It all started in a Mexican bull ring in Cancun. Previously undefeated 24 year old Juan ?The Baby Bull? Diaz, who had previously held the WBA, IBF, and WBO lightweight belts, was trounced by an inspired 36 year old Nate ?The Galaxxy Warrior? Campbell. In a surprising upset, Diaz was beaten to a pulp, suffering a cut left eye that closed and caused vision problems down the stretch.
In spite of his defeat, Diaz will probably land on his feet. Free of what the Diaz team considered the shackles of Don King, Juan signed a promotional agreement with Golden Boy on March 25, opening a host of competitive possibilities for him in the future.
Don?t be too surprised if Juan suddenly turns up as the IBO titlist. The IBO has been courting him since even before the Campbell fight. Or, for that matter, he?s with Golden Boy, Ricky Hatton is with Golden Boy, so why not?
With his victory and newly gained trifecta of title belts, Campbell?s market value has risen considerably, and he is eager to capitalize. Nate was on hand to watch the Joel Casamayor-Michael Katsidis slugfest to see and be seen. And as if Campbell needed further motivation, it was Casamayor who handed Nate his first professional defeat in 2003.
Casamayor is the Ring Magazine and lineal champion. After his horrid performance against Jose Armando Santa Cruz, escaping with a victory in the worst decision of 2007, it was thought that he was past his prime and ripe to be beaten. Yet Casamayor-Katsidis turned out to be quite a fight.
Katsidis, often referred to as the next Arturo Gatti, is a brawler from Australia who fights in all out action battles and the match with Casamayor was no exception.
Previously undefeated Katsidis was floored twice in round one with straight lefts, was cut under his right eye, had swelling on both brows and his nose bloodied, and yet was leading on two of the three cards when he walked into a big left and suffered a 10th round TKO. In between he managed to put some hurt on Casamayor, particularly in round six when he knocked the champion out of the ring.
I disagreed with the judges, having Casamayor up by three points going into what proved to be the final round.
Going into the fight I thought that Katsidis was a one trick pony and while the blood and gore was good TV, he would never be a truly top lightweight. On the other hand, I didn?t realize that Casamayor still had some life left in him, as he obviously does, so I figured a Katsidis victory. As it developed I suspect that the weaknesses of both contributed to making what was a truly exciting lightweight battle.
With the victory, Casamayor claims Katsidis? WBO interim title. Big deal, it?s worthless. Joel should mark it ?Return to Sender? and send it back to the WBO. Juan Diaz was the legitimate WBO titlist and he lost it fairly and convincingly to Nate Campbell. Any remaining old business with Acelino Freitas, Diaz, or anyone else should be yesterday?s news. It?s just a ploy to collect sanctioning fees.
But since Casamayor is the linear champion and Campbell legitimately owns three belts, they should be the #1 match to be made at 135. The word is that the WBO has given Casamayor notice that he has to agree to negotiate a meeting with Campbell or give up his ?title.?
I?ll bet that Casamayor and his manager Luis De Cubas are still laughing over that ultimatum. At age 36, Joel says he wants the big fights, Pacquiao or Barrera for example, citing his previous victory over Campbell with only three weeks preparation. (Joel has wanted Barrera for years.)
Believe me, if he can lure a big name fighter into the ring, he will and certainly won?t give a hoot about an interim title. But Campbell is truly the best fight out there for him right now, for many reasons, not the least of which is that it would be competitive.
Just for what it is worth, Anthony Peterson is the #1 ranked lightweight in WBO-land. Peterson has the natural ability to beat all of these guys someday but he?s thus far faced only cream puffs and needs a challenge to prep him for a title shot.
I honestly believe that Anthony can beat Casamayor or Campbell right now, but nobody is going to pay to see it until he beats a front line contender. My recommendation is Katsidis, two young lions battling it out for a title shot.
As if things weren?t confusing enough, unbeaten British lightweight champ Amir Khan, ranked #3 by the WBO behind Peterson and Juan Diaz, is fighting an official WBO eliminator Saturday against Martin Kristjansen to be the mandatory challenger for Campbell and Casamayor.
Now let me see if I?ve got this straight — champion, interim champion, mandatory challenger, #1 ranked contender — who on earth could figure all of this out? The only thing I know for sure is that it is about money.
However, the fact remains that the 21 year old Khan, a 2004 Olympic Silver medallist, is highly regarded and appears to be championship material.
As we discussed Tuesday, Manny Pacquiao is set to make his lightweight debut on June 28 against WBC titlist David Diaz. My money is squarely on Pacquiao to win the belt. But the real question is what he will do with it after he wins it.
Casamayor might be a good possibility for Manny. He?s aging, he?s shown vulnerability, and his market value is unlikely to ever be greater than after his knockout of Katsidis, and Manny could claim the linear title while he?s at it. As for Campbell, well, he?s a harder hitter, but it might be fun to watch with Manny?s speed.
But there?s been so much speculation of Manny?s next move, from Marquez to Hatton to De La Hoya that looking ahead just gives me a headache.
The aforementioned Jose Armando Santa Cruz is fighting Antonio Pitalua in an eliminator for mandatory status in the WBC to theoretically face the Pacquiao-Diaz winner. Though he was robbed against Casamayor, Santa Cruz won?t add any dough-re-mi to a Pacquiao fight and if he thinks that it what he is fighting for he is kidding himself. David Diaz wouldn?t even be in the ring with Manny if he didn?t have something to offer, like his WBC belt.
The bottom line is that you could take this talented lightweight group, sprinkle in a Julio Diaz, Kid Diamond and some others, and you have one compelling and interesting division. You have the young bucks Katsidis, Peterson, and Khan, the young veteran Juan Diaz, and the crafty graybeards Campbell and Casamayor. Some might move up to lightweight, others might move out and go to 140. The combinations of good matches are virtually endless.
The lightweights have become the deepest and most competitive division in boxing aside from the group at 147.
