Sunday, June 22, 2008

Diaz - Pacquiao Prediction


By JE Grant

Saturday in Las Vegas boxing megastar Manny Pacquiao attempts to gain a belt in a fourth weight division when he meets David Diaz at lightweight. 

Pacquiao’s most recent outing, a tough split decision over Juan Manuel Marquez. The bout gained revenge for a previous draw but did little to indicate Manny’s prospective success at lightweight.

When Pacquiao, 29, gained his first belt, in 1999 against Chatchai Sasakul, he weighed-in at a sharp and ready 112 pounds.  In his 51 bout career “Pac Man,” 46-3-2 (35 KOs), has in fact never exceeded the junior lightweight limit of 130 pounds and as recently as 2005 had not weighed-in above the featherweight limit of 126 pounds.

No one can question why he wants to climb yet another mountain. His victories over Marquez, Marco Antonio Barrera (twice), Erik Morales (twice), Oscar Larios, represents a virtual sweep of every south of 135. 

Yet in his recent victories over Barrera and Marquez went limit, perhaps suggesting his punching power may have peaked at the lower weight classes.

His bona fides as a fighter are not in question. His ability to handle a career-long lightweight may prove another matter.

In Diaz, 34-1 (17 KOs), he faces a fighter who has never fought below the lightweight limit. His only loss, a stoppage at the hands of junior welterweight Kendall Holt, has been followed by a 9-fight unbeaten streak. A fellow southpaw, Diaz, 32, is not an especially hard hitter (perhaps the reason Pacquiao is targeting him). He is a well-rounded tactician with a proven ability to fight well late into a fight.

Diaz’ record isn’t populated by names as recognizable as the stars on Pacquiao’s, and his 12-round decision win over Morales came on the heels of a Morales’ 3-fight losing streak.  After the bout Morales retired.

PREDICTION

Undoubtedly Pacquiao’s trainer Freddy Roach is fully aware of the pitfalls that may haunt his fighter. Pacquiao will start fast and seek to outwork Diaz from angles. Despite their careers being at different weight classes, both are about the same height (about 5’6”) and have similar reach. Diaz will press the attack and will try to establish that he is the physically stronger fighter. Manny is sometimes given to reckless attacks but is often able to avoid trouble because of his overwhelming speed and high-volume attack. In this bout Pacquiao will jump in often and Diaz will be there with an answer more often than not. Diaz will learn early that he can take whatever Pac Man brings and he will stay close to take advantage of Manny’s mistakes. It won’t be easy, but Diaz will counter-punch his way to a lop-sided decision win.

Diaz by 12-round decision.

---

Editor's Post-Fight Note: Couldn't have been more wrong on this one. Pacquiao dominated throughout and destroyed a very solid fighter in David Diaz. I'm note sure I've seen Pacquiao as sharp --- at any weight.

10 Comments:

Blogger The Eclectic Geek said...

This is a pretty gutsy call, I don't know if most people would go so far as to predict a lopsided win for Diaz. I think that, even if the fight is lopsided, the decision will be close and possibly controversial. I do think that Diaz will rough Pacquiao up more than Manny expects and that Pac-Man won't stay at lightweight long, but I think Manny will gut out either a legitimate or controversial split decision win in a classic fight.

2:26 PM  
Blogger JE Boxing said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

6:35 PM  
Blogger JE Boxing said...

Manny is kind of an all-or-nothing fighter. I think when Diaz proves to have an answer for Manny's rushes, and is largely unaffected by Manny's punching power at 135, it will become one-sided.

6:35 PM  
Blogger The Eclectic Geek said...

I can see that, but if Manny does (or appears to do) well enough in the first half of the fight he may end up with the kind of decision he won in his rematch with Juan Manuel Marquez. Likewise, Diaz may not be able to deal with Pacquiao's quicker hands and feet.

9:43 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

its a good fight for pacman

8:40 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

(...Did my post accidentlly get deleted, or did I perhaps accidently delete it myself??? Huh...??? )

Well, anyhow...I basically wrote that while I thought Pac would win, I didn't think it was going to be easy, and it wouldn't 'shock me' had he lost.

I was STUNNED that Pac won THAT easily.

Was Diaz any kind of a 'world-beater'? NO. Was he in some ways (perhaps many ways) 'made to order' for him? YES.

But Pac took a very decent and repectable (and full-fledged lightweight) and just...made-him-look-BAD.

I mean = BAD.

It was the most impressive performance by him I have EVER seen; his balance, footwork, and offensive arsenal was better than I have ever seen it.

* JE - You don't blow them very often, but when you do?

...You 'blow them' pretty damn good my friend! LOL!

This one kind of reminds me a little bit of Calzaghe-Lacy! ( But in your defense...Most - including myself - had no idea those two fights were going to be that one-sided! )

Bizzy

3:31 AM  
Blogger JE Boxing said...

Bizzy -- good to see you on the site again.....

7:24 PM  
Blogger The MINGOL said...

How about a Pacquiao vs ???? prediction? Will he go up to 140 and fight Hatton?


I will add your blog to http://totalknockdown.blogspot.com ok? Thanks.

4:46 AM  
Blogger thanida said...

I came across your site. This is a great article, with many great points.
vegus168

9:37 PM  
Blogger dokdok said...

• กำจัดขน
• กระตุ้นการผลิตคอลลาเจนชูกระชับผิวหน้า (Tightening) หายไปริ้วรอยช่วยทำให้ผิวเรียบเนียน
• รอยหลุมสิวตื้นขึ้นรวมทั้งรูขุมขนกระชับขึ้นผิวหน้าละเอียดและก็เรียบเนียน
• รักษาสิวอักเสบรอยแดงจากสิวหรือเส้นเลือดฝอยที่ไม่ปกติ
• ลดความหมองคล้ำผิวกระจ่างขาวใสมองดูอ่อนกว่าวัย
• กำจัดเส้นโลหิตขอดรวมทั้งเส้นเลือดฝอย
• รักษาเส้นโลหิตขอดเล็กๆได้โดยไม่ต้องเสียเวล่ำเวลาผ่าตัด ไม่ต้องนอนพัก แต่ว่าบางทีอาจจะต้องทำต่อเนื่องกันหลายคราก็เลยจะได้ผลลัพธ์ที่ดี

เลเซอร์ขนขา
เลเซอร์รักแร้
เลเซอร์บิกินี
เลเซอร์ กำจัดขนหน้า
เลเซอร์ กำจัดขน รักแร้

12:48 AM  

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