number1contender.net

HBO World Championship Boxing Recap

February 28, 2009

Toyota Center-Houston, Texas

The event has drawn a crowd of 14,571 fans and reportedly set a new record gate for a boxing event in the state of Texas. However, it should still be well below the gate for WrestleMania XXV on April 5.

1. WBA Featherweight (126 pounds) 12-Round Super Championship Match:

Chris John (42-0-1, 22 KO's, 125.25 pounds) (c) vs. Rocky Juarez (28-4, 20 KO's, 125.5 pounds)

John won the vacant interim version of this championship via 12-round split decision over Oscar Leon on September 26, 2003 at the Kartika Plaza Hotel in Kuta, Indonesia. It was quickly upgraded to a regular championship and later became a Super Championship*. John is making his eleventh defense of some form of this belt.

This is the champion's first professional match in the United States. John has boxed primarily out of his native Indonesia where it is considered nearly impossible for foreign boxers to defeat him via decision. Juan Manuel Marquez faced John on March 4, 2006 in Indonesia, and appeared to impartial viewers to win the match. However,when Marquez appeared on his way to a decision victory, the foreigner was deducted a point for repeated low blows in round 10 and 11. Then the final scorecards revealed, Marquez had lost badly, only winning 3 rounds on 1 of the judge's scorecards. After seeing what happened to Marquez, Gilroy, California's Robert Guerrero, who became the top ranked boxer at 126 pounds in 2008, moved to 130 pounds, rather then risk a trip to Indonesia for a title unification match.

John's last match a blowout 12-round unanimous decision victory over Hiroyuki Enoki on October 24, 2008 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan.

John is entering the match as The Ring magazine's number 1 contender to their vacant championship at 126 pounds.

Juarez had a stellar amateur boxing career that culminated when he took home the silver medal for the United States in the 125-pound weight class at 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics.

The challenger had surgery before his last match to remove a cartilage build up on his left eye. It was so bad that reportedly before Juarez had surgery when he was asked to pick up a shaker off a kitchen table, the boxer would occasionally miss the shaker completely when going to grab it. Juarez is still very young in real life. However, his extensive amateur career and a series of brutal pro matches against elite competition have taken a toll on him. Juarez, at less then 30-years-old, is probably on the downside of his career.

Juarez' last match was a technical knockout at 2:55 of round 11 over Jorge Barrios for the vacant WBO Latino Championship at 130 pounds on September 6, 2008 in the same building that is housing this event. The match was nearly a complete debacle with Juarez, a native Houstonian, given a huge hometown advantage from the referee and judges in the match. Barrios was deducted a point for a minor low blow in round 3. Barrios appeared to completely out-class Juarez for much of the match. In round 5, Juarez took on the body language of an "opponent" who was content to lose. Barrios was out-working Juarez, who appeared listless the entire match. Then in round 9, Barrios was deducted another point on a bad low blow call. However, Barrios still appeared comfortably ahead despite the 2 point deductions after 9 rounds. Then, Barrios ran completely out of gas in round 10. In round 11, Juarez caught Barrios with a combination that knocked him down and had blood spewing from the Argentine's mouth. Barrios beat the referee's count, but time was immediately called for the doctor to check on the fresh cut on Barrios' lip. The doctor said the sickening cut made it unsafe for Barrios to continue and stopped the match giving Juarez the technical knockout win. The scorecards were then revealed and shockingly, Juarez who at that point had thrown more then 500 fewer punches then Barrios had an insurmountable lead on 2 of the official judges' scorecards. Both of those judges were from Juarez' native Texas. It appeared Juarez had at best won 3 of the first 10 rounds, but one judge had scored 6 rounds for Juarez. A full recap of that match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2009/3/11/recap-of-rocky-juarez-vs-jorge-barrios.htmlJuarez has already vacated the relatively meaningless title, and it will not be at stake in this match.

Juarez entered this match unranked by The Ring at 126 and was instead inside their top 10 at 130 pounds.

At 28-years-old, Juarez is 1 year younger then the 29-year-old John. John has the height advantage standing 5' 7.5" tall, while Juarez stands 5' 5" tall. John has the reach advantage with a 22.5" arm length measured from the armpit to the end of the fist, compared to the 22" arm length of Juarez. Juarez will be the heavier boxer in the ring having unofficially rehydrated to 135 pounds approaching match time on HBO's unofficial scale. John has only rehydrated to 133 pounds approaching match time on HBO's unofficial scale. Both boxers will employ the orthodox stance.

