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August 2, 2010

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Marquez gunning for Pacquiao bout

Source: Agencies | August 2, 2010, Monday | Print Edition

JUAN Manuel Marquez retained his WBA and WBO lightweight titles with a unanimous decision victory over American Juan Diaz on Saturday before demanding a third fight with Manny Pacquiao.

The Mexican drew with the Filipino in 2004 and suffered a narrow defeat four years later but will hope to come away with a victory if they meet for a third time.

"The trilogy with Pacquiao is what I want," said Marquez, 51-5-1, (37 KOs). "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 scored a knockout in the eighth round.

There were no knockdowns this time, but on several occasions Marquez appeared to 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, 35-4 (17 KOs) said he had intended to set a more measured pace than in the previous encounter, but that Marquez had 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."

Elsewhere, unheralded Russian middleweight Dmitry Pirog stopped Daniel Jacobs with a crushing overhand right in the fifth round to win the vacant WBO title on Saturday.

Former featherweight champion Robert Guerrero dominated Joel Casamayor in a lopsided unanimous decision to win his debut at 140 pounds, and Jorge Linares also earned a comfortable unanimous decision over Rocky Juarez at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.

The lively crowd witnessed a landmark win for the 30-year-old Pirog (17-0, 14 KOs), a star amateur in Russia before a solid pro career. Pirog fights with a distinctly Western style, and his Las Vegas debut fulfilled his lifelong goal to fight in boxing's capital city.

The Russian was a smash hit in Sin City: after four lively rounds, he stopped the favored Jacobs with one punch in the fifth, putting the previously unbeaten Brooklyn prospect flat on his back.

Pirog briefly stood over Jacobs with his arms raised before celebrating his first world title.

"I'm very happy and thankful I'm taking this belt back to my fans in Russia," Pirog said.

"Danny punched very quickly and sharply, but I didn't feel much from him. I hurt him in the second round, and I knew I could come back and do it again."

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