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HBO World Championship Boxing Recap

March 8, 2008

Plaza de Toros-Cancun, Mexico

This event is taking place at a bull ring in Cancun. They are using a very large ring tonight 22' on each side, which may lead to more defensive matches.

1. IBF/WBO/WBA Lightweight (135 pounds) 12-Round Championship Match:

Juan Diaz (33-0, 17 KO's, 134.5 pounds) (c) vs. Nate Campbell (31-5-1, 25 KO's, 134 pounds)

Juan Diazwon this title in his last match via technical knockout at 1 second of round 9, when the previous champion, Julio Diaz', corner threw in the towel following round 8. Juan's relentless body punching andsteady power punchinglead Lennox Lewis, who was doing color commentary of the match for HBO, to say,that he (Lewis) felt bad for Juan's next opponent, following this match on October 13, 2007 at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.

In the Juan's previous match to defeating Julio he hadretired Acelino Freitas. On April 28, 2007, it was again the relentless body work andsteady power punching that forced Freitas to surrender his WBO championship by quitting on his stool following round 8. This will be Diaz' second defense of this title.

Diaz won his WBA title via 12-round unanimous decision on July 17, 2004 over Lavka Sim at the Reliant Center in Houston, Texas. This will be Diaz' eighth defense of this title.

The Houston native was a phenomenal amateur boxer. After winning numerous amateur titles in the United States, at 17-years-old Diaz qualified for Mexico's 2000 Sydney Summer Olympic boxing team, but wasnot allowed to compete. Olympic rules required Diaz to be 18-years-old to compete. In response, Diaz turned pro at 16-years-old and stopped his first 5 opponents inside of3 rounds, in his first 5 months as a pro.

Diaz is currently ranked by The Ring magazine as the number 1 contender at 135 pounds to its champion in the weight class, Joel Casamayor. However, Diaz is generally recognized as the best boxer in the world at 135 pounds.

Campbell turned pro relatively late in life, a little more then a month shy of turning 28-years-old. He opened his pro career by knocking out his first 9 opponents.

The first lost of Campbell's career came via 10-round decision to Casamayor, and a win in this match would put Campbell in line for a rematch with Casamayor.

This is only Campbell's second time boxing outside the United States. The other time wasat Vodafone Arena in Melbourne Park, Australia on February 23, 2005. In that match he lost via technical knockout at 2:53 of round 8 to Robbie Pedon inan attempt to win a title at 140 pounds.

On March 2, 2007, Campbell won his second consecutive eliminator via 12-round unanimous decision atthe A La Carte Event Pavilion in Tampa, Florida over Ricky Quiles for at the time Julio's IBF Championship. After that Campbell took a "stay busy" match against Wilson Alcorro, while Julio attempted to defend his title against Juan. Campbelldefeated Quiles on July 6, 2007, via technical knockout at 21 seconds of round 6 at the Florida State Fairgrounds Hall in Tampa, Florida.

Campbell is ranked by The Ring as the number 5 contender at 135 pounds.

Diaz at 24-years-old, has the age advantage over the 36-year-old Campbell. Campbell has the height advantage standing 5' 7" tall, while Diaz is 5' 6" tall. The challenger has the reach advantage with an arm length of 23" measured from the armpit to the end of the fist, and the champion has a 21.5" arm length, measured the same way. On HBO's unofficial scales approaching match time, Diaz has the weight advantage now weighing 140 pounds, while Campbell has re-hydrated after the weigh-ins to 139 pounds. Both boxers will employ the orthodox stance.

The unified rules of boxing are in effect for this event. The judges are from Florida, North Carolina, and Arizona. The referee is Jesus Salcedo Lopez. Lopez as the referee may be very bad for Campbell. The pre-match instructions Lopez gave the boxers in the middle of the ring revealed the referee's Englishisextremely poor. It is unclear how effectivehe will be at communicatingwith Campbell or to either boxer ifLopez tries to give all ofhis directions in English. Keeping unofficial score for HBO for this event is Harold Lederman.

