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Following the victory over Acelino Freitas, Juan Diaz faced Juio Diaz in a title unification match. Here is the original recap of that match:

HBO Boxing After Dark Part 2

October 13, 2007

Sears Centre-Hoffman Estates, Illinois

This event involves two of the three boxers with the surname Diaz ranked by The Ring magazine the numbers 1, 2 and 3 contenders to Joel Casamayor's championship at 135 pounds.  None of the Diaz' (Juan Diaz, Julio Diaz and David Diaz) ranked by the magazine at 135 pounds are related to each other.  For simplicity all Diaz' in this recap will be referred to by their first name. 

Hoffman Estates is a suburb of Chicago, Illinois, David Diaz' hometown, and with Juan and Julio Diaz boxing instead of David, the event has drawn a poor crowd.  The 10,000+ seat arena has sold only around 3,000 tickets for this match.

WBA/WBO/IBF Lightweight (135 pounds) 12 Round Championship Unification Match:

Juan Diaz (32-0, 16 KO's, 135 pounds) (WBA/WBO Champion) vs. Julio Diaz (34-3, 25 KO's, 135 pounds) (IBF Champion)

Juan won the WBA Championship over Lavka Sim on July 17, 2004 at the Reliant Center in Houston, Texas.  He is attempting to make his seventh defense of this title.  The Houston native won his WBO Championship by retiring Acelino Freitas with a round 8 technical knockout on April 28, 2007 at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut.  Juan is defending that title for the first time.

Julio won his full IBF Championship for the second time with a knockout 22 seconds into round 3 over Jesus Chavez on February 3, 2007 at the Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee, Florida.  The Mexican born boxer is making his first defense of this title.

Juan had an outstanding amateur career.  In his amateur career, he won: 3 national silver titles, 3 national PAL titles, 2 Mexican Youth Titles, 1 Junior World Championship, and the 1999 Mexican Open National Championship.  The Houston native had relocated his amateur career to Mexico to qualify for their 2000 Sydney Summer Olympic boxing team, because the United States and Puerto Rico had protested his attempt to make the United States Olympic boxing team citing the fact he was ineligible to compete in boxing at the 2000 Olympics under IOC rules.  Juan would turn 17 on September 17, 2000, but Olympic rules require a boxer to be 17-years-old by June 1 on the year of an Olympics to compete.  When Juan won the Mexican Open national Championship, he qualified for the Mexican Olympic team.  The United States and Puerto Rico, then filed another protest, and Juan decided to turn pro at 16-years-old rather then wait for the 2004 Olympics.

The Houstonian began his pro career in Mexico, because it is illegal to box professionally in the United States before the age of 17-years-old.  Less then a week after turning 17-years-old he began boxing in the United States, where the rest of his matches have been.

He has continued to box while finishing high school with a 3.8 GPA, and is on pace to graduate the University of Houston-Downtown in December 2008 with a degree in Political Science.  Juan has talked about wanting to go on to law school after finishing up his bachelor's degree.

Juan is an aggressive volume puncher without much punching power.  His defense is at times poor, especially to the body.

The double champion's last match was the exciting technical knockout victory over Freitas, where the once great boxer was forced to quit on his stool.  Freitas is the best opponent Juan has faced.  Juan while not drastically ahead on the scorecard (probably 77-75), and without recording a knockdown, brought enough pressure to cause a formerly great champion to verbally submit.

Juan is the ranked by The Ring magazine as the number 1 contender to its champion at 135 pounds.

Julio comes from a family of boxers.  He has three older brothers who are professional boxers.

At 21-years-old, Julio was a highly touted prospect, and has expressed resentment towards the favorable coverage Juan has received.  The Coachella, California resident has been particularly upset over the praise Juan receives for being in college, and has taunted the Houston native for being a student constantly in the build up for this match.

Julio is the boxer in this match, and will look to win this match with accurate striking.  He has lost against the more experienced opposition he has faced.  Those opponents have pressured him, and not allowed him to set up and box from distance.

Julio has been steadily improving the quality of his opponents.  The last two wins being his most impressive.  The blowout unanimous decision over Quiles.  Julio is coming off a 8 month lay off, since winning the full version of this title.  Chavez was 43-3 entering the match, with his only losses in the past 12 years to Erik Morales and Floyd Mayweather, Jr.  It was the first time Chavez had ever been legitimately knocked out, and a huge win for Julio.

Julio is ranked by The Ring magazine as the number 2 contender at 135 pounds.

Juan has the age advantage at 24-years-old, compared to Julio who is 27-years-old.  Julio has the height advantage standing 5' 9" tall, while Juan who stands 5' 6" tall.  Julio has the reach advantage with an arm length of 23" measured from the armpit to the end of the fist, and Juan has a 21.5" arm length measured the same way.  Approaching match time Julio has the unofficial weight advantage at 144 pounds, while Juan now weighs 142 pounds.  Both boxers will employ the orthodox stance, but Julio will switch to the southpaw stance at times.

The unified rules of boxing are in effect for this contest.  The referee is Geno Rodriguez.  Two of the judges are from Illinois and the other is from Puerto Rico.  Harold Lederman will be keeping unofficial score for HBO.

