Juan Manuel Marquez Proves He’s Still Relevant
Like film sequels, fight rematches rarely live up to their original. Marquez-Diaz II, on Pay-per-view Saturday night in Las Vegas, was no exception. It didn’t come close to their first war, which landed 2009 fight of the year. But Marquez, who stole the show the first time around by scoring a ninth round knockout and retaining his lightweight championship, was still able to argue his relevance after pummeling Juan Diaz for 12 rounds.
After the first bout with Diaz, Marquez decided to up the stakes and went for the stardom and money with a match against Floyd Mayweather. He was rocked. But he’d also jumped two weight classes, which always makes a difference. Diaz also moved to junior welterweight, and had two fights against former titlist Paulie Malignaggi. He won a supremely controversial hometown decision in the first one, but was just as obviously outpointed the second time, and wasn’t rewarded for it. Likewise, with both of these guys coming off sobering defeats, egos were tarnished and Golden Boy Productions chief Oscar de la Hoya scheduled a winning rematch.
The outcome of Saturday’s bout was somewhat to be expected. It continued to appoint Marquez as a great and legendary character, still fighting for relevance, and to disappoint Diaz as a fallen fighter. As always, the story’s in the numbers. Marquez landed 288 of just under 700 punches, weighing in at a 43 per cent connect rate, whereas Diaz landed 155 of 579, hitting just 27 per cent. That’s under 50 punches a round, an incredibly slow rate for a fighter once known for his speed and volume.
The three judges scored the bout unanimously for Marquez: 116-112, 118-110, and 117-111. Marquez can now boast a 51-5-1 record.
What Marquez is looking for at this point is redemption and a piece of the bigger pie. That accounts for his making the case for a third fight with Manny Pacquiao. As it stands he’s lost two close ones, a 2004 featherweight title fight, and a split decision in 2008. It’s a fight that would be a big revenue winner, and could happen in the future, but probably not immediately. Fortunately, both fighters have alternate plans. Pacquiao is slated to go against Antonio Margarito in a fight that will almost certainly be lopsided, and Marquez too has Amir Khan to look for, the Brit junior welterweight titlist.
A Khan-Marquez fight is a good opportunity for both guys, since Marquez wants to be the first Mexican to win titles in four weight classes, and Khan wants to fight (and beat) a future hall-of-famer.
The fight withstanding, Marquez said of a Pacquiao rematch: "(Pacquiao) needs a fighter that can beat him, and I'm right here waiting for him. Whenever he's ready to knock on my door, I'm right here."
On the rematch with Diaz, he added: “I believe the first fight was difficult—a war for both. This fight I wanted to do more boxing. Juan Diaz is a good fight but [Saturday] our strategy helped us win.”
When asked about his defeat to Mayweather, a bout in which Marquez was severely beaten up, Marquez replied: “the public realized we did all we could, but it was an enormous weight difference.”
On Diaz’s side of the fence, things aren’t looking so promising. When a fighter loses a few fights in a row, and it’s obvious that he isn’t what he used to be, arrangements need to be made. Luckily, at 26, Diaz seems prescient of this fact. He recently graduated from college and plans to go to law school, so a retirement from boxing doesn’t look unrealistic.
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