The unified rules of boxing are in effect for this event. The official judges keeping score of this match from ringside are from California, Ohio and Texas. The referee is Laurence Cole. Harold Lederman will be keeping HBO's unofficial scorecard for this event.

John uses a solid jab to win a relatively close round 1, 10-9. Lederman scores round 1 for John, 10-9. The champion wins a very close round 2, 10-9. There is some tremendous defense being shown by both boxers in the early part of this match. Both boxers are blocking an unusually high percentage of punches making the rounds very difficult to score. On the outside, John is doing better. However, Juarez is pressuring the champion and forcing the match to be an inside brawl that favors the American. Juarez wins round 2 on Lederman's scorecard, 10-9. With about 30 seconds to go in round 3, the left eye of Juarez is beginning to swell shut. Juarez will probably have significant vision problems by the end of the match. John was much busier then Juarez in round 3, but Juarez appeared to land the more significant power punches in the round. Therefore, Juarez wins round 3 on my scorecard, 10-9, but after 3 rounds John leads on my scorecard, 29-28. Lederman scores round 3 for John, 10-9, and has the champion ahead on his scorecard after 3 rounds, 29-28.

Round 4 is contested on the outside. Therefore, John wins round 4, 10-9. John takes round 4 on Lederman's scorecard, 10-9. A straight right hand opens up a bad cut over the left eye of Juarez with 1:13 to go in round 5. For drawing first blood, John wins round 5, 10-9. In between rounds, the HBO camera reveals that the cut above Juarez' left eye may be one that leads to an early stoppage. The cut is directly above the eye and below the eyebrow. It is already moderately wide. If it gets much worse the referee will be forced to stop the match. It is bleeding into Juarez' already swelling eye, further inhibiting his vision. In addition, Juarez has a small cut under his left eye. However, that cut should play no factor in the match. The referee did not see the blow that cut Juarez. Whenever a referee is not sure that a cut was caused by an accidental clash of heads, they are supposed to give the boxer the benefit of the doubt and rule that the cut was caused by a punch. However, it appears the referee is ruling that the punch was caused by an accidental clash of heads in this case. There is no video replay in Texas. (Former New Jersey Commissioner Larry Hazard had his state be the first and so far only state to enable video replay for cuts. As an aside, for being one of the best commissioners in the history of boxing and MMA, Hazard was fired for caring too much about athlete safety.) Lederman scores round 5 for Juarez, 10-9. The doctor checked on Juarez' cut following round 5 and said the boxer was fit to continue. With 36 seconds to go in round 6, Juarez' gloves touch the mat. However, it was a slip. The referee correctly rules it a slip and the action is quickly resumed. John easily wins round 6, 10-9. That was the best round of the match for the champion, who was smiling as the bell rang to signal an end to the scheduled first half of the match. After 6 rounds, John leads on my scorecard, 59-55. The champion wins round 6 on the Lederman scorecard, 10-9, and John leads on Lederman's scorecard after 6 rounds, 59-55. Through 6 rounds, John has landed 134 of the 492 total punches he has thrown, for a 27% total connect percentage. Meanwhile through 6 rounds, Juarez has only landed 87 of the 365 total punches he has thrown, for a 24% total connect percentage. Regardless of the numbers, the official judges could have this match much closer. Max Kellerman, who is doing color commentary of this event for HBO, thinks that some of the judges may have this match even after 6 rounds, 57-57. Kellerman believes the first 2 rounds could have been scored for Juarez with a judge finding another round for the local boxer somewhere in the next 4 rounds.