Very good first round, that was contested at Juan's preferred pace.  Julio may have barely won round 1 with more consistent work, 10-9.  Lederman scores round 1 for Juan, 10-9.  Big round 2 for Juan.  Julio decided to stand in front of Juan for the entire round, and that will get Julio knocked out quickly.  Juan wins round 2, 10-9.  Lederman scores round 2 the same.  Julio was winning the early part of round 3, boxing on the outside.  Then, Julio decided to stand in front of Juan the rest of the round, and Juan wins round 3, 10-9.  Juan leads on my scorecard after 3 rounds, 29-28.  Lederman scores round 3 for Juan, 10-9, and has the Houston native winning after 3 rounds, 30-27.

Juan wins round 4, 10-9.  The crowd is booing the match somewhat at this point for no apparent reason, because there has been plenty of action.  Lederman awards round 4 to Juan, 10-9.  Juan is getting stronger as the match goes on.  He unleashed a persistent attack to the body of Julio in round 5, and the California resident's punches are losing a lot of steam.  According to CompuBox in round 5, Julio landed 22 of 120 total punches, for an 18% connect percentage.  Juan landed 56 of 115 total punches, for a 49% connect percentage.  Juan wins round 5, 10-9.  Lederman scores it the same.  Julio's corner is starting to sound slightly desperate in between rounds 5 and 6.  With 2:16 to go in round 6, Julio is warned for leading with the head, after an intentional headbutt.  Julio has been boxing a subtly dirty match, using his elbows and forearms for leverage on the inside, but has yet to be warned.  Also, Julio has landed several shots low that have not been called, and Juan has ignored the fouls and kept boxing.  Juan wins round 6, 10-9.  Juan leads the round on my scorecard after 6 rounds, 59-55.  The Houstonian wins round 6 on Lederman's scorecard, 10-9, and after 6 rounds is winning the match, 60-54.

Juan decides to show off his jab in winning round 7, 10-9.  Lederman scores the round the same.  Julio has a mark and swelling under his left eye that is significant, but not impeding his vision.  He also, has a bloody nose after round 7.  Julio's corner is warning their boxer that if he does not do something the match will be stopped, soon.  In round 7 Julio landed 29 total punches, while Juan landed 51 total punches.  With 2:11 to go in round 8, Julio is warned again for leading with the head, after throwing another intentional headbutt in the clinch.  Julio was able to get away with throwing a worse headbutt a few seconds earlier in the same clinch, because the referee was shielded.  However, Julio is nearing losing a meaningless point for another infraction.  Julio is putting his head underneath Juan's chin then pushing up.  That snaps Juan's head back and rakes bristly hair across Juan's entire face with the motion.  Julio opened up cuts around both eyes of Jose Luis Castillo in a match they had with similar headbutts.  Juan wins round 8 on Lederman and my scorecard.  Whenever, Julio has switched to the southpaw stance in this match his defense has gotten worse, and Juan hits the Californian more.  Unexpectedly, Julio's corner stops the match after round 8.  It makes sense, because Julio could not do anything more.  This is a more dominant version of Juan's victory over Freitas.  Same round, except this time the corner stopped it, and not the boxer.

The official decision as read by Michael Buffer is that: at 1 second of round 9 the blue corner of Julio Diaz advised the referee it would no longer continue, making the winner by technical knockout still undefeated, and the new unified WBA, WBO, and the new IBF Lightweight Champion of the World, Juan "The Baby Bull" Diaz.  The win moves Juan to 33-0 with 17 of those wins coming by way of knockout.

The final punchstat numbers show Juan landing 339 of the 774 total punches he threw, for a 44% connect percentage.  The triple champion landed 262 of the 606 power punches he threw, for a 47% power connect percentage.  Julio landed 185 of the 885 total punches he threw or a 21% connect percentage.  The former champion landed 133 of the 567 power punches he threw for a 23% power connect percentage.

Juan in his post match interview said the win meant more to him, because Julio made it personal.  Juan after beating Freitas called out Pacquiao, and after this victory calls out Pacquiao, again.  Challenging him "to step up with a young Mexican warrior."

This match was a highlight reel performance for Juan, without scoring a knockdown.  Pacquiao's people have expressed interest in if he moves up to 135 starting his career with a lesser Diaz in David.  The Pacquiao who showed up last weekend, would have a very difficult time with Juan.  Pacquiao is at least a year away from facing Juan, who is only going to get better, while Pacquiao continues to potentially fade with outside distractions.  Lennox Lewis in the post match wrap up, says he feels sorry for Juan's next opponent, because it will not be a good match for them.  Juan is barely 24-years-old, and boxes a style that may necessitate a short career, but he is going to be great.  Casamayor or David Diaz makes sense as Juan's next potential opponents in approximately February.

The HBO commentators pointed out that Julio called out Juan, and had been doing so for months, and that is exactly what he got.  Julio had Juan standing in front of him the entire night, and could not handle the pressure the college student was bringing or land punches on a seemingly available target.  There are plenty of quality opponents at 135 pounds that Julio has the skills to compete with immediately, and begin a quick build back to the top.  Julio only dropped one rank, to being the number 3 ranked contender at 135 pounds by The Ring magazine, because of this loss.  The question is how will he mentally rebound from such a completely dominating loss?

This portion of the broadcast is worth watching on replay to see a young boxer put on a top performance ascending to the top of the ranks.  There may not be many more times to watch Juan box on premium cable, before all of his matches are moved to PPV.