If you are one of the people who think boxing is dying, so be it. If you think a sport that has thrived for more than a century has become a niche sport simply because there is no American heavyweight to carry the torch or because you have grown tired of the Sultan Ibragimovs and Paulie Malignaggis putting you to sleep, well, I’m not writing to change your mind. But what I am suggesting is that before you throw any more dirt on boxing’s grave you sit down and watch Juan Diaz and Juan Manuel Marquez face off on Saturday night in Houston (HBO, 10 p.m.) in a battle for lightweight supremacy.
Because, folks, I’m telling you: it’s going to be a war.
The stakes couldn’t be higher for either fighter. Last September, Marquez established himself as boxing’s premiere lightweight in just his first fight in the 135-pound weight class when he floored Joel Casamayor twice en route to an 11th-round-knockout victory.
Many experts believe Marquez assumed the lightweight crown from Diaz, who abdicated it after an uninspired loss to Nate Campbell last March. Diaz rebounded with a solid split-decision win over Michael Katsidis in September, but the consensus is that in order to regain the title of the division’s top fighter, he has to go through Marquez.
“There’s no doubt that Juan Diaz and Juan Manuel Marquez are the two best fighters in the world at the lightweight division,” said Diaz’s trainer, Ronnie Shields.
Beating Marquez, however, is easier said than done. Though the age gap between Marquez, 35, and Diaz, 25 may seem extreme, Marquez is one of boxing’s most well-conditioned athletes, with his toughest (and arguably his finest) fights having come past the age of 33. Diaz, meanwhile, has fought a number of wars in the ring and admits that his body has taken “a lot of wear and tear.”
“I believe that it says something about [Marquez’s] character,” said Diaz. “He’s lived a good clean life and he really has preserved himself. To be this good at that age, it says something about a person. He tells me that he’s constantly in the ring; it seems like he doesn’t do anything besides concentrate on his career and it’s pretty remarkable because nowadays, you don’t see a lot of guys up in that age that good.
“I’ve been fighting since I was 8 years old,” Diaz continued. “I think that my body has taken a lot of wear and tear as it is. I don’t want to get to that point where my body might not be working.”
There is no secret to the strategies of either fighter. Diaz is a high-volume puncher who will try and take out Marquez with a relentless assault. “He fights every minute of every round,” said Marquez’s trainer, Ignacio “Nacho” Beristain. “All three minutes. If he could fight during the rest period, he would do that as well.”
