Q & A with Dmitry Pirog

By Anson Wainwright

When Dmitry Pirog fought in Las Vegas, Nevada it marked his American debut on the Marquez-Diaz 2 card. It wasn’t supposed to be a good night for the 30 year old Russian. It was supposed to mark the coronation of one of the top young fighters in the game. However someone forgot to tell Dmitry Pirog 17-0(14), he went with a completely different script. Right from the first bell Pirog put Jacobs on the back foot and made the New Yorker mightily uncomfortable until nearly a minute into the fifth when Pirog landed a debilitating right hook that rendered the favoured American unconscious. A star was born it just wasn’t the one many thought it would be going in. With the win Pirog firmly established himself as a player in the Middleweight division. As you’d expect of a man who’s risen from nothing to the forefront of World Boxing he’s not sitting on his laurels, he wants the other top men who campaign at 160 including Kelly Pavlik and not in a few defence’s time he wants them now.

Hello Dmitry, welcome to 15rounds.com

Anson Wainwright – Firstly congratulations on your outstanding win over Daniel Jacobs in Las Vegas where you won the Vacant WBO Middleweight crown. What can you tell us about that fight from your point of view?

Dmitry Pirog – Thanks for your congratulations! As for me it was a rather interesting fight, I hope all box-loving people do like this fight. I was glad to knock out Jacobs, because, if this fight would last for 12 rounds, I wouldn’t gain the victory.

Anson Wainwright – Can you tell us how you fell now having won the World Title?

Dmitry Pirog – I’m not interesting in gaining all the titles (but it’s great and nice), my main target was to show a spectacular and entertaining fight. I hope I succeed. And now I feel, it was another step for my future results.

Anson Wainwright – I believe you are now back in Russia, what sort of reception did you get when you returned home?

Dmitry Pirog – Yes, I’m now in Gelendzhik. I was meet with great cordiality – my friends celebrates me. There were many invitations to TV and newspapers for interviews. I’m glad to make boxing more popularized in Russia.

Anson Wainwright – This win really puts you in line for further big fights. Though it is early days have you spoken to your team about what maybe next for you? Who would you like to fight if it was possible?

Dmitry Pirog – It’s not a secret anymore, that my promoters do negotiations with Sergio Martinez, Kelly Pavlik. They are also interested in this. This will be very spectacular fight, because Kelly Pavlik and I have different styles of boxing.

Anson Wainwright – Can you tell us about your team who your manager, trainer & promoter are? Also where do you train?

Dmitry Pirog – OK, here is my team: trainers: Vyacheslav Nepogodin and Victor Petrochenko – they are professional! promoters: Kirill Pchelnikov (Russia) and Art Pelullo (USA). I train in Gelendzhik and Samara – it’s comfortable for me, these are my favourite towns. In Gelendzhik I train in gym, named after me (Gym of Dmitry Pirog)

Anson Wainwright – You turned pro in July 2005 and you were already 25 years old how come your turned pro then and not a few years earlier?

Dmitry Pirog – At that time I was not sure, I would be a professional boxer. At that time it was only hobby. When I became a pro, first 9 fights I had taken without trainer. I trained myself. And only after that, I realized, that boxing come to first plan for me. And only after that I hire trainers.

Anson Wainwright – The Victory over Jacobs was the one that really got you attention, would you say that was the best performance of you career so far?

Dmitry Pirog – It was a really good performance. But Jacobs wasn’t the hardest rival in my career. I hope, the most interesting fights are ahead.

Anson Wainwright – Can you tell us about your amateur career? What titles did you win, what your final record was & did you face any current pros if so what were the results?

Dmitry Pirog – Before Olympic Games-2004 I win the last amateur competition in Venezuela. And my final fight was again a Colombian (I don’t remember his name), who became a pro later (and he was rather successful). After I got know about it, I start thinking over to become pro. I don’t trace any other my previous opponents in their professional career.

Anson Wainwright – Can you tell us about your early years in Russia and how you got into Boxing?