John continues to dominate Juarez, winning round 7 on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. Juarez' cut man has done an excellent job. The cut above the challenger's left eye has not been bleeding, since after round 5. However, John is targeting the cut with twisting right hands designed to have the cut gushing blood when they connect properly. Round 8 is contested at close distance for most of the 3 minutes. However, John continues to out-work Juarez winning the round, 10-9. Juarez is boxing possibly the best match of his career. Unfortunately, Juarez is facing an elite boxer where that effort appears to not be good enough to win. Lederman scores round 8 for Juarez, 10-9. With a little over 1 minute to go in round 9, Juarez is beginning to bleed from the bridge of his nose. The busier John wins a close round 9, 10-9, and leads on my scorecard after 9 rounds, 89-83. At the end of round 9, John has a slight cut over his left eye. It is not bleeding and should play no factor in the match. Lederman scores round 9 for John, 10-9, and has the champion ahead on his scorecard after 9 rounds, 88-83. However, the local judging could have Juarez ahead by a point giving the Houstonian rounds 8 and 9.

John wins rounds 10, 10-9. Lederman scores round 10 for Juarez, 10-9. However in round 10, John threw more punches and landed more punches then Juarez. John has thrown and landed more punches then Juarez in every round of the match, so far. In addition, John has thrown over 100 punches in each of the last 4 rounds. Juarez landed some good power punches that brought the crowd to their feet in round 11, and were good enough to win the round on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. In round 11, John landed 34 of the 119 total punches he threw, for a 29% total connect percentage. Juarez landed the flashier punches in round 11, but only landed 23 of the 73 total punches he threw, for a 32% total connect percentage. With the crowd chanting "Rocky! Rocky" in between rounds 11 and 12, Juarez' trainer, Ronnie Shields, tells his charge that the crowd wants a knockout and the boxer needs to give it to them. Juarez only has 1 knockout in his career past round 10. That was when the Houstonian knocked out Barrios in round 11 in his last match. Round 12 is very good and very close. The crowd gave the match a standing ovation when the final bell sounded. Once again, John throws more punches and lands more punches then Juarez in round 12. Again in round 12, Juarez hit John with some hard punches. However, the more consistent work from John probably wins the exciting round, 10-9. John wins the match on my scorecard, 118-110. Lederman scores round 12 for John, 10-9, and has the champion retaining the title on his scorecard by the score of, 116-112.

The official decision courtesy of the legendary Michael Buffer is that the judges have scored the match: 114-114, 114-114, 114-114, an unanimous decision draw. All 3 judges gave the last 2 rounds to Juarez to give him the draw. On champion's advantage, still the WBA Featherweight Super Champion of the World, Chris "The Dragon" John. The draw moves John to 42-0-2 with 22 wins coming by way of knockout.

The final punchstat numbers have John landing 344 of the 1190 total punches he threw, for a 29% total connect percentage. John landed 157 of the 628 jabs he threw, for a 25% jab connect percentage. Juarez landed 206 of the 797 total punches he threw, for a 26% total connect percentage. The Houstonian landed 84 of the 358 jabs he threw, for a 23% jab connect percentage.

Juarez said in his post-match interview that he failed to win by not pushing the pace in the middle rounds. The Houstonian said he had the energy, but did not push hard enough. Both boxers showed tremendous conditioning in this match and were able to finish very strong. They probably could have gone 15 rounds at this insane pace if they had to do it.

In John's post-match interview he said that he thought he won and was ready to take on anyone including a rematch with Juarez.

John boxed about the best match possible here, but only got a draw. This was reportedly the lowest payday of his near 6 year title reign. After this, it probably makes no sense to take less money and face biased judging in the United States. The draw was not a terrible decision. However, it is better business to get paid well to box in Indonesia and not worry about the judging. John says he only wants to box a few more times. The careers of lighter weight boxers are much shorter then those of heavyweights. He can probably get a relatively big money rematch with Juarez in Indonesia. That would be the best move for him.

Juarez probably boxed the best match of his career versus John. However, John is a better boxer. Following this match, The Ring made Juarez their number 4 contender at 126 pounds. Juarez should do everything he can to face John in a rematch under any circumstances. The Houstonian is also running out of time in his career. He is probably better then some of the champions in the weight class, but has endured a lot of damage in the ring. Juarez can either go after a championship at this point or the most money. John probably offers both. A rematch in Houston would be ideal on the undercard of another Juan Diaz match or as the undercard match on a PPV from Las Vegas. Shane Mosley will probably face Miguel Cotto in the fall in Las Vegas, Nevada. A Juarez-John rematch on the undercard of that match would probably pay both boxers well.