Campbell starts round 1 very aggressively and goes to work on the body of Diaz. The referee said something to the boxers following a break about 1:00 into round 1, and Campbell looked completely baffled and stopped boxing. Diaz allowed Campbell to think for a few seconds then resumed the action when the challenger was ready. However, when the action resumed Campbell wasstill clearly confused as to what the referee had said. Diaz is cut over his left eye with more then 1:30 to go in round 1. That is probably the result of an accidental clash of heads. This referee is awful. Twice in the first 2 minutes of the match he has unnecessarily broken up the boxers on the inside, when they were not tied up. Campbell wins round 1, 10-9. Lederman scores round 1 for Diaz, 10-9. Diaz wins round 2, 10-9. A grinding and punishing match on the inside is what forced corner stoppages inDiaz' last 2 matches and by Campbell choosing to make it that style of match, Diaz is beginning to wear the challenger down. Campbell was already beginning to slow down in the middle of round 2, and according to Jim Lampley, who is doingplay-by-play for HBO, this may be the best offensive match of Campbell's career, so far. Campbell wins round 2 on Lederman's scorecard, 10-9. Diaz' left eye is beginning to swell near the end of round 3, but it is not effecting his vision, yet. Diaz wins a close round 3, 10-9. After 3 rounds ,Diaz leads on my scorecard, 29-28. Lederman scores round 3 for Diaz, 10-9, and has the junior in political science at he University of Houston-Downtown ahead in the match after 3 rounds, 29-28.

Very close round 4, that Diaz may have won by being more active, 10-9. Diaz wins round 4 on Lederman's scorecard, 10-9. The Houston native wins round 5, 10-9. According to CompuBox, Campbell threw 12 more punches then Diaz in round 5, 96-84, and Campbell as thrown more punches then Diaz in every round of the match, so far.However, watching it live it appears that Diaz is has been busier then Campbell in most of the early rounds. Lederman scores round 5 for Campbell, 10-9. The cut around Diaz' left eye is opened badly with around 50 seconds to go in round 6, apparentlyby a headbutt from Campbell. The cut had not been bleeding for the majority of the match, until that apparent foul. It appears that after looking at Diaz, the referee is going to take a point away from Campbell forthe headbutt. Campbell has been using his head recklessly on the inside the entire match. It is unclear if a warning had been issued earlier. The referee is not wearing a microphone, as frequently happens during major televised events. Diaz' eye is now swollen very badly following the foul, and his vision is clearly impaired at this point. Diaz may not be able to see out of his left eye, at all. This match may need to be stopped. Diaz has 5 minutes to recover from an injury caused by a foul, and his corner can work on him then.The doctor does not check the cut, but Diaz' corner is given a few seconds to wipe away the blood. The same rule applies here as if Diaz were unintentionally struck in the groin.Apparently the ruling from the referee is that the cut was caused or worsened by an accidental clash of heads. If that was the case, Campbell probably should not have been deducted apoint. The HBO television truck believes the cut was caused by a punch. This is bizarre. Campbell would have won round 6, but the point deduction makes it even, 9-9. After 6 rounds, Diaz leads on my scorecard. 58-55. On replay itis clearthe severe cut to Diaz' left eye was caused by a clean left hand from Campbell during a clinch. There was no headbutt there, but Diaz reacted like he had been hit with a headbutt. The referee completely blew that call. In round 6, Campbell threw the most punches he had in any round of the match. Lederman scores round 6 for Diaz, 10-8, and has the champion winning the match after 6 rounds, 58-55.

