Tonight at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, Manny Pacquiao attempts become a world champion in another weight class, as he challenges Chicago, Illinois? David Diaz for the WBC Lightweight title on pay-per-view. For Diaz, a win over Pacquiao would thrust him into the boxing limelight and drastically improve his earning power. It is an intriguing bout on several levels, and it headlines an eight-bout card, with four making the telecast. Fighters on the card weighed in on Friday afternoon in front of hundreds of adoring Pacquiao fans at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, where the fight will take place.
While it is being billed as Pacquiao?s attempt at a winning a title in his fourth different weight division, he actually is attempting his fifth. He held alphabet titles at flyweight, super bantamweight and super featherweight, but he also won The Ring Featherweight title with his superstar-making eleventh-round knockout of Marco Antonio Barrera in 2003.
Pacquiao, who weighed in at 134 ?, took the scale first on Friday to a loud ovation and camera flashes. The weight looked good on Pacquiao, who began his career at 106 pounds. Accompanied by former Olympic teammate Fernando Vargas, Diaz, 135, looked in great shape as well. Diaz is coming in off a less than impressive majority decision win over Ramon Montano, which took place the same night Pacquiao eked out a close decision over Juan Manuel Marquez. It is very likely that Diaz (34-1-1, 17 KOs) did not ?get up? for that one, although the Pacquiao fight was looming.
The outcome of this fight could be determined by two Pacquiao (46-3-2, 35 KOs) questions: Has he been in one too many wars? The second being, is the lightweight class too high up the scale for him? Diaz, a 1996 U.S. Olympian, is by no means a slouch either.
In the semi-main event, Steven Luevano (35-1, 15 KOs) of La Puente, California will defend his WBO Featherweight title against WBO #10 Mario Santiago (19-1, 14 KOs) of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Luevano, 126, looks the make the third successful defense of the title in won in July of last year. Santiago, 125, bounced back from his first professional loss, a technical decision defeat to Hector Velazquez, with a first-round knockout of Edel Ruiz in February.
In the ten-round heavyweight attraction, freakishly big Tye Fields (40-1, 36 KOs) of Las Vegas, Nevada takes a step up in class against former title challenger Monte Barrett (33-6, 19 KOs) of Queens, New York. Fields, 265, has shown some improvement against mostly limited opposition since taking on Jesse Reid as his trainer. Barrett, 220, figures to be his toughest test to date, but is clearly on the downside of his career.
In the pay-per-view opener, WBC #1 Humberto Soto (43-6-2, 27 KOs) of Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico takes on WBC #2 Francisco Lorenzo (32-4, 14 KOs) of San Cristobal, Dominican Republic for the Interim WBC Super Featherweight title. Pacquiao is the current WBC Super Featherweight title holder and has apparently not completely thrown out the idea of fighting at that weight in the future. Lorenzo, 130, earned his ranking by keeping a busy schedule, having gone 5-0 since dropping a close split decision to prospect Roman Martinez in February of last year. Soto, 130, came up short in a bid to win the WBO Super Featherweight title from Joan Guzman last year.
In off-television bouts, unbeaten prospect Jesus Rojas (11-0, 9 KOs), 122, of Caguas, Puerto Rico takes on experienced vet Alex Baba (25-12-1, 19 KOs), 122, of Doraville, Georgia in an eight-round super bantamweight bout.
Pacquiao?s chief sparring partner for Diaz, Steve Quinonez (29-12-1, 9 KOs), 140, of Palm Springs, California meets Dennis Laurente (28-3-4, 14 KOs), 139, Palompon, Leyte, Philippines in an eight-round lightweight fight.
Las Piedras, Puerto Rico?s Luis Cruz (5-0, 3 KOs), 126, will face off with Miguel Albares (5-4-1, 1 KO), 126, of Houston, Texas in a six-round featherweight bout.
Opening things up for the early arrivers, Carlos Tangrago (2-0), 139, meets Khadaphi Proctor (1-2-1), 140, of Hesperia, California in a four-round light welterweight contest.
Promoter Bob Arum wanted to alert all the onlookers at the weigh-in of the early 3:40 PM start time to the undercard tonight, ?Every fight is a great fight,? said Arum. ?Get here early, because you will see a lot of future world champions.?
Tickets for the event, promoted by Top Rank, are available online at Ticketmaster.com.
Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at [email protected]
Quick Weigh-in Results:
WBC Lightweight Championship, 12 Rounds: Diaz 135 Pacquiao 134 ?
WBO Featherweight Championship, 12 Rounds: Luevano 126 ? Santiago 125
Heavyweights, 10 Rounds: Fields 265 Barrett 220
Interim WBC Super Featherweight Championship, 12 Rounds: Soto 130 Lorenzo 130
Super Bantamweights, 8 Rounds: Rojas 122 Baba 122
Lightweights, 8 Rounds: Laurente 139 Quinonez 140
Featherweights, 6 Rounds: Cruz 126 Albares 126
Light Welterweights, 4 Rounds: Tangrago 139 Proctor 140