2. The Ring/WBA/WBO/IBO Lightweight (135 pounds) 12-Round Championship Unification Match:

Juan Manuel Marquez (49-4-1, 36 KO's, 134.25 pounds) (The Ring) vs. Juan Diaz (34-1, 17 KO's, 134.5 pounds) (IBO)

Diaz' won the IBO Championship in his last match when it was vacant in a controversial 12-round decision victory over Michael Katsidis on the same show that saw Juarez knockout Barrios. Diaz appeared to completely dominate Katsidis in the match. The Houstonian who has historically been more of a brawler that wins by overwhelming his opponents with an accumulation of punches, put on possibly the best boxing display of his career in this match. By the end of round 7, Katsidis face had been disfigured by cuts and swelling. Lennox Lewis, who was doing color commentary of the event from ringside for HBO, scored the match 120-108 for the Houstonian. However, while the judges' appeared unreasonably generous to the hometown boxer, Juarez, in the first match, they seemed ridiculously biased against Diaz in this match. Diaz pulled the match out via split decision, with the deciding scorecard going for the local boxer by the score of 115-113. The Houstonian nearly doubled Katsidis in total connects 296-to-147, and had more then double the total connect percentage 37-to-17 making this scoring seem incomprehensible. A full recap of that match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2009/3/11/recap-of-juan-diaz-vs-michael-katsidis.htmlThis title had last been held by Isaac Hlatswayo who vacated the belt to campaign at 140 pounds. Diaz is making his first defense of this title.

Marquez won The Ring Championship in his last match from Joel Casamayor via technical knockout at 2:55 of round 11 on September 13, 2008 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The native of Mexico City, Mexico dropped Casamayor twice, forcing the referee to move in and stop the contest. Marquez is making his first defense of this title.

The WBA Lightweight Super Championship** and WBO Championship are both vacant. They were both previously held by Nate Campbell who was stripped of them when he failed to make weight for his match with Ali Funeka on February 14.

Marquez had a solid amateur career that included 2 Golden Gloves tournament victories.

Marquez is probably best known for being the top rival Manny Pacquiao. The two boxers have had 2 matches, both ending in controversial decisions. In the first match, the boxers went to a 12-round draw on May 8, 2004 at the MGM Grand. Pacquiao dropped Marquez 3 times in round 1 winning the round, 10-6. However, Marquez would rally to only lose 1 of the remaining 11 rounds on one of the judges scorecards taking the match, 115-110. Another judge believed Pacquiao was dominant scoring the match for the Filipino boxer, 115-110. The third judge, believed Marquez was the better boxer for the remainder of the match, but could not overcome the knockdowns. That judge scored the match 113-113, hence the draw.

Pacquiao and Marquez would meet again on March 15, 2008 at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas to determine The Ring Champion at 130 pounds. The highly anticipated rematch set the PPV record for a boxing event headlined by boxers under 140 pounds. Pacquiao hit Marquez with a combination in round 3 that scored the knockdown that would prove decisive in this match. However, Marquez had Pacquiao in serious trouble starting in round 6. Marquez had the southpaw's powerful left hand timed and the very aggressive Pacquiao for possibly the first time in his career appeared hesitant in the ring. Pacquiao became completely unwilling to throw a punch with his left hand. He would wind up to throw a punch with his left hand, then mentally check himself and not let the punch go. At this same time, Marquez' powerful right hand had started to cause severe swelling around the left eye of Pacquiao inhibiting the Filipino's vision. Pacquiao was visibly frustrated in the ring and in his corner after round 6, and then things got worse for him. In round 8, a punch cut Pacquiao badly over his right eye, as the swelling worsened around his left eye. The cut was dripping blood directly into Pacquiao's eye and he was having severe difficulty seeing. Pacquiao lost focus on Marquez and began to worry about the blood effecting his vision. Marquez immediately changed his strategy to fit the wounded Pacquiao. The Mexican stopped throwing counter right hands, but instead started aiming left hands at Pacquiao's injured eye. Marquez finished the match landing more total punches and power punches then Pacquiao, but losing via split decision. At this point, Pacquiao and his promoter Bob Arum have said they do not want anything to do with Marquez, again. A full recap of that match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2008/12/9/recap-of-manny-pacquiao-vs-juan-manuel-marquez-ii.html

Marquez is The Ring Champion at 135 pounds and The Ring's number 2 ranked boxer in the world, pound-for-pound, behind only Pacquiao.