Dmitry Pirog – I start training at the age of 8 in Temryuk (Russia, Krasnodar region).My trainer was Victor Serdyukov. He formed my style. At age of 17 I moved to Krasnodar and continue training there. And my trainer was Artem Lavrov. At the age of 24 I finished my amateur career and tried to start my town business in Gelendzhik. At 25 I realized, that do like Boxing more, than I thought. After that I carried out my first professional fight not for money, but for my own enjoy. And I liked IT!

Anson Wainwright – Away from Boxing what do you like to do?

Dmitry Pirog – I like to make money! And spend them moving boxing forward! This helps to take kids from streets to gym. I started to build a gym for poor children in Gelendzhik. This prevents them from crime.

Anson Wainwright – Who was your hero growing up?

Dmitry Pirog – There were no idols for me, but I really do liked Sugar Ray Leonard. You may say, he was my hero.

Anson Wainwright – Finally do you have a message for the Middleweight division?

Dmitry Pirog – I’m ready to have a good and honest fight with any leader in this division. I’m sure, those fights would be entertaining for any show. I hope, the fight with Kelly Pavlik will be held very soon. I’m 200% sure, this would be an eye-candy fight!

Thanks for your time Dmitry, keep up the good work.

Anson Wainwright
15rounds.com

Marquez, combinations and contempt

By Bart Barry

LAS VEGAS – Juan Manuel Marquez might not be the man in this world you least wish to see in a dark alley.  For at 135 pounds, he is slighter of frame than an average Homo sapiens.  But if you’ve ever seen him pause in the frenzy of combat to study another man’s weakness, Marquez is the last man you’d ever want to see in a dark alley if you were hurt.

“Predatory” is the word that comes quickest to mind.  It sure came to mind Saturday night.  And chances are good, it came to mind every day of Juan Diaz’s last training camp, too.

That was the time of solitude, rigor and starvation Diaz put himself through before his rematch with Marquez at Mandalay Bay’s Events Center on Saturday before a goodish crowd of 8,383, a rematch Marquez won convincingly: 116-112, 118-110 and 117-111.  “The Rematch” to determine the lineal lightweight world champion was not good as its predecessor, but that didn’t make it bad.

I, too, scored it 118-110 for Marquez.  I gave Diaz rounds 2 and 3.  Did he perhaps deserve the 11th or 12th?  Sure.  But by then, it was easy to be mesmerized by Marquez.

Here’s what was clearest: Diaz was not to allow the weight of his upper body to fall over his front knee.  Naturally aggressive, if not heavy fisted, Diaz has long shown the habit every volume puncher must overcome; he lets too much of his upper body bend too far forward.  Against some fighters, it does not matter so long as Diaz keeps whacking them.  Against a fighter of Marquez’s caliber, though, it will always matter.

There was not an instant Saturday, in 36 minutes of those two men trying to hurt one another, that Marquez did not look for Diaz’s weight to tilt forward.  Capable of throwing an uppercut with either hand from any position, Marquez wanted one more chance to catch Diaz with his head down and his arms wide and cocked – exactly as he had in 2009’s Fight of the Year.

Diaz did not take his weight too far forward too often all night.  And so, Marquez took him directly out of the match.

The Diaz strategy went like this: I’m going to stay on my back foot, be careful this time, and hope that at 36 years-old Marquez is not prepared to go 12 rounds with a 26 year-old like me.  It was a good plan for remaining upright.  But there was no chance Diaz was going to outbox Marquez and no chance he was going to wear him down, either.

If anything, Marquez was the aggressor in “The Rematch,” and that made you sympathize with Diaz.  When the man across from you is a better puncher with better balance and better combinations from which to choose, you’d be crazy to rush him and crazy to think you can win if you don’t.

Which brings us to Marquez’s studying regimen, perhaps his most frightful trait.  After every exchange – that won’t end till he’s punched you one more time – Marquez bulges his eyes and examines you, looking for any hint of breakage.  Woe is you if he finds it.

Sort of makes you long for an in-game camera like they have in team sports, doesn’t it?  Would that we could connect sensors to Marquez’s eyes in a prizefight.  The images from those cameras might reveal that Marquez looks in the exact right spot at every moment; those images would make a marvelous tutorial for aspiring prizefighters.