In round 7, the cut is badly effecting Diaz. It is not only Diaz' vision that has been effected, but it is bothering him mentally. Diaz is always keeping one glove up to try and protect the cut.The championwas not aggressive in round 7, nordid he continue hishigh workrate. Campbell wins round 7, 10-9. In a moment of ominous foreshadowing, Lampley lets the viewers know that not only is the referee in this match inexperienced, but it is an inexperiencedgroup of judges, as well. In round 7, Diaz was out-landed 34-21. Lederman awards round 7 to Campbell, 10-9. The challenger wins round 8 on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. Campbell is using his head and shoulder to rub against the cut on Diaz' eye in the clinch to make the bleeding worse. Round 9 goes to Campbell on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. Through 9 rounds, we both have the match scored a draw, 85-85. To go along with the inexperience theme of the night, Diaz has an inexperienced cutman and he appears to be using a less then ideal solution on the cut above Diaz' left eye. Therefore, even though the cut above Diaz' eye does not appear to be too bad, the blood is not clotting. It is instead going directly into the champion's eye, and it is unlikely he can see out of that eye.

Campbell wins round 10 on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. In round 10, Diaz was out-landed 33-9. After round 10, Diaz' corner is calling the referee over for something. It appears Diaz' corner is attempting to get the referee to send the match to the scorecards, because of the cut. They probably believe Diaz'only chance to win is if the match is sent to the scorecards, now. However, it would be inappropriate for the referee to stop the match at this point. The referee correctlyrules the match should continue. Campbell wins round 11, 10-9. Lederman scores round 11 for Campbell, 10-9. Campbell wins round 12 on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9, and wins the match on both of our scorecards, 115-112.

The official decision as read by Oliver Perez,an inexperienced ring announcer who has beendoing a terrible job tonight,is that the judges have scored the match: 114-113 for Diaz, 116-111 for Campbell, and 115-112 for the winner by split decision and new IBF, WBA, and WBOLightweight Champion of the World, Nate "The Galaxxy Warrior"Campbell. The win moves Campbell to 32-5-1, with 25 of those wins coming by way of knockout.

The final punch stat numbers have Campbell landing 414 of the 1145 total punches he threw, for a 36% total connect percentage. Campbell landed 368 of the 913 power punches he threw, for a 40% power connect percentage. Diaz landed 228 of the 891 total punches he threw, for a 32% total connect percentage. The former champion landed 251 of the 742 power punches he threw, for a 34% power connect percentage. The numbers became very lopsided in favor of Campbell after Diaz' cut got worse in round 6

Campbell said in his post match interviewthat he would let Don King choose who he faces next.

Diaz in his post match interview implied that he knew he had lost his titleswith a few rounds to go.The Houston native said in the later rounds his goal became to finish the match standing, and he was not focused on winning the match anymore.

Campbell's upset here is huge. Max Kellerman on color commentary for HBO was comparing it Max Schmeling's upset of Joe Louis without the huge social and political overtones. The contrast between these boxers could not be more stark. Campbell was thrown out of high school, while Diaz will graduate from college in December with 3.0 GPA. Campbell has a grandchild, and is about to be married for the second time. Conversely, Diaz lives with his parents (it is much easier logistically with school and training). Diaz qualified for the Olympics and was boxing on national television at 17-years-old. Campbell worked the night shift at a grocery store when he began boxing, and turned pro to no fanfare at 27-years-old. This is a an early contender for upset of the year in boxing. This was Campbell's likely last shot at a championship, andit is unclear at Campbell's age how long he can keep this title. Campbell's late start in boxing means his body has very little wear and tear on it, but there are very few Randy Couture's in combat sports. Campbell's potential next opponent is the winner of Casamayor and Michael Katsidis to unify all the titles at 135 pounds.

This loss will only be a small setback for Diaz. It gives him some things to improve on and will teach him how to box through a new type of adversity. Diaz should change his cutman to prevent a situation like this from happening, again. However, with 1 or 2 wins Diaz will probably be challenging for another title in the next 12 months. It is unclear who Diaz will face next. After his last match, Diaz called out Manny Pacquiao who will be moving up to 135 pounds following his match on March 15. However, Pacquiao appears to want no part of Diaz.

The boxing action in the first match was very good. It is a great watch from the beginning.