Diaz was an outstanding amateur boxer who attempted to qualify for the 2000 United States Olympic boxing team. However, he would have only been 17-years-old at the start of the 2000 Sydney Olympics, and Olympic rules require a boxer to be 18-years-old to compete. Therefore, Diaz was not allowed to attempt to qualify for the United States Olympic team. Unhappy with the decision of the USOC to bar him from the qualifying process, Diaz used the fact that his parents were born in Mexico to attempt to qualify for the 2000 Mexican Olympic boxing team. Defeating much older boxers, Diaz successfully qualified for the Olympics as part of the Mexican boxing team. However, Diaz would still would not have been 18-years-old at the start of the 2000 Summer Olympics. Therefore, the United States and Puerto Rico both filed protests to have Diaz barred from keeping at the games. Those protests were upheld, and a frustrated Diaz began his pro boxing career at 16-years-old.

The Houstonian has been featured by HBO as one of their rising stars. Not only is he a talented boxer, but he is on pace to graduate from University of Houston-Downtown with a bachelor's degree in Political Science in May. After that, he intends to enroll in law school with the hopes of one day being the mayor of Houston. There have been 2 boxing from the Toyota Center and Diaz has headlined both of them.

Diaz' last match was the victory over Katsidis in front of 13,477 fans at the Toyota Center.

Diaz is The Ring's number 1 contender at 135 pounds.

At 25-years-old, Diaz is 10 years younger then the 35-year-old Marquez. Marquez has the height advantage standing 5' 7" tall, while Diaz stands 5' 6" tall.The veteranhas the reach advantage with a 22" arm length, compared to the 21.5" arm length of Diaz. Marquez will be the slightly heavier boxer in the ring having unofficially rehydrated to 140 pounds approaching match time. Diaz has unofficially rehydrated to 139 pounds approaching match time. Both boxers will employ the orthodox stance. Marquez is a little less then 2-to-1 betting favorite according to HBO.com.

The official judges keeping score of this match from ringside are from California, Nevada and New Mexico. The referee is United States Army First Sgt. (retired) Rafael Ramos.

Diaz wins an action packed round 1, 10-9. The theory going into this match was that this was going to start out as a technical boxing match with Diaz pressing Marquez. Then Marquez would begin to counter Diaz, and the match would turn into a brawl. Marquez and Diaz decided to skip straight to the brawl from the opening bell. In round 1, Diaz would back Marquez into the ropes, and then the 2 would begin exchanging combinations. Marquez landed 29 of the 95 total punches he threw in round 1. That was the most punches Marquez has ever thrown in a round tracked by CompuBox. However in round 1, Diaz landed 31 of the 104 total punches he threw. To put in perspective how frenetic the action was in round 1, the average number of total punches thrown in a round by a 135 pound boxer is 63.9. Diaz wins round 1 on Lederman's scorecard, 10-9. Round 2 is great. Diaz had Marquez hurt with a series of left hooks in the middle of round 2, and that wins the Houstonian the round, 10-9. In round 2, Marquez landed 34 of the 94 total punches he has thrown. Prior to round 1, that would have been the record for the busiest Marquez has ever been in a round. Diaz is forcing Marquez to work at a pace not even the super-aggressive Pacquiao ever did. In round 2, Diaz landed 30 of the 98 total punches he threw in round 2. Lederman scores round 2 for Diaz, 10-9. Diaz is boxing the best match of his career in winning round 3, 10-9. After 3 rounds, the hometown boxer leads on my scorecard, 30-27. Diaz wins round 3 on Lederman's scorecard, 10-9, and is ahead in the match after 3 rounds, 30-27. After round 3, there is a little blood coming from the right nostril of Marquez.

