Julio Diaz learned a painful lesson Saturday night at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, Illinois ? you don?t try to keep up with Juan ?The Baby Bull? Diaz, because in the end, you?ll end up only with a loss and a pair of sore hands. And that was his fate as his corner refused to let him come out for the ninth round of what had been a competitive but ultimately lopsided bout in favor of Juan Diaz, who added the IBF lightweight belt to the WBA and WBO belts he already held.
?He was tougher than I thought,? said Juan of Julio. ?He surprised me tonight. He was in there trading with me and he was a very tough warrior.?
With the win, Juan Diaz remains unbeaten at 33-0 with 17 KOs; Julio Diaz falls to 34-4 with 25 KOs.
In a not so shocking development, Juan Diaz charged at his foe at the opening bell and immediately put him on the defensive. Julio Diaz didn?t get too rattled though, firing back with both hands and focusing on the body in particular. But it was Juan who held the early edge, jarring Julio with quick combinations upstairs on a couple of occasions.
Little changed when it came to pace or strategy in round two, with Julio Diaz forced to stand and trade with Juan, due mainly to the Texan?s pressure, but the small ring didn?t help matters for Julio either. But that didn?t stop the pride of Coachella, California from eagerly warring with his younger counterpart, delighting the crowd with the heated toe-to-toe action.
The third round again belonged to Juan Diaz, as his frenetic activity and combination punching made it hard to refuse him the frame. And even though Julio fought back gamely, he was simply getting outworked on a consistent basis.
Little if anything changed in rounds four and five, and the only question was which Diaz would break first stamina-wise, and given past history, you would have to expect that the inexhaustible Juan would be the last man standing.
Julio Diaz started showing his frustration in round six and was warned by referee Geno Rodriguez for using his head, and with a little under a minute to go, that head got rattled by a Juan Diaz right at close range, and you could put another round in the bank for ?The Baby Bull?.
Longtime Julio Diaz trainer Lee Espinoza let his charge know in between rounds six and seven that he needed to win each of the remaining rounds if he had any chance of salvaging his IBF title, but Julio refused to deviate from what had gotten him into the scoring hole and he remained in the pocket trading with Juan. And while it may have been Julio?s best round, Juan broke open a close round with a ferocious assault with both hands in the final 30 seconds.
Again in the eighth, Julio Diaz was warned for using his head, yet for the first time in the fight, he started to use some movement in between flurries. Unfortunately, everywhere he went, Juan Diaz was there with both hands, and even though he never had Julio in serious danger, at the end of the round, Julio?s corner had seen enough and they wisely halted the one-sided bout before the bell for the ninth frame.
Now Diaz, with three of the four lightweight title belts in his possession, sets his sights on pound for pound superstar Manny Pacquiao
?He just beat a legendary Mexican fighter (Marco Antonio Barrera),? said Diaz of a future fight with Pacquiao, ?and now I think its time for him to step up with a young Mexican warrior.?
