HBO Boxing After Dark Malinaggi vs. Diaz II

HBO Boxing After Dark Preview

Malinaggi/Diaz and Ortiz/Diaz

By: Ray Flores
This weekend HBO’s Boxing After Dark presents their yearend event from the UIC Pavillion in Chicago Illinois. The main event features a junior welterweight rematch between Juan Diaz (35-2, 17KOs) and Paulie Malinaggi (26-3, 5KOs). The fight will take place at 139 pounds. Diaz won their first encounter down in his hometown of Houston, Texas by unanimous decision amidst some controversy. Many felt Malinaggi deserved to get the nod in the fight as he displayed terrific ring generalship keeping Diaz at bay with his jab and crafty uppercuts. As has been the case in both boxing and mma this past year, the judges felt otherwise which prompted Malinaggi to vent his frustrations unleashing a tirade in his post fight interview with Max Kellerman. Malinaggi had every right to be upset as he put on the performance of his career. He was able to tame the baby bull. Will it go the same way this time around? We’ll find out this Saturday night.

Let’s take a look at both fighters. Paulie Malinaggi is a boxing technician who at 29-years of age is no stranger to the big stage. He is a former IBF junior welterweight champion who has fought the likes of Miguel Cotto, Ricky Hatton, and defeated Herman Ngoudjo and Lovemore N’dou twice. Malinaggi is one of those fighters who puts on a boxing clinic during most of his fights. If you are someone who enjoys tactical brilliance in boxing, then Malinaggi is someone you should watch. He is a sensational technician who can take fighters out of their element and make them fight his fight. Paulie’s hand problems have been a topic of discussion as he has broken his left hand on numerous occasions. Ring Magazine named him the “2007 Comeback Fighter of the Year”.
Juan Diaz is the former unified WBA, WBO, and IBF world lightweight champion. He has defeated the likes of Lakva Sim, Acelino Freitas, Julio Diaz, and Michael Katisidis. He had a strong amateur background amassing a record of 105-5 and even qualified for the 2000 Mexican Olympic boxing team in Sydney. Due to his young age, Diaz was unable to compete in the Olympics.  His only two losses came by Nate Campbell by split decision and Juan Manuel Marquez by technical knockout.  Diaz is a fighter who is going to smother you with pressure often taking three to deliver one. He is a traditional Mexican fighter who will walk you down, throw an array of punches, and has the chin to take good shots.  Juan Diaz is nonstop pressure often bullying you around the ring making you fight in a phone booth. The nickname of “Baby Bull” serves him well.

The rematch of Diaz/Malinaggi is compelling and sure to be entertaining. Can Juan Diaz find a way to solve the boxing acumen of Paulie Malinaggi? Will “The Magic Man” be able to replicate his August performance against Diaz?  Will “the Baby Bull” be too much for Malinaggi? All of these questions and more will be answered this Saturday.
The first fight of the night is going to be a very interesting encounter as junior welterweight prospect “Vicious” Victor Ortiz (24-2-1 19KOs) returns from a sixth-round TKO to Marcos Maidana this past June to take on Antonio Diaz (46-5-1 29KOs). This fight is something to keep your eye on, because it’s going to be interesting to see how Ortiz responds after getting stopped. Victor Ortiz was being touted as the next big thing in boxing. He is an exciting fighter with a good physique who has an Oscar De La Hoya esque smile. All of those things put together mean instant star. This is the case if you are able to get the job done in the ring.

 Prior to taking on Maidana, Ortiz was rolling through everybody with exciting knockouts that left casual boxing observers talking at the water cooler come Monday morning. This past June Ortiz was in a firestorm with veteran Marcos Maidana.  He had Maidana rocked and even put him on the canvas. The tough and hard-nosed veteran from Argentina responded dishing out as much as he received. Ortiz unraveled under the pressure electing not to take anymore punishment in the sixth round. In the post fight interview with Max Kellerman, Ortiz almost admitted to quitting in the fight stating “I am too young to take this kind of punishment.” Those were shocking words to say the least.

Having not gotten into the ring, I must preface this by saying it takes a special kind of a person no matter what their record is to step inside a ring or cage. I admire those who do it and put everything on the line. With prize fighters, there is a different standard to uphold. Victor Ortiz who is promoted by Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions was being built up to be a future PPV headliner. The loss doesn’t squash that totally, but it does make us question his heart.

Ortiz at only 22-year of age has his whole life ahead of him. The fact is he quit in a fight he should have pulled out. Marcos Maidana was no doubt tough, but it was a test he should have overcome. The Maidana fight should have been what Ricardo Torres was to the career of Miguel Cotto. In that fight, Cotto was down and was being pushed to his limit. Cotto sensing the urgency dug deep and broke down Torres stopping him in the 7^th. For years, boxing observers always pointed to the Cotto/Torres fight as the fight that showed us early on what Miguel Cotto was really made of. Many of us were ready to do the same for Ortiz, but he fell a bit short. What will we see from Ortiz on Saturday night? Only time will tell if he is still the scintillating knockout artist who will captivate the attention of the American public?

The excitement in Chicago is pretty high for this fight as both Juan Diaz and Paulie Malinaggi participated in a variety of activities that are embedded into Chicago culture. Juan Diaz rang the bell at the Chicago Stock Exchange  and Paulie Malinaggi went to visit the Chicago Blackhawks. Both Diaz and Malinaggi spent Tuesday at the United Center taking part in pregame festivities with the Chicago Bulls. They have certainly gotten acclimated to the city of Chicago, and there is no doubt they are looking forward to renewing acquaintances this Saturday night on HBO beginning at 9pm.

By Ray Flores