Juan Manuel Marquez and Juan Diaz went to war once more in the follow up to their 2009 fight of year with Marquez once more coming out victorious. Though the bout did not end up in explosive knock out fashion like the first, it was an entertaining bout with Marquez getting the judges nod via unanimous decision (116-112,118-110,117-111). The first round picked up from the first as both fighters started with a fast pace. Marquez who has been known through out his career as a counter puncher was aggressive out the gate, working combination’s to the grill of Diaz. Those in attendance at the Mandalay Bay went crazy as for three rounds the two exchange rights, hooks and upper cuts all of which titled the slightest bit to Marquez.
The fight would completely change in Marquez’s favor and continued to up until the tenth round. Marquez came out in round four with an upper cut that had Diaz hurt. His legs wobbled but Diaz kept his composure, keeping his guard up and not allowing the Mexican legend to land anymore upper cuts. It seemed every time the baby bull attempted to rally up any sort of offense Marquez would come back, either by answering with more significant combination’s of his own or rallying at the end of rounds to the delight of those in attendance. Rounds came and went with the punch output of Diaz significantly diminishing. It had seemed that maybe a knock out loomed near as Marquez stepped up the pace in round nine.
Perhaps he wanted to end the fight in the same round as their first battle or felt and saw something those at press side did not. Marquez landed two good flurries that had Diaz reeling back and on survival mode. The knock out he so badly wanted, would never come.
Diaz would get his second wind surprisingly in the tenth round right after a Marquez straight right missed it’s target. For the first time in the fight Diaz was now in control, sensing it was do or die. He would push Marquez back for the rest of the tenth and continue to push the future hall of famer back. By the twelfth it was apparent that Diaz knew he had to get the knock out and came out guns blazing. A combination that ended with a hook hurt Marquez who immediately backed off as Diaz came forward. The final bell would ring as the two stood toe to toe, fists flying to the glee of a pro Marquez crowd.
Dmitry Pirog was nothing short of being all but counted out coming into his WBO middleweight title bout with Brooklyn, New York native and highly touted prospect Daniel Jacobs. It seems as of late there has been a curse flying around with young and highly pushed prospective fighters dropping bouts as of late. It happened to Victor Ortiz, and more recently to Amir Khan and now it seems the bug has bitten Daniel Jacobs.
At the 57th second of round number five, Jacobs found himself on the canvas and looking at the lights, certainly wondering what had went wrong. He had just been the victim of a vicious over hand right knock out by way of Temryuk, Russia. Set up by two probing jabs, the Russian native was actually in a competitive bout up to that point. The first two rounds had gone to Pirog, with Jacobs seemingly being walked down and backed into the ropes by the pressing European. Jacobs looked sluggish and showed no signs of movement. Round three came and magically Jacobs put on his dancing shoes, finally moving around, creating angles and now becoming the aggressor of the bout.
Jacobs would win both rounds three and four as momentum was clearly shifting in his favor. Perhaps Jacobs got a bit comfortable or perhaps careless, seeing the tide was now in his favor. All the hard work that went into this fight went down the tube, as Jacobs was surprisingly knocked out.
In a ten round affair, Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero withstood a last round scare to soundly beat a 37 year old Joel Casamayor via unanimous decision. The official scores were 98-89, 98-89, 97-90. Casamayor was in trouble early in the fight, being knocked down in the first and second and then being deducted a point for apparently holding. Guerrero capitalized on the Casamayor set backs and continued to put pressure on the Cuban national. Having no problems with his opponents south paw style, Guerrero utilized his jabs to push Casamayor back consistently and had him moving back and away for the majority of the fight. Casamayor threw a total of 341 punches, compared to 516 that came from Guerrero. Perhaps age is catching up to Casamayor, but the old dog still has a nasty bark. In the early part of round 12, behind on points and being walked down by his opponent, Casamayor pushed forward and landed a left hook that knocked down Guerrero.
Guerrero was a little shaken and Casamayor tried the best he could to potentially finish the fight though he could not muster enough offense to get the come from behind victory.
In other bouts:
Jorge Linares def Rock Juarez via UD (99-90, 99-90, 97-92)
Jean Paul Mendy def Sakio Bika via DQ due to shot on downed opponent
Frankie Gomez def Ronald Peterson via KO in R1(2:14)
Seth Mitchell def Derek Bryant via KO in R1 (1:45)
George Groves def Alfredo Contreras in R6 via TKO (:48)
Juan Manuel Montiel def Mike Peralta via UD (58-55, 58-55, 60-53)