Then we’d just have to teach them how to throw an uppercut-cross-uppercut combination, switch the order of their hands, and throw the same combination again.  See, there are things you don’t do in a championship prizefight if you want to remain conscious, and one of those is lead with an uppercut of any kind.  Yet Marquez does it all the time.

He bets on his balance and your inexperience.  He knows he’ll be in position even if that lead uppercut misses.  And he knows no sparring partner has thrown uppercut-cross-uppercut at you in camp.  There’s only one way to solve that sort of arsenal, and Floyd Mayweather showed it to us 15 months ago: Come to your fight 15 pounds bigger than Marquez, and keep your distance.

Diaz was no larger than Marquez and had no choice but to close distance, Saturday.  And they don’t call him “Baby Bull” for nothing.  In the championship rounds, when a decision victory was entirely out of reach, Diaz took chances.  He engaged Marquez much as his well-being could abide.

How gorgeous was that final round?  The Mexican template for bringing fans to their feet in the closing three minutes: You touch gloves, express mutual admiration, and then fight with utter contempt for the man across from you.  Such spite is one more detail that marks the great ones.  Look at the last 10 seconds.  Marquez kept punching till the referee was collecting blows more than Diaz, and then he turned away from Diaz’s embrace.  The blood was still too hot for hugging: Give me a few minutes, kid, and I’ll come visit; right now I still hate you too much for that.

Ah, contempt.  It brings us to the opponent who consumes Juan Manuel Marquez’s legacy, the Filipino whale to Marquez’s Ahab, the man Marquez would likely fight to the death if those were the terms for a rubber match: Manny Pacquiao.

“I am ready right now for Pacquiao,” Marquez said in this post-fight press conference, as he said after his last fight with Diaz.  “The priority is Pacquiao, more.”

That last word – more – made no more sense in Spanish than it does in English.  It was an emphasis imprecise as it was meaningful.

If you were Pacquiao, though, would you give Marquez one more chance to find your weaknesses?  Me either.

Bart Barry can be reached at bbarry@15rounds.com

MARQUEZ VS. DIAZ II POST-FIGHT QUOTES

JUAN MANUEL MARQUEZ

“I am willing to fight anybody. I am proud of my performance. Juan Diaz is a tremendous fighter. He came with a different game plan. Whatever is in store for me next, I will train hard and come to fight.

“In the first fight, Juan Diaz came forward. He pressed the fight. He was aggressive. Diaz was thinking more this time. He boxed more. The fight was a bit more technical, and I am happy with my performance.

“One of the [next] challenges is to move up to 140 and become the first Mexican fighter in boxing history to win four titles in four divisions.

“Age doesn’t matter, when you prepare yourself the way I do, age doesn’t matter.”

JUAN DIAZ

“It really touched my heart that so many people care about me as a person and boxer.

“Tonight was not my night. Juan Manuel Marquez is a great fighter. He is a future Hall of Famer and it was an honor to be in the ring with him again.

“I had a plan to beat him, and he came well prepared.

“I’m smart enough to know that you win some you lose some. Now I am going to go home and take a long break. I trained for 11 weeks and I gave it my all. I thought I was going to come in here and win, but oh well…that’s life.

“I’m not sure what’s next, I have to look at my options. I know for sure I have to take the dang LSAT on October 7. That is a given. As far as boxing, I have to sit with my family and Willie [Savannah] who is like my father and consider my options.”

ROBERT GUERRERO

“This was my first fight at 140 pounds. I am planning on going back to 135.

“You never want to attack a crafty guy when he is hurt. You have seen previous fights with Casamayor when he has knocked guys out when he was hurt.

“I did what I had to do to win the fight. Hopefully at 135, I can get a fight with Marquez and get myself in line to win the world championship.”

DMITRY PIROG

“I want to thank Oscar de la Hoya and Golden Boy Promotions for the opportunity. We enjoyed it. We have been here for a week and it has been great.

“I enjoyed the fight with Daniel Jacobs. I want to say thank you to Danny for coming and fighting with me. He really did come at me which made it a great fight. I hope everyone enjoyed the fight and I look forward to more great things.