Round 4 is contested almost entirely with Marquez boxing with his back to the ropes. Round 4 was very close with the boxers trading combinations throughout the round. However, it appeared Diaz scored with the harder combinations to win round 4, 10-9. Lederman scores round 4 for Marquez, 10-9. It appears a combination just before the bell sounded to end round 5, has cut Marquez above the right eye. Round 5 is very close, but goes to Diaz, 10-9. On replay, it appears to have been a glancing right hook that cut Marquez. The cut may be slightly off to the side of Marquez' eye and not effecting his vision. However, if Diaz works over that cut it will eventually bleed into Marquez' eye. This is not a new cut for Marquez, but an old cut re-opening. This is the cut that was originally caused by a Pacquiao left hand in their second encounter. Casamayor was able to re-open this same cut in Marquez' last match. Diaz wins round 5 on the Lederman scorecard, 10-9. Diaz' constant pressure wins round 6, 10-9, and he leads on my scorecard after 6 rounds, 60-54. Lederman scores round 6 for Marquez, 10-9, but has Diaz ahead after 6 rounds, 58-56. A close up of Marquez' face in the corner after round 6 shows the boxer's right eye is red. That means the blood from the cut is dripping into his eye and effecting his vision. Since Marquez is having trouble seeing out of his right eye, the boxer is more vulnerable to Diaz' left hook. Through 6 rounds, Diaz has already thrown more power punches against Marquez, then any of Marquez' previous opponent's have thrown in an entire match. That includes both of his 12-round matches with Pacquiao. To compete with Diaz, Marquez is being forced to be better then he had to be to compete with Pacquiao.

In round 7, Diaz continues to push the pace and get Marquez against the ropes. There Diaz lands solid combinations to win round 7, 10-9. It appears Marquez is starting to get tired from working this frenetic pace. The busier Diaz wins round 7 on the Lederman scorecard, 10-9. With around 2:30 to go in round 8, a left uppercut cuts Diaz outside the right eye. It is unclear if the cut is bleeding into the eye. Despite Diaz' aggressive style he is rarely cut. The 1 time Diaz was seriously cut versus Nate Campbell, he reacted poorly and suffered the lone defeat of his pro career. (A full recap of the Diaz-Campbell match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2009/2/27/recap-of-nate-campbell-vs-juan-diaz.html) The cut above Diaz' right eye has gotten bad quickly, and half of his face is already covered in blood with 1:30 to go in round 8. Diaz probably has very limited vision out of his right eye at this point. At this point, the expression on Diaz' face has completely changed. Early in the match with Campbell, Kellerman metaphorically asked if there was any pit of Hell too deep for Diaz to cross. In that match, the answer appeared to be that he could not continue to box effectively after seeing his own blood. Diaz is on the edge of that pit, again with a chance to prove he can continue across that pit after seeing his own blood. Marquez had Diaz badly hurt with a left hook near the end of round 8. That was probably the first left hook from Marquez that has hurt Diaz in this match. The Houstonian never saw the punch coming. Marquez wins round 8 big on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. It is essential that Diaz' corner get that cut closed in this break. This is the same corner people who did an outstanding job with the terrible cut Juarez had in the opening match of this telecast. The referee is correctly ruling that the cut was caused by a punch. A close up shot in the corner reveals the cut is very bad. It is on the very bottom of the eyelid. It is not wide, but the entirety of the cut is over the boxer's eye. If any part of that cut begins to seep blood, Diaz will have limited vision in his right eye. That area is also swelling quickly. Therefore, even if the cut does not bleed and inhibit Diaz' vision, the swelling will probably leave the boxer with limited vision out of his right eye by the end of the match. After 8 rounds, Marquez has landed more total punches then he has landed in any match tracked by CompuBox. Marquez is boxing the best match of his career. A right hand finishes off a combination that drops Diaz to the mat with 45 seconds to go in round 9. Diaz' eyes are still very glassy, but the referee allows him to continue with 34 seconds to go in the round. The Houstonian looks almost completely out of it and his legs look gone. Diaz is going to have to hold on to last out the rest of this round. However, as Emanuel Steward, who is doing color commentary of this event for HBO, points out Diaz does not know how to hold. That means Diaz has little chance to make it back to his corner. A right uppercut drops Diaz for the second time with 26 seconds to go in round 9. The referee was waiving the match off, the instant Diaz' body hit the canvas.

The official outcome courtesy of Michael Buffer is that: at 2:40 of round 9 the referee has called a stop to this contest, making the winner by technical knockout and now the Unified Ring/IBO/WBA/WBO Lightweight Champion of the World, Juan Manuel "Dinamita" Marquez. For the record, the official judges had the match a draw after 8 rounds: 77-75 (Marquez), 77-75 (Diaz), 76-76. The win moves Marquez to 50-4-1 with now 37 wins coming by way of knockout.

