is too great to haggle over the price. You?ll still be paid more for fighting the Filipino icon than anyone else.
For David Diaz, fighting a Manny Pacquiao will give him name recognition that he could never achieve otherwise.
But for Marquez, he has a draw and a split decision in two fights with Manny, with one point from the judges separating the men after two encounters. Retribution, not remuneration is his motivation.