“I want to give more fights to the fans because I enjoy a fight when the fans enjoy it, and I hope I can keep doing it more.”

JORGE LINARES

“I gave a great performance. Rocky is a great fighter. I will be back better than ever, stronger than ever. I wait to come back to Las Vegas and fight again.”

ROCKY JUAREZ

“Tonight was a big opportunity for me to put myself back in line for another world title and I blew it. I didn’t fight the fight that I trained for. Linares fought a great fight, a smart fight.

“I was never out of the fight. I kept trying and I wish I had won this fight. I will continue my career until I win a world title. I know this fight takes me back a couple steps. I am a fighter who never quits and always trains hard. I need to get myself back in there and get back in line for another world title.”

OSCAR DE LA HOYA

“We had a great night of boxing. “We saw some future world champions and we obviously saw a great legend in Juan Manuel Marquez. Juan Diaz came to fight. He came with a different strategy. Diaz has so much heart and can go in there with the best.

“This card was a great card. We feel very proud of the card. We are going to continue to make great fights happen.”

RICHARD SCHAEFER

“I think we need to consider everyone on this card a winner.

“Danny Jacobs is 23 years young and still has a lot to learn.

“The biggest winners here are Robert Guerrero and his wife Casey for being here and Casey being healthy.

“Juan Diaz will always be a winner because he puts in his heart and soul in everything he does and we will always be proud of him.”

Marquez-Diaz deliver some reality and a crowd instead of talk, just talk

By Norm Frauenheim

LAS VEGAS – In the beginning, the arena looked like a vacant warehouse. The Mandalay Bay Events Center felt empty. It didn’t stay that way.

A crowd began to gather, maybe to escape the recession, or the desert heat, or the Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao talks. There’s a lot to run from these days. But a good main event isn’t among them. Juan Manuel Marquez’ unanimous decision over Juan Diaz Saturday night wasn’t one of the best, not even as a rematch.

But it was an attraction in a year without many. Or any. It also was a good example of a fan base hungry for a real fight instead of just talk about one that has yet to happen and perhaps never will.

“If I never hear another word about whether Pacquiao will fight Mayweather, that’s fine with me,’’ said Rudy Perez, a Los Angeles fan who was one of 8,383 who began to fill the Mandalay Bay arena not long before opening bell for the rematch of Marquez’ stoppage of Diaz in the 2009 Fight of the Year. “I just wanted to see a couple of good fighters, good guys, really fight. I’m so sick of all that bull.’’

After his one-sided victory over Diaz, Marquez couldn’t resist talking about Pacquiao. He still wants a third shot at the Filipino Congressman, who has quit talking about Mayweather and apparently has an agreement to fight Antonio Margarito on Nov. 13.

“Everybody wants that trilogy,’’ said Marquez, who lobbied to keep himself in line for rich shot at Pacquiao if a licensing problem in the United States or some other issue knocks Margarito out of the November date. “It’s the one fight I want.’’

Perez is skeptical that Marquez will ever get that opportunity. So, too, is Golden Boy Promotions, the Oscar De La Hoya company that promotes the Mexican lightweight champion. In two fights, Marquez has been more of threat to Pacquiao than anybody since Erik Morales beat the Filipino in their first bout.

“Pacquiao should fight him,’’ Perez said. “But he won’t. No way that happens.’’

The good news is that Marquez probably will fight somebody as soon as he can. He’ll be there in the ring when there is only talk, rumors and denials on message boards.

Mastery never gets old, part two: Marquez decisions Diaz

By Bart Barry (ringside)

LAS VEGAS – It was entertaining as a one-sided fight could be, but finally, “The Rematch” was a one-sided fight. Blame it on Marquez’s class – the ageless type.

Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, in a rematch of 2009’s Fight of the Year, Mexico City’s Juan Manuel Marquez (51-5-1, 37 KOs) and Houston’s Juan Diaz (35-4, 17 KOs) squared up to determine the lineal lightweight champion of the world. Twelve rounds later, it was the same guy as it was when the night began, with Marquez winning by unanimous decision scores of 116-112, 118-110 and 117-111.

The 15rounds.com scorecard concurred, scoring it 118-110 for Marquez.

