With the recent victories of Joe Calzaghe and Miguel Cotto, the inactivity of Floyd Mayweather, JR., and the continued impressive showing of Manny Pacquiao, the Pound for Pound debate has reopened with a bang. Prior to the shakeup, Mayweather was generally considered top dog while Pacquiao was second on the list.
Pacquiao, 46-3, 35 KO?s, is now coming off of one of his closest hardest to defend decisions. At super featherweight, Pacquiao took care of almost all business by beating down Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales. He fought Juan Manuel Marquez twice and wound up with a draw and a win. His win was controversial, as plenty of media saw the fight as a decision victory for Marquez. Even so, finishing roughly even with the legendary Marquez places Pacquiao in the running for top dog in the sport.
The natural fight to make for Pacquiao right now is a rematch with Marquez. Marquez and Pacquiao now have twenty four rounds between them with no clear winner in the fight set. The problem is that Pacquiao, who has had trouble making weight, is now moving up to lightweight to take on the champions there.
Cleaning out another division is good for his legacy, as it would be and has been in the past for any fighter. The lightweight division also supplies a wide array of interesting opportunities for the undisputed super featherweight king. Lightweight is the territory of free swingers such as Juan Diaz and Michael Katsidis as well as wily veterans such as Joel Casamayor and Nate Campbell.
Lightweight is also the residence of WBC Titlist David Diaz, 34-1, 17 KO?s. Diaz is known to some as the last Diaz standing in the division from last year?s set of champions: Julio Diaz, Juan Diaz and David. Juan took Julio?s belt via punishing TKO, then lost both belts to Nate Campbell in his next fight last February. Now, David remains as the lone Diaz champion and is slated to welcome Pacquiao to the division at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas on June 28th.
Diaz is not a chump opponent for Pacquiao. His only loss was a stoppage suffered to Kendall Holt. The loss to Holt is nothing to be ashamed of for Diaz. Holt is a very good boxer and a tougher customer than most give him credit for. The fight took place at light welterweight, where Diaz is a smaller fighter. Also, Diaz was a game competitor throughout, rising from the mat in the first round to deposit Holt on his backside in the seventh before Holt would again rally in the next round to knock him out.
Aside from Holt, Diaz has been only victorious. Since then, he is 8-0-1, 3 KO?s. Most impressively, he stopped Jose Armando Santa Cruz in August of 2006. Cruz out boxed Diaz for the first nine rounds and had put the fight out of reach on the score cards when Diaz managed to check his chin with a thunderous three punch combination in the tenth round. Santa Cruz would get up, but Diaz would put him down again. After one final rise to defend himself, Santa Cruz was crushed under the heavy, thudding blows of Diaz for a stoppage.
Second most impressive to his victory over Cruz (a win that gives him a linear upper hand over Joel Casamayor) was Diaz?s close unanimous decision win over Erik Morales on Morales? way out the door from noxing. Again in that fight, Diaz hit the mat in the first round when Morales landed a big right hand. This time, Diaz would return to his feet and out box the older fighter. Morales announced his retirement after the fight.
Pacquiao is one of the most sought after men in all of boxing. Juan Diaz, Joel Casamayor, Edwin Valero, Joan Guzman, and of course, Juan Manuel Marquez, have all called out the champion. Any of those fights would greatly please the fans, especially a rematch with Marquez. However, many of those match ups would have particular setbacks involved in their making. Diaz recently lost to Campbell. Casamayor was given a gift decision against Santa Cruz and is currently being arranged to fight Diaz. Guzman is undefeated and holds plenty of impressive victories on his resume, but still resides at super featherweight and does not hold enough name power to make a blockbuster fight, therefore embodying a nightmare in the category of risk vs. reward. Valero was only recently approved to fight and only in the state of Texas, severely limiting the options for fights with him. He also presents a great power punch but has never beaten anyone and has little name recognition outside of the sport. Marquez has not officially moved up to lightweight as well, although rumors suggest that he will eventually join his rival there. Besides, when asked about a third fight with Marquez after the second one ended, he said ?I don?t think so. This business is over.?
Some might suggest that there is a comment hidden in Pacquiao?s approach to that question. While most prize fighters defer queries about their future to management, Pacquiao flatly rejected the option of fighting Marquez again, suggesting that perhaps he is a bit fearful that he would lose the third match. That story is not too far-fetched considering that Marquez has given him the most trouble to date.
Even so, he now has his pick of the litter when it comes to his next fight. Diaz is the official option. Given his history, Diaz has fulfilled some of the promise that is required of a Pacquiao challenger. He is certainly tough, having stormed back several times to achieve victories and make fights out of one sided calamities. He also has victories over two solid fighters, even if one of those wins came at the end of the career for one of those men. Diaz has been around long enough and performed well enough that one could say he has earned a shot at Pacquiao.
On the flipside of the coin, this fight is clearly not one that the fans want and would require Diaz to go back to his magic bag of tricks in order to make it close. Pacquiao is a whirlwind murderer in the ring that can land a variety of punches in bunches and at will. He dismantled Morales in their third fight while Diaz struggled with the same fighter only months later. Aside from having the bigger body and fighting from a southpaw position similar to Pacquiao?s, Diaz holds little to no advantage over Pacquiao. Diaz had trouble securing a majority decision over a pedestrian Roman Montano in his last fight. Unless he can pull lightning out of the bottle and land yet another shocking, stunning power punch to turn the fight in his favor, Pacquiao will probably eat him for lunch.
For the fans, the Diaz-Pacquiao fight is a non-competitive sham, another walk in the park for Pacquiao. For Juan Manuel Marquez, the Diaz-Pacquiao fight is a fight that is setting him back of another payday with Pacquiao in a rematch he deserves. For the other competitors of the lightweight division, the Diaz-Pacquiao fight is a deadline by which to arrange themselves to fight the winner (presumably Pacquiao) and make plenty of money. For Manny Pacquiao, the Diaz fight is an easy payday. For David Diaz, the Pacquiao fight is a once in a lifetime shot to do against a mega fighter what he has done so many times by upsetting a favorite.
