Juan Diaz: Bull or Bum?

This past Saturday, Juan “Baby Bull” Diaz unified the titles against the experienced Julio Diaz in a 12 round Lightweight bout. Julio Diaz seemed to not want to fight his fight, which would have been to box, use angles and rang to catch Juan coming in, but instead, he elected to fight Juan’s fight on the inside where Juan was able to set a pace that Julio would not be able to withstand for 12 full rounds. After round 8, the Julio corner waved the white flag and Juan was declared the winner by TKO, although the fight wasn’t that exciting, it still showed that Juan can impose his will and fighting style against a well schooled opponent. Now, can Juan continue his quest for greatness when men like Joel Casamayor, Manny Pacquiao, Michael Katsidis, and David Diaz stand in his way?

Since Manny Pacquiao has a desire to fight Edwin Valero, he will not be available any time soon for a fight with Juan Daiz, with that aside, I think Juan’s best challenge is a fight with Joel Casamayor, the cuban tough guy. Juan Diaz has a tremendous work rate, he throws and throws until he’s established a outstanding pace that wears his opponents down, he did it with previously undefeated Jose Cotto, Acelino Freitas and Julio Diaz. But can he do this against a man who posses excellent boxing skills with decent knock out power? I think so.

It is obvious that Diaz does not have that Knock Out power, but he has strong fast punches that come in bunches, and even the strongest men would have trouble standing up to his relentless pressure. Although Casamayor is a much more polished boxer with greater experience, I think Joel would have trouble getting in a strong enough punch to the chin of Juan in order to gain respect, because Juan won’t give him room, he’ll be in his (Joel’s) chest all night long. In order for Casamayor to become victorious, he must maintain a comfortable pace, and thats much easier said than done when you’re in the ring with a guy who comes forward and throws over 100 punches a round. Juan Diaz also has a sturdy chin, he took good shots from Jose Cotto and Acelino Frietas, both who are known for possessing good punching power, so don’t expect him drop like a fly against Casamayor. The only problem I see for Juan in a fight with Casamayor, are the dirty rough house tactics from the rugged Cuban, Casamayor is known to often result to illegal rough housing to get in edge in the fight when he feels threatened, this would not pose well for the young champ (Diaz) who is not as experienced in those type of situations, but nevertheless, I believe he’ll do well enough to come out victorious, as his aggression and punch volume would overwhelm the Cuban to score a 12 round decision.