Date July 31, 2010 50–5–1 (37 KO) 35–3–0 (17 KO) | Dinamita Baby Bull 5 feet, 7 inches 5 feet, 6 inches | |
Venue Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, Paradise, Nevada, United States Title(s) on the line WBA, WBO Lightweight championship. | ||
Juan Manuel Márquez vs. Juan Diaz was a boxing lightweight title superfight, in a rematch of the 2009 Fight of the Year. Marquez, went to Diaz's hometown of Houston to face him at the Toyota Center in February 2009 in what turned out to be an all-action slugfest, one that Marquez won via ninth-round knockout.
Contents
Build up
Juan Díaz was a 3-1 underdog for his rematch against Juan Manuel Márquez, but the Houston fighter employed unimpeachable logic to argue that he would be victorious before the battle. In the rematch, Díaz, 26, intended to fine-tune rather than overhaul his game plan since he dictated the action and manhandled Márquez for much of the first fight before Márquez, 36, identified and exploited the chinks in his armour. Without revealing too much of his strategy, Díaz said his key to victory involved a delicate balance between brain, brawn, offense and defense.
Márquez, at 36 ten years older than his opponent, retained his WBO and WBA lightweight titles, and won this rematch by outpunching Díaz 288 to 155 on blows which connected. Márquez broke Díaz' lip to pieces with hard left jabs and hard overhand rights that scored, backing Díaz up during this bout. Márquez had a swollen right eye, but it was not a factor. The fight was a clean one. Díaz, a loser of four of his last six bouts, was studying for his law school entrance exam in preparation for a career change before the Márquez bout.
140 pound champion Amir Khan was in attendance and was mentioned as a possible future opponent for Márquez. Also in attendance former Heavyweight Champions Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis, current WBA Champion David Haye as well as Junior Middlewight Contender Alfredo Angulo.
The Fight
Prior to the bout, the WBO ordered the Márquez-Díaz winner to fight mandatory challenger Michael Katsidis. Márquez won the fight via unanimous decision by the official scores of 117-111, 116-112, and 118-110. After the Díaz rematch, Márquez stated that he was interested in pursuing a third fight with Manny Pacquiao. There was also the possibility of him moving up in weight again to face one of the belt-holders at 140 pounds: Timothy Bradley, Devon Alexander or Amir Khan, all of whom were fighting on HBO.
Televised
Márquez defeated Díaz via unanimous decision (116–112, 118–110, 117–111).
Guerrero defeated Casamayor via unanimous decision (98–89, 98–89, 97–90).
Pirog defeated Jacobs via knockout at 0:57 of fifth round.
Linares defeated Juarez via unanimous decision (99–90, 97–92, 99–90).
Televised Free
Gómez defeated Peterson via technical knockout at 2:14 of first round.
Mendy defeated Bika via disqualification (For hitting Mendy when he was down) at 1:15 of first round.
Untelevised
Groves defeated Contreras via technical knockout at 0:48 of sixth round.
Mitchell defeated Bryant via technical knockout at 1:45 of first round.
Montiel defeated Peralta via unanimous decision (58–55, 60–53, 58–55).
Reported fight earnings
These are the payouts to the fighters as reported to the executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission Keith Kizer. These are the official purses as per the Nevada bout agreements, It does not include sponsor money or other common forms of revenue paid through other streams.