Diaz Good, But Not PPV Good
Fifty dollars plus tax is too much money to charge for a televised boxing card featuring a non-competitive main event where one of the participants is a clubfighter who has no reasonable chance of winning.
I could almost make the argument that, as long as overcharging customers allows the fighters to get paid, it’s fair enough. But David Diaz is no PPV fighter. He got paid more than ever before (and I don’t begrudge him that) to surrender his lightweight belt to the PPV-worthy Manny Pacquiao.
The only pre-fight mystery about Pacquiao-Diaz was how well Manny would handle the move up to lightweight.
It turns out that, in most ways, he handled it brilliantly.
It was certainly a virtuosic performance. Manny Pacquiao showed that over time he as grown and developed as a fighter. He has two good hands now; his rights to both body and head (and he concentrated largely on the right) were both stunningly fast and unerringly accurate. His balance, once deeply problematic, is completely solid. He throws a vast arsenal of punches. He’s even capable, to a limited degree, of fighting effectively when moving backward.
Against gutsy but woefully outgunned David Diaz, Pacquiao delivered what may have been the single most polished performance of his career. He won every minute of every round and capped off the show in the ninth by putting Diaz down and out, flat on his face, with one perfectly timed straight left to the chin.
Pacquiao came out very fast, throwing great combinations. It was evident that he was hoping to end the fight early. In the first round, Diaz tried to muscle Manny (he was much the bigger of the two men) and he kept his defense very tight. The most striking thing was the disparity in speed between the fighters. Pacquiao seems to have brought his quickness up to lightweight.
The assault continued in the second, with Manny landing frequently. Diaz took the shots very well and again maintained an admirable defense. He actually hurt Pacquiao briefly. Manny masked it well, although he did start talking to Diaz during a clinch, which seemed like a tipoff.
The third round was more of the same.
Diaz sustained a badly cut right eye in the fourth, which was shown on video replay to be caused by a head butt. It was looked at briefly by the doctor, but the fight was allowed to continue. At one point, Pacquiao seemed to be looking at referee Vic Drakulich in an appeal to have him stop the fight.
By the fifth round, Diaz was covered in blood and Pacquiao had slowed down the pace, focusing on landing harder and more strategically placed punches. Diaz’s eye was looked at again in the sixth, but found to be in acceptable condition.
The seventh found David Diaz desperately coming forward while winging wild shots. It was his best round, but he didn’t win it. Pacquiao appeared to be gearing up for another assault.
This began in the eighth and by rights the fight could have been stopped at this point. Diaz had no quit in him, and had been handling punches well, but he was taking a sustained beating and clearly hadn’t the resources to mount a comeback. Drakulich visited the Diaz corner before the ninth round.
The final round began with Pacquiao loading up to end things. He was short with a right and came over with the straight left that landed flush. Diaz never knew what hit him. His face smashing to the canvas will make every boxing highlight reel you’re likely to see this year.
Pacquiao told Jim Lampley, “I trained for speed and power. I’m very comfortable at 135. Diaz is the toughest opponent that I had. He caught a lot of the punches.”
David Diaz spoke with terrific candor: “He was so fuckin’ fast. I thought Freddie (Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach) was in there fuckin’ hittin’ me. Shit, I can say I was in there with a good fighter. I thought he had a knife with him. He’s fuckin’ good. His speed was just the fuckin’ thing that sealed it for me. To go with a man like Manny Pacquiao-shee-it.”
I do wonder after all this whether Manny Pacquiao is really made to be a lightweight. He looked spectacular, but he was in against a light punching, slow-moving opponent who was really made for him. The kayo itself was very convincing, but Diaz had been hit hard for nine round previously and hadn’t budged. It’s at least worth considering the possibility that, although Pacquiao is a more complete fighter than he’s ever been, he may have left some of his jarring power behind. He also has to be aware that, against many of the bigger lightweights, he’d be at a strength disadvantage.
These small misgivings aside, the new WBC lightweight champion looked at the top of his game. He may well be the single most marketable fighter in the world at the present time.
In other fights, WBO featherweight champion Steven Luevano retained his title via a majority draw against Mario Santiago. The bout was fast paced and energetic, but neither guy is a championship caliber fighter. It would be dangerous to Luevano’s health to get anywhere near the division’s real champ, WBC titleholder Jorge Linares (who Jim Lampley was pitching very hard; let’s hope that HBO has big plans for boxing’s most talented prospect.)
There was one humanitarian act on the card. Monte Barrett rid us once and for all of a giant goof that Bob Arum tried to foist onto us, efficiently knocking out useless Tye Fields in fifty-three seconds. Two overhand rights, followed by a couple of left-right combinations took care of this community service. Thanks Monte, I owe you one.
In a confusing and ugly exhibition, Humberto Soto was robbed of a knockout win over tough nut Francisco Lorenzo when a glancing blow to the top of Lorenzo’s head following a knockdown (the second of the round) caused referee Joe Cortez to become uncharacteristically discombobulated. Instead of awarding Soto the win, Cortez wandered around in a daze, and eventually came to a decision by committee. Lorenzo, bleeding copiously and lying on the canvas, was given a fourth round disqualification win. Emmanuel Steward, doing color commentary, was near tears with frustration and anger. He had call to be: Soto was on his way to being the first man to kayo the crafty Lorenzo.
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