The final punchstat numbers have Marquez landing 288 of the 732 total punches he threw, for a 39% total connect percentage. Marquez landed 190 of the 401 power punches he threw, for an excellent 47% power connect percentage. Diaz landed 252 of the 781 total punches he threw, for a 32% total connect percentage. Diaz landed 161 of the 500 power punches he threw, for a 32% power connect percentage.

Shockingly, Marquez said in his post match interview that he wants Floyd Mayweather, Jr. Marquez went on to explain that he would face Pacquiao, but Pacquiao is clearly ducking him. Therefore, Marquez has no choice, but to move all the way up to 147 pounds and face the true pound-for-pound best boxer in the world, Mayweather. Kellerman then asked rhetorically, "Who would want a fight with you, Juan?" Marquez made it clear, there is nothing left for him to do at 135 pounds and his next match will be at 140 pounds or higher. Mosley was smiling on in the background through this entire interview, probably thinking of how Mayweather has somewhat avoided the Southern California native for years.

A concussed Diaz is now going to give a post match interview with Bernard Hopkins standing behind him. Diaz said the blood got in his eye and he could not see the punches coming. Unlike in the Campbell match he stayed aggressive, but got caught. There were some awkward moments of this interview where Hopkins could be seen desperately wanting to coach Diaz through it. There really should be a policy against interviewing boxers that have just been knocked out. Diaz clearly would have said some things better in this interview had he been fully functioning.

Marquez' performance in this match showed that he is possibly the best boxer in the world. Faced with a more aggressive and active opponent then he has ever faced, Marquez rose to the challenge like an all-time great should. In Marquez' last 7 matches, the natural counter puncher threw on average 50 punches per round, well below the division averages as he competed at 126, 130 and 135 pounds. However, when pressed by Diaz in this match Marquez averaged throwing 81 punches per round. Marquez deserves a match with Pacquiao next at 140 pounds, regardless of what Pacquiao does versus Hatton on May 2. However, Marquez will probably only get Pacquiao if the Filipino is defeated by Hatton and looking to rebound with a high profile win. A match between Marquez and Hatton would favor the much larger Englishman. Hatton is a stronger version of Diaz. It could be too difficult for Marquez to give up that much size and defeat Hatton. It is clear there will be no announcement on Marquez' next opponent until Hatton and Pacquiao face each other on May 2.

Diaz was great in this match. This was easily the best match of his career. Diaz performance in this match was good enough to knockout every boxer at 135 pounds, except Marquez. With the all-time great Marquez out of the division, Diaz will be able to try again to unify the belts at 135 pounds and become the undisputed champion in the division. Diaz is still very young and has the ability to be great himself. The Houstonian will probably be challenging for at least some fringe title by the end of the year.

Both matches on this show were very good. The main event may be the match of the year for 2009. It is not the best match ever. It is not nearly as good as Israel Vazquez-Rafael Marquez II, and probably not as good as Vazquez-Marquez III with the frenetic finish. However, Marquez-Diaz was an excellent match that will be replayed for years on HBO and worth checking out when it is replayed.

*In an effort to get more money from sanctioning fees, the WBA has multiple versions of their world championships. To begin, the WBA collects sanctioning fees from all WBA sanctioned matches that includes title matches and title eliminators. They have their regular championships. They have then created "Super Championships". A Super Championship is created when a regular championship is unified with another of the major titles in the weight class (IBF, WBC, WBO). The creation of a Super Championship, renders the regular championship is vacant. There is now a new match to create another regular champion. In addition, they will still create the occasional interim-Championship. Meaning they can have 3 sanctioned belts in 1 weight class at the same time. It effectively renders all of the titles meaningless, but generates a tremendous amount of extra revenue for the WBA from boxers seeking to hold belts.

**There is no reason for a WBA Super Championship to be on the line in this match or exist at all. There is already a regular WBA Champion at 135 pounds, Paulus Moses. Moses is not in most major top 10 lists, but does hold the belt. Therefore by the WBA's rules, when Campbell failed to make weight the Super Championship should have simply been eliminated. Moses' belt would have to be unified with one of the other major belts to create a new Super Champion. The WBA appeared to just make up special rules in this case to get another sanctioning fee, and they got Diaz, Marquez and Golden Boy Promotions to pay it. Therefore, being corrupt worked out for the WBA here, good for them.

