Amir Khan may be out of the lightweight world title running for the time-being, but the 135 pound division still holds plenty of interest, with two great fights at the weekend. Tim Smith digs deeper.
Rarely do you have an opportunity to get clarity at the top of a boxing division within a two-week span.
But that is the case with the lightweight division as the pretenders are going to be separated from the contenders and the champions will have to prove their mettle.
A week after former Juan Diaz got back on the winning track with a 12-round split decision over Michael Katsidis, four of the top boxers in the 135-pound division will go at it on Saturday night.
Joel Casamayor will take on Juan Manuel Marquez in Las Vegas, while Nate Campbell will defend his WBO, WBA and IBF titles against Joan Guzman, who is moving up from junior lightweight.
I’m a little down on Casamayor, even though he clobbered Katsidis in his last fight, to set up the match with Marquez.
I saw Casamayor win a horrible decision against Jose Armando Santa Cruz at Madison Square Garden last Nov. 10.
He looked old and slow. Must have been an off night.
Even so, I like Marquez, who is following the footsteps of Manny Pacquiao by moving up from junior lightweight to lightweight.
Marquez lost a split decision to Pacquiao in his last fight back in March. Pacquiao successfully moved up to lightweight, defeating David Diaz for the WBC title in June and is now moving up to welterweight to meet Oscar De La Hoya in a money match.
I like Marquez over Casamayor because I think the 37-year-old Casamayor may be a little too old to combat Marquez aggressive attack.
I don’t think it will be a cakewalk for Marquez, but I really don’t expect that Casamayor will be able to rock him the way he did Katsidis, whom he dropped twice in the first round, once in the 10th before finally stopping on a 10th round TKO.
I’m more interested in the Campbell-Guzman match because I’m fascinated by both boxers. I’ve always been impressed by Campbell, who talks a great game and can usually back it up.
I can still recall that match where he dropped his hands against Robbie Peden and Peden KO?ed him. But Campbell battled back from that down period and put himself in position to fight Diaz for the title and then when he had the opportunity, he grabbed it.
I’m anxious to see whether Campbell will be able to sustain the same energy level and punch volume that he displayed against Diaz. If he can then he will be able to blunt the force of Guzman’s power game.
“I trained differently for this fight. We knew about his style, so we had to incorporate that in my sparring,” Campbell said.
“But at the end of the day you’ve got to fight me for 12 rounds. You have to come willing to stand. Every fight Joan was in, he’s got to fight at some point.”
Guzman, like Marquez, is moving up from the junior lightweight division to challenge Campbell.
Guzman was a terror at junior featherweight. That is where he posted most of his knockouts.
His power hasn’t traveled with him as he’s moved north in weight. But he remains a very good boxer, although some people believe that he showboats and dances around a little too much.
That’s never bothered me. He won’t get a chance to dance too much with Campbell, who has great power and has the ability to stop Guzman for the first time in his career.
The winners of these two lightweight matches should fight each other, though I’m not sure whether Campbell-Casamayor II would hold as much interest the second time around.
Casamayor beat Campbell on a 10-round decision in 2003. But I’d love to see Guzman-Marquez or Marquez-Campbell. And I’d love to see Pacquiao come back to the lightweight division after his20dalliance at welterweight with De La Hoya.
It is a very hot division right now and it’s nice that you can see exactly what’s at the top of the division in the span of a couple of weeks. At least it helps you keep things sorted for 2009.
PUNCHLINES Timothy Bradley, the undefeated WBC super lightweight champion, will make his first title defense against Edner Cherry on the undercard of the Nate Campbell-Joan Guzman lightweight title show.
It is Bradley’s first defense since taking the title from Junior Witter in Nottingham back in May.
“I have to box smart because I know he has a lot experience. I’ve seen his videos and I know he does a lot of tricks in there. I’m just going to prepare mentally and physically for the fight, and spiritually,” Bradley said.
“We’ll have to see how it goes. I have all the experience in the world. I have over 140 amateur fights, so I’ve seen pretty much every style.”