Diaz’s strategy, to box and keep his weight from falling over his front foot, was a sound one for survival. But starting in round 1, and with only a brief exception in rounds 2 and 3, it was not a strategy that would ever bring him victory.

For his part, Marquez was the same master craftsman he has always been, riddling Diaz with left uppercut-right cross-left uppercut combinations whenever the younger man’s enthusiasm brought him within range. The rest of the time, Diaz was safe, but he wasn’t in the fight.

Afterwards, Diaz hinted at the possibility of his retirement, saying he still wasn’t sure about his future and thanking his hometown of Houston for its undying support.

Marquez, meanwhile, addressed the possibility of a rubber match with pound-for-pound champion Manny Pacquiao, after his victory.

“I think the third fight with Pacquiao is the one the aficionados want,” Marquez said. “And it’s the best thing for the fans.”

Class tells: Pirog ruins Jacobs
Golden Boy Promotions’ eye for talent has been questioned often since its inception. What Russian Dmitry Pirog did to Golden Boy prospect Daniel “Golden Child” Jacobs in the co-main event of “The Rematch” will make such questions all the more prevalent.

Pirog (17-0, 14 KOs) outclassed Jacobs (20-1, 17 KOs) in each round, using fundamental boxing to solve the speedy Brooklynite, before catching him flush with a perfect right cross, knocking Jacobs out cold at 0:57 of the fifth round to become the WBO middleweight champion of the world.

After a fairly even opening stanza, round 2 began with Pirog marching forward behind a right cross and extremely efficient footwork, entirely neutralizing Jacobs’ reflexes. Then Jacobs wisely began the third on his bicycle, circling away from Pirog, fighting part of the round as a southpaw and regaining his composure. Round four, too, passed in a somewhat even fashion.

Pirog came out in the fifth, however, backed Jacobs to the ropes and waited for him to start a tentative punch. At that moment, Pirog stepped fully into a right cross that landed on Jacobs’ chin and dropped him to the blue mat in a pile. Referee Robert Byrd wisely forwent his 10-count, waving an immediate conclusion to the fight.

Guerrero brushes away “Cepillo”

Boxing may never know Joel Casamayor’s true age, but Saturday it learned how old he now is: Too old.

In a junior welterweight scrap some in Mandalay Bay’s Events Center hoped would be competitive, California’s Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero (27-1-1, 18 KOs) easily decisioned Cuban Joel “El Cepillo” Casamayor (37-5-1, 22 KOs) by lopsided unanimous scores of 98-89, 98-89 and 97-90.

Down in each of the match’s first two rounds and penalized a point for holding, the previously resilient Casamayor looked old and spent, Saturday, as Guerrero hurt him with every landed left hand. In round 2, a Guerrero left cross even stunned Casamayor to the point of dropping both gloves and looking around in disbelief before rallying to wrap his arms round Guerrero’s trunks.

Never a strict adherent to the Queensbury rules, Casamayor looked particularly sad in his opening six minutes against Guerrero, when he was reduced to fouling to survive rather than win.

After such a shaky start, though, Casamayor, whose chin has never been doubted, found enough of his stride to give Guerrero quality rounds. Still, a Guerrero left hand or two seemed to buckle Casamayor’s old knees in almost every round.

But as the fight progressed, and Casamayor threw more punches, Guerrero began to holster his left hand, gradually sapping the match of its emotion. By the ninth round, a few vocal fans began to boo the action in the ring while the large majority of the Events Center crowd expressed its displeasure with abject silence.

The final stanza, though, saw Guerrero over-commit to a left hand and impale himself on Casamayor’s outstretched right glove. But the suspense passed quickly when Guerrero rose and boxed to a comfortable victory.

Linares plays bus driver, takes Juarez to school

Venezuelan Jorge Linares literally towered over Houston’s Rocky Juarez at Friday’s weigh-in. Saturday night, Linares towered over him figuratively too.

In the first fight of “The Rematch’s” pay-per-view telecast, Linares (29-1, 18 KOs) easily decisioned Juarez (28-7-1, 20 KOs) over 10 one-sided rounds to win the WBA’s vacant lightweight title by unanimous scores of 99-90, 97-92 and 99-90.