News and Notes: As the promoter of this event, Oscar De La Hoya was in attendance for this show and doing some press events during the week of the match. However, he was never shown on camera. He has largely disappeared from the public boxing scene, since his loss to Pacquiao with his only public appearances being to promote the Affliction PPV. De La Hoya did not do a boxing interview from the time he left the ring after being knocked out by Pacquiao on December 6, 2008 until 2 days before this event, a span of over 2.5 months. For a while he was unwilling to answer the door at his house, because of the embarrassment of the loss to Pacquiao. De La Hoya has been beaten before, but he has never been dominated and made to look like an old man like that before. De La Hoya's brother and wife have asked the boxer to retire. He mentally wants to keep boxing, but is struggling with the reality that he does not have anything left. It appears De La Hoya will retire, but it may take him a while to accept that is what he needs to do.

Golden Boy Promotions has been very active, though while their boss has been somewhat reclusive. They have largely finalized the details of their 8 boxer 135-pound tournament. It will start with an HBO PPV on April 4 featuring 4 first round matches with the eventual winner now looking at a match with Diaz as Marquez will be leaving the division.

Vitali Klitschko has been ordered to make back-to-back mandatory defenses of his heavyweight title. His first will be on March 21 against Juan Carlos Gomez in Germany and be carried live on ESPN in the United States. The winner of that match, must then defend the belt within 4 months against Oleg Maskaev. Klitschko has filed an appeal to get out of making the second mandatory defense so quickly. The Ukrainian would like to defend the title in the summer against either David Haye or Chris Arreola. Both matches would make Klitschko substantially more money then a title defense against Maskaev.

In the meantime, Chris Arreola will open the April 11 HBO event headlined by Paul Williams vs. Winky Wright. It appears Arreola will face Jamel McCline in that match. Arreola's people were trying to match the boxer up with Hasim Rahman on that event, but HBO said they would not televise that match.

Oscar Diaz was released from the hospital recently after he was knocked into a coma by Delvin Rodriguez on the July 16 episode of ESPN Wednesday Night Fights. Diaz collapsed on his stool following round 11, and remained in a coma for about 2 months. He is expected to make a near full recovery. Diaz should be able to walk and talk normally, again within several months. It was the accumulation of blows that did the damage to the 147-pounder. A quick knockout, that looks scary would have actually been much safer for the boxer. That is what makes MMA safer and here is an article somewhat explaining this: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2009/1/27/jereme-warneck-talks-about-scary-looking-knockouts.html

The February 14 edition of HBO Boxing After Dark marked a return to the broadcast. For the first time in years, they showed the round-card girls. The network for several years had a policy of keeping that filth off their network, while simultaneously running Real Sex 24 on HBO2. The irony of this was highlighted in the always funny blown promo reads from the boxing commentators to end shows that was highlighted by Bob Papa breaking out into a fit of laughter, unable to get through the card telling viewers "Katie Morgan on Sex Toys" was coming up next, after HBO BAD. (Talking of blown promo reads, Jim Lampley telling viewers to stay tuned for Junio, saying the word as if it were in Spanish, was also entertaining, when the movie coming up next was in fact the Academy Award winning film Juno.) However, the ring-card girls were not shown on this broadcast. That type of stuff cannot be shown so early in the day on HBO, but unclothed women can usually be seen runningsimultaneously on both HBO sister channels Cinemax and MoreMax at this time of day.

Finally, March 4 was the second anniversary of when I began submitting boxing recaps to Dave Meltzer. I want to thank Dave for keeping me around this long. This has been the best job I have ever had, and I hope to continue doing it for a long time.

The next recap will be coming out soon covering the HBO Boxing After Dark event on March 7 from my hometown of San Jose, California.

Sincerely,

Jereme Warneck

number1contender.net

Boxing and Video Game Correspondent for f4wonline.com

Hidden Valley Lake, CA

I can be reached for feedback and comments at ZurRoadie@aol.com or as JeremeW on XBOX Live. I read everything.