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Bring on Pacman says Marquez
What Juan Manuel Marquez wants now is a third fight against Manny Pacquiao, the man who is rated the best boxer in the world.
Marquez retained his WBA and WBO lightweight titles when he beat American Rocky Juarez in Las Vegas on Saturday night and immediately demanded another fight against the Filipino superstar.
The Mexican drew with Pacquiao in 2004 and suffered a narrow defeat four years later but hopes to take revenge if they meet for a third time.
"The trilogy with Pacquiao is what I want," said Marquez. "Everybody wants to see it. It's good for all fight fans, for the Mexicans, the Filipinos. Everyone wants to see it. That's the most important fight for me now."
The fight with Diaz was a rematch of a February 2009 contest, in which Diaz set the pace early before Marquez took control and won by knockout in the eighth round.
There were no knockdowns this time, but Marquez hurt Diaz with sharp combinations. He landed more than Diaz in every one of the twelve rounds and in total scored with 288 punches; 133 more than his opponent.
Diaz had intended to set a more measured pace than in the previous encounter, but Marquez thwarted his plans. "I fought the best fight I could," he said.
"I think I fought a good fight. We were trading punches. I didn't want to stand in front of him. The game plan was to get in there, throw combinations, step around him and get out.
"But it was tough and I got hit with some good punches. He's a great fighter."
Diaz said before the fight he believed it was time for a new generation to step up and reign over lightweight boxing, but he was unable to step up.
His manager, Willie Savhannah, was equally confident. " The public is going to see a boxing machine," he said. "I'm telling you to go out and bet your house on Diaz."
Diaz, now 35-4 with 17 knockouts, felt the time had come for Marquez, 51-5 with one drawn and 37 knockouts, to be replaced.
He and his manager had it wrong. Marquez is still up there with the best and probably has a chance of giving Pacman Pacquiao a run for his money.
OTHER WEEKEND RESULTS
Hamburg, Germany: WBA super-middleweight champion Dimitri Sartison retained his belt when he beat Khoren Gevor on points: 115-112, 117-109 and 117-110.
Sartison's record improved to 27-1, with 17 knockouts. Gevor's dropped to 31-5; 16.
WBC interim middleweight champion Sebastian Zbik moved to 30-0; 10 when he beat Jorge Sebastian Heiland (16-1; 8) on points over ten rounds.
Pasig City, Philippines: Sylvester Lopez retained his WBC International super flyweight title with a second-round stoppage over Wandee Singwancha of Thailand.
York, Pennsylvania: Junior lightweight Carney Bowman (15-0, 7) knocked out Robert Acevedo (9-11-3; 1) in the third round.
Andres Taylor (16-1-1; 7) stopped Adam Harris (10-3; 7) in the second round of a cruiserweight fight.
Philadelphia: Derek Ennis moved to 22-2-1; 13 and retained his USBA junior middleweight title with an impressive majority decision over Gabriel Rosado (14-5; 8). The scores were 117-111, 116-112 and 114-114.
Miami, Oklahoma: Super-middleweight Francisco Sierra stopped Donovan George in the seventh round, improving to 22-3; 21. George fell to 20-1-1; 17.
Sierra knocked George down in the seventh round and dropped him again just after the bell. George was given five minutes to recover but was unable to continue.
Welterweight Ashley Theophane beat Delvin Rodriquez by majority decision: 95-95, 96-94, 96-94. Theophane's record improved to 27-4-1; 7 and IBF No 3 Rodriguez dropped to 25-5-2; 14.
Cancun, Mexico: Welterweight Danny Garcia impoved to 18-0; 12 when he stopped Jorge Romero (17-3; 15) in the ninth round to win the WBC interim youth title.