The fight began as Juarez fights always do, with Juarez doggedly chasing his opponent, eating punches and unable to let his own hands go. Linares, who would look nimble in the ring with anyone, looked positively balletic across from the heavy-footed Juarez. Snapping jabs and dancing away, Linares gave Juarez a boxing lesson in the fight’s first four rounds.

Towards the end of round 5, Linares landed one of many left uppercuts, and this one caused Juarez to stumble backwards and drop to the blue mat, a place one rarely finds him. Unable to hurt Linares and now worried that Linares might hurt him, Juarez, who’s hesitant even when he’s winning, began trading two Linares uppercuts for his every landed jab – a formula destined to fail.

What few vocal fans there were gave a number of halfhearted “Rocky, Rocky” chants as the fight progressed, and Juarez’s eyes continued to close, but the arena was otherwise silent enough for the bell to cause echoes at the end of each round.

The final round saw most of the fight’s sustained action, but those three minutes did not feature nearly enough pressure from Juarez to undo the 27 minutes that preceded them. The problem for Juarez, finally, is not just that he is now 0-6 in world title fights. It’s that he’s losing by larger margins in his every subsequent challenge.

Undercard

It was a case of dog attacks man in “The Rematch’s” final off-television match, as undefeated junior welterweight Los Angeleno Frankie “The Pit Bull” Gomez (5-0, 5 KOs) went through Minnesota’s Ronald Peterson (2-3, 2 KOs) without a modicum of resistance. A Gomez left hook to Peterson’s liver ended the match at 2:14 of round 1, when Peterson chose not to continue.

The fourth match on the untelevised undercard might well have been its best, as unheralded Mexican lightweight Juan Manuel Montiel (6-3-1, 1 KO) swapped blows and taunts with Nevadan Mike Peralta (4-6, 1 KO) in a well-matched six-round bout, which Montiel won by unanimous scores of 58-55, 60-53 and 58-55.

Despite spitting blood for half the fight and appearing fatigued throughout, Peralta nevertheless entertained the local crowd with his heart and will. Finally, though, Montiel had too much class, and the judges did not see the fight competitive as fans did.

The night’s third bout came to a rapid and ugly end when Australian Sakio Bika (28-4-2, 19 KOs) fouled undefeated and unarmed Frenchman Jean Paul Mendy (29-0-1, 16 KOs) at 1:19 of the first round of their IBF super middleweight eliminator, losing by disqualification and bringing some well-deserved hostility from the desert crowd.

In a maneuver disappointingly reminiscent of a different super middleweight – Arthur Abraham and his right hand to a kneeling Andre Dirrell in March – Bika knocked Mendy to the canvas and then stepped forward and fired a point-blank right uppercut at the defenseless Frenchman. Mendy, who had almost no power to speak of while upright, tilted forward and landed on his own forehead. Referee Joe Cortez called an immediate end to the match.

Mendy was later able to walk from ringside unassisted.

At Friday’s weigh-in, ESPN commentator (and cruiserweight contender) BJ Flores said the man to watch on Saturday’s undercard was a Brit by the name of George Groves. Flores was right. Accompanied to ringside by heavyweight titlist David Haye and favoring a left hook-right cross combination, Groves (10-0, 8 KOs) chopped away at Mexican Afredo Contreras (11-8-1, 5 KOs) until a somewhat early intervention by referee Russell Mora halted the match at 0:48 of the sixth round.

While Contreras did not appear to be in any trouble, and never went down, Groves, for his part, appeared to be committing fully to each of the right crosses with which he tagged Contreras with increasing frequency.

Before that, “The Rematch” got off to a quick and violent start Saturday afternoon as Maryland heavyweight Seth “Mayhem” Mitchell (18-0-1, 12 KOs) went directly through overmatched Philadelphian Derek Bryant (20-6-1, 17 KOs), stopping him at 1:45 of the first round.

After firing a succession of left hooks to Bryant’s body, Mitchell went upstairs with lefts and rights to the head and continued his assault till referee Kenny Bayless had seen enough.

The opening bell rang on a sparse Events Center crowd at 2:40 PM local time

FOLLOW MARQUEZ – DIAZ 2 LIVE!!

Follow all the action LIVE from the Mandalay Bay as Juan Manuel Marquez defends the World Lightweight championship against Juan Diaz in a rematch of the 2009 fight of the year.  The card starts at 8 pm with a HUGE five fight undercard that feature Daniel Jacobs – Dmitry Pirog for the WBO Middleweight championship; In a battle of former world champion Robert Guerrero take on Joel Casamayor; Jorge Linares take on Rocky Juarez; Super Middleweights Sakio Bika takes on Jean Paul Mendy as well as hot prospect Frankie Gomez.  The action begains at 9pm est. 8pm in Houston

12 ROUNDS-World Lightweight championship–Juan Manuel Marquez (50-5-1, 37 KO’s) vs Juan Diaz (35-3, 17 KO’s)

Round 1: Good body shot by Marquez…Good left hook from Diaz…Hard right…10-9 Diaz

Round 2: Diaz lands 2 good left hooks..Jab from Marquez stops Diaz in his tracks..20-18 Diaz

Round 3: Marquez lands a nice jab and right…Big right and left hook…29-28 Diaz…Great exchange at end of round

Round 4: Trading left hooks to start round..Huge uppercut wobbles Diaz…Hard right…Right…38-38

Round 5: Marquez lands a jab…Big flush right hand and again…48-47 Marquez

Round 6: Combination from Marquez…Hard right has Diaz holding on…Marquez has redness on his face…58-56 Marquez

Round 7: Marquez lands a right to the body…Hard right to the top of the head…68-65 Marquez

Round 8: Diaz lands a left hook..lots of moving…77-75 Marquez

Round 9:Marquez lands a right and uppercut that wobbles Diaz…Diaz cut bad on his lip…87-84 Marquez

Round 10:  Marquez boixing nicely behind his jab…97-93 Marquez

Round 11: Good left hook from Diaz..106-103 Marquez

Round 12: Good left hook by Diaz…Marquez lands a right…Left hook from Marquez…116-112 Marquez

116-112; 118-110; 117-111 for JUAN MANUEL MARQUEZ

12 Rounds–WBO Middleweight championship–Daniel Jacobs (20-0, 17 KO’s) vs. Dmitry Pirog (16-0, 13 KO’s)

Round 1: good right from Pirog…10-9 Pirog

Round 2: Pirog lands a hard right…20-18 Pirog

Round 3 Jacobs lands a nice right at the bell…29-28 Pirog

Round 4: Good body shot from Jacobs..Good right to the body..38-38

Round 5: HARD RIGHT AND DOWN GOES JACOBS…HE WONT GET UP…THE FIGHT IS OVER

WINNER BY KO …DMITRY PIROG

10 ROUNDS Jr. Welterweights–Robert Guerrero (26-1-1, 18 KO’s) vs Joel Casamayor (37-4-1, 22 KO’s) Round 1: Guerrero lands a couple jabs…10-9 Guerrero

Round 2: Guerrero lands a left..Casamayor deducted a point for holding…Good straight left staggers Casamayor and a left sends CASAMAYOR TO THE CANVAS…20-16 Guerrero

Round 3: Not much of anything…30-26 Guerrero

Round 4: Hard left from Casamayor..39-36 Guerrero

Round 5: Guerrero lands a good right hook…49-45

Round 6: Guerrero lands a hard left that rocks Casamayor..59-54

Round 7: Good Combination from Guerrero…69-63

Round 8:…79-73 Guerrero

Round 9: Guerrero lands a straight left to the head…89-82 Round

10: Good left from Casamayor…BIG RIGHT HOOK AND DOWN GOES GUERRERO….97-92 Guerrero

98-89; 98-89; 97-90 Guerrero

10 Rounds Lightweights–Jorge Linares (28-1, 18 KO’s) vs Rocky Juarez (28-6-1, 20 KO’s)

Round 1: Straight right from Linares…Juarez lands 2 body shots at the bell 10-9 Juarez

Round 2: Linares lands a nice left to the body..Right to the body..left uppercut…Shapr jabbing…Swelling around Juarez eyes..19-19

Round 3: Linares lands a right to the body and jab..29-28 Linares

Round 4: Linares lands a good uppercut..Juarez pressuring against ropes and Linares fights well off the ropes…39-37 Linares

Round 5: Lianres lands a double jab…Juarez lands a jab…LINARES LANDS A BIG LEFT UPPERCUT AND DOWN GOES JUAREZ..49-45 Linares

Round 6: Hard right from Juarez…Good jab and left uppercut from Linares…59-54 Linares

Round 7: Linares steps back and lands a left uppercut..Hard right..Hard right over the top…69-63 Linares

Round 8: Juarez lands a right..78-73 Lianres

Round 9: Juarez lands a long right..Linares lands 2 sharp uppercuts..Juarez lands a good right…88-83 Linares

Round 10: Linares lands 2 good jabs..Juarez lands a hard jab..Right hand..Lianres fights off the ropes..98-92 Linares

99-90; 97-92; 99-90 FOR JORGE LINARES

Weights from Las Vegas

MARQUEZ VS. DIAZ II “FIGHT OF THE YEAR: THE REMATCH” OFFICIAL WEIGH-IN

WHO: JUAN MANUEL MARQUEZ vs. JUAN DIAZ

DANIEL Jacobs vs. DMITRY Pirog

ROBERT Guerrero vs. JOEL Casamayor

JORGE Linares vs. ROCKY Juarez

FRANKIE GOMEZ vs. TBA

SAKIO BIKA VS. JEAN PAUL MENDY

GEORGE GROVES VS. ALFREDO CONTRERAS

JUAN MANUEL MONTIEL VS. MIKE PERALTA

SETH MITCHELL VS. DEREK BRYANT

MARQUEZ VS. DIAZ II “FIGHT OF THE YEAR: THE REMATCH” FREE UNDERCARD PREVIEW TO BE SHOWN LIVE BY PAY-PER-VIEW DISTRIBUTORS

Las Vegas, Nev. (July 29)… When the Marquez vs. Diaz II “Fight of the Year: The Rematch” undercard was announced, Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer promised fight fans “The Night of the Year,” stacking the undercard with great fighters and fights with unpredictable outcomes. Now fans can look forward to even more from this spectacular night of boxing with two free undercard preview fights to be broadcast by select pay-per-view providers beginning at 7 p.m. ET/ 4 p.m. PT. Fans should check their guide listings for details.

The two fights scheduled to be included on the “free-view” will feature “The Contender” Season Three Champion and number four world rated super middleweight Sakio Bika (28-3-2, 19 KOs) of Sydney, Australia against number eleven world rated super middleweight Jean Paul Mendy (28-0-1, 16 KOs) of Paris, France in a 12-round IBF Super Middleweight eliminator and Golden Boy Promotions’ rising star and number-one rated American amateur (prior to his pro debut) Frankie Gomez (4-0, 4 KOs) of East Los Angeles, Calif. facing Ronald Peterson (2-2, 2 KOs) of St. Paul, Minn. in a six round junior welterweight fight. The free broadcast will feature commentary by Dave Bontempo and Bob “The Colonel” Sheridan.

“We are very excited to be able to bring even more great boxing to fight fans around the country on July 31,” said Schaefer. “The two fights featured in the ‘free-view’ are excellent match-ups that fit right in with the exciting nature of this fight card. The fact that fans can watch both of these fights for free goes to show that this really is going to be one of the best nights of boxing in recent years.”

# # #

Marquez vs. Diaz II “Fight of the Year: The Rematch” is promoted by Golden Boy Promotions in association with Marquez Boxing Promotions and sponsored by Cerveza Tecate and AT&T. The 12-round rematch of the “2009 Fight of the Year” is scheduled for Saturday, July 31 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nev. and will be for Marquez’s Ring Magazine, WBA and WBO Lightweight World titles. The championship fight will be produced and distributed live on HBO Pay-Per-View® beginning at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.

Tickets for Marquez vs. Diaz II are priced at $350, $250, $150, $100 and $50 and are on sale now. Tickets are available for