A paltry yet energetic crowd at Chicago?s Sears Centre saw Juan ?The Baby Bull? Diaz bully Julio ?The Kidd? Diaz into quitting on his stool at the end of round eight. With the win, Juan Diaz unifies the WBC, WBO, and IBF titles at 135 pounds.
The action was fast-paced throughout, with telling blows landed cleanly by both champions. However, it was the younger Baby Bull that got the better of the exchanges through much of the fight, often landing three, four and five punch combinations.
Over the first two rounds, Juan (135-pounds) let rip with brutal combination punching and a vicious body attack, although Julio tried to hold his own with decent counter punching and a solid jab. ?The Kidd? (135 also) controlled much of the pace of round three, the only round in which he used his superior size to its advantage. The exciting back-and-forth action continued in the fourth, fifth and sixth, with Juan jolting the taller man on the inside with sharp, snappy punches to head and body. In the seventh, Julio got back in the fight with his jab and foot movement, though Juan opened up at the end with stinging shots set up by clever side-stepping and pivots. Round eight saw both fighters drop their output after 21 minutes of nonstop action, with Juan landing the heavier blows and Julio trying to make the best of it. The end of the fight came unexpectedly with Julio failing to answer the bell for the ninth: a testament to ?The Baby Bull?s? hectic workrate and habit of answering everything that came his way with something better.
At the press conference, Juan spoke of the future, and what he has in store for the 135-pound division. In particular, he spoke about a future bout with pound-for-pound firestorm Manny Pacquiao, ?The dream fight for me?if the opportunity comes I will jump for it? Next year is my year?I have great determination?I think that I am ready for Manny Pacquiao now.?
Juan, whose record improves to 33-0 (17), prefers Pacquiao to WBC titlist David Diaz and lineal champion Joel Casamayor, ?I think it is time for Manny Pacquiao to fight a young Mexican fighter, not an old Mexican fighter at the end of his career.? Don King enthused about his young unified champion, ??Nothing stops him, and he continues to throw punches in bunches until he wears you down.?
Julio, whose record drops to 34-4 (25), gave the victor his just due, and commented on how difficult it was to keep to his game plan against Juan, ?I was 1000 percent ready?I did everything the opposite of what they told me to do in the corner?I forgot about winning rounds? [Juan] is a hyper kid, has a lot of energy.?
In undercard action:
?Merciless? Mike Mollo (19-1, 12 KOs) obliterated Art ?The Polish Warrior? Binkowski (16-2-3, 11 KOs) (AKA Corn Griffen in the movie ?Cinderella Man?) in 1:25 of round two. Mollo (weighing 236) put Binkowski (225-pounds) down with a big left hook in the second and followed soon after with a left and right that sent Binkowski down for a second time in this battle of heavyweights. Mollo continued to punish Binkowski against the ropes and had him defenseless prior to the third knockdown of the round, prompting the referee to jump in. At the press conference, Mollo called out fellow Chicagoan Andrew Golota for his next bout, exclaiming, ?I want to be Chicago?s heavyweight.?
Former heavyweight champion John ?The Quiet Man? Ruiz (42-7-1, 29 KOs) needed two rounds to dispatch of Otis Tisdale (25-19-1, 15 KOs). Ruiz (238-pounds) put Tisdale on the canvas twice in the opener, first with punishing lefts and rights to the body, next with an uppercut and hook toward the end of the round. The second saw Ruiz finish the fight with a lead right hand and left hook to put 250-pound Tisdale down one final time before the referee waived it off at 45 seconds into the round. Ruiz revealed a different side to his arsenal: leading in with the jab, working on the inside with left and right hooks to the body, and finishing up combination punching upstairs.
In a wildly entertaining eight round middleweight contest, Angel ?Toro? Hernandez (28-6, 16 KOs) upset previously unbeaten Louis Turner (11-1, 7 KOs) in a unanimous decision win (78-74 twice and 79-73). There was great back-and-forth action between the two middleweights, with Hernandez (weighing 161) taking many of the early rounds pressing Turner (159 ?) against the ropes and connecting with lead right hands and body connects. Hernandez had Turner all but out of there in the sixth, but the American held on to get through the round and saw it through to the end.
Damian Fuller (30-4-1, 14 KOs) knocked out Matt ?Boom Boom? Zegan (37-4, 21 KOs) at 52 seconds of round two. Zegan (136-pounds) controlled most of the action in Round 1 until a right hook by Fuller (135) dropped him. Zegan survived the round, only to be stopped in the second after a series of left and right hands by Zegan forced the referee to step in and stop the action.
Vasyl ?Danger? Tarabarov (18-0-1, 7 KOs) recorded a workmanlike but uninspiring majority decision over Priest ?Tiger? Smalls (18-15-1, 6 KOs) over eight rounds. Tarabov (137) came forward for much of the fight, but connected with very few clean shots, with Smalls (137 ?) trying to work from the outside with the jab and take advantage of his edge in height and reach. Scores were 77-75, 78-74 and 75-77.
