Juan Diaz still sucks....

Hey, I have plenty to whine about. The card Saturday night was the worst major card I've attended in quite a while. From the atmosphere to location to the fights themselves, it was a far, far cry from the D. Diaz-Morales show two months ago

 

Did Savannah or anyone mention what Juan's status is? Does he owe Don King an additional fight or is he done with King?

The answers to those questions gives a peek into what he'll do next. I think David Diaz is completely off the table if Manny can't make 130 for the Marquez rematch.

"However"

There's no guarantee Marquez gets past Rocky Juarez.

 

He reminds me of Winky Wright.

 

I'm going to mention it in tomorrow's article. Officially, he doesn't owe King any fights, but that's not to say he's done with him. Though King did go out of his way to let everyone know he spent a handsome ransom in securing Juan's past two fights.

 

I don't think the question is can Marquez get past Juarez its can D.Diaz get past Katsidis.

 

Two things...

1). King didn't help further Diaz's cause with such a poorly attended and promoted event.

2). King doesn't have an avenue to bring Diaz's the fight he really wants.

I'll also mention that it'll be interesting to see what Golden Boy does since Savannah screwed them over last year.

 

he didn't - but at the same time, if he sensed that Diaz/Savannah were walking after this fight, then it wasn't necessarily a total loss for King for this show to have bombed. Juan can't walk away saying he's a major draw - I'm sure the majority of the people at the Diaz-Freitas fight were there for Popo, as Foxwoods has become his home away from home.

And with or without three belts, Juan can't return to (the outskirts of) Chicago demanding a significant amount of the purse against David Diaz. Maybe anywhere else - but the fight has to land somewhere (if it happens, and if so, it probably lands in a casino ).

"Like I said before", I'll mention more in tomorrow's column. But even in picking up another belt, King didn't gain anymore leverage than he already had as far as making any major 130/135 lb. fights.

 

Juan Diaz is the new Miguel Cotto on this board.:: 3 years ago, many blasted on Cotto the same way they are doing on Diaz. Cotto just kept on winning and the haters silenced. They will do the same with Juan.:nono:

 

I dont believe they have any obligations to King, but Willie hints that he'll give King first shot at making subsequent fights.

I think G is still bitter at Savannah for the way they left and went with King. Nothing I'm sure they cannot get over tho.

Arum has wanted Diaz from day 1, and TR has been close to signing Juan on more than a few occasions. They even promoted his first 3 fights in Mexico.

 

3 belts is leverage. Plus HBO and fans love this guy. He has leverage against anybody but Manny Pac.

Anyways im dissapointed where the fight ended up. King has been putting fights in crazy locations recently. Hopefully he understands that Juan needs to fight on the west coast and Chad Dawson needs to fight East coast.

 

The word was that King is good friends with the owner of the Sears Centre and basically got the two nights for scale (fight night, and day-before weigh in). I'm sure he worked out the same deal with the Maloof brothers for Chad Dawson's fight, and the Dolan's for the Peter-McCline card. But the other two shows were merely lack of interest. There's plenty of boxing interest IN Chicago. Just not enough for people to drive an hour away to a modest arena in the middle of nowhere.

Diaz-Morales wasn't a GREAT turnout, but they attracted a GREAT boxing crowd. How did they do that? They kept the promotion IN Chicago, even though the fight was in Rosemont.

That's where King fucked up on this one. He spent most of the week beating the mean streets of Elgin (where the base hotel was for all fighters and media) and Hoffman Estates (the arena), two suburban towns, neither of which particularly care about boxing.

 

damn, i meant to respond to the first part as well.

I'm not sure too many people care about Juan's 3 belts, more so than who he's beating. The 3 belts is King's marketing angle, but even that doesn't seem to be working.

It's leverage in that nobody cares about Casamayor, which disproves The Ring's theory (as well as any given writer whose every other word is bashing the alphabets). But it also doesn't help that Casa hasn't fought in a year, not only passing on a David Diaz fight, but now returning to fight the guy that lost to Diaz last year (Santa Cruz).

 

RING>Sanctioning bodies

 

perhaps, but today and moving forward...

Juan Diaz > Casamayor

 

Well my theory on the turnout would be that Erik Morales is a draw and a legend, and Juan Diaz is a young champion. But you can keep it complicated. :tease:

 

well yeah, having Chavez Jr. on the Diaz-Morales card also added to the pot. But still, you go where the market is, you don't hope it follows the circus from town to town.

 

Casa has done his own undoings. He rarely fights. He stinks up the joint when he does fight. He turns down a title shot with David Diaz more than likely because he doesn't feel he should have to fight for the title when he's the "linear" champ. and as Jake pointed out now he's fighting a guy that David Diaz already beat. The guy is only getting older. He will most likely fight another stinkfest and win in his next bout. And the networks will tell him to go pound sand.

 

well now it's a little tougher for HBO to tell Casa to go fuck himself. He's with Golden Boy, and is fighting on the Cotto-Shane undercard. Then again, with Oscar taking JMM-Juarez across the street, maybe HBO is less forgiving the next time one of GPHM's fighters are less than entertaining - and chances are Joel will be the first to fit the bill

 

Hey Jake, didn't HBO tell Casa to go pound sand once before?

 

we need a young gatti in there...would be a war..but you need someone with a pair of balls and a big left hook..diaz will be KTFO

 

Well not exactly, but I think that's the right idea.

The reason I am a very luke-warm fan of Juan Diaz despite the things he clearly has going for him as an exciting, active fighter is precisely because I feel like his opposition has been just about right for him to win decisions without too much risk or difficulty.

What would make me a fan of Juan Diaz is to see him jump in against someone who can CRACK & who isn't going away all night long. Juan Diaz is not "easy" to hit, really, but he sure as hell isn't hard to hit either. What makes Juan so strong is that he always ends up making the fight HIS fight... his ultra-high output coupled with his moving forward and stamina has forced most of the limited opponents he's faced so far to simply bend to his style.

So what would happen if for once, just once, the fight didn't go his way... he was taken out of cruise control and had to adapt, think, survive, and really scratch and claw his way to a win? Well we will only know when he faces a puncher (and not a completely washed-up Freitas), because NOTHING can test a fighter like being hurt, stunned, dizzy, and fucking PANICKED because you wake up on the canvas wondering what day it is. Even a JCC or Mickey Ward style body attack could seriously derail Juan Diaz's ability to do what he does to win fights.

I mean, imagine Juan Diaz slowed down from a few knockdowns or liver shots... he could not move as well, could not be as active, and god knows he can't punch hard enough to keep a good opponent from steamrolling him. We all know what an Ali or a SRL or would do to survive and win such a fight.. hell we even know what a Gatti or a Cotto or a Diego Corrales (RIP) would do to win such a fight...what would/could Juan Diaz do?

This is what I want to see; this is what would win me over. I want to know if Juan Diaz has the goods to make his mark on boxing, and I'll never really find that out until he finally gets in there with someone wherein he CAN'T make the fight go his way, and wherein he can be HURT if he gets careless flurrying pitty-pats every time he charges in with no jab.

So I'll be watching. If Juan Diaz proves he has the mettle, the brains, the skill to win the kind of fights I'm describing here, the fights he will inevitably encounter as champ, he will be damn near impossible to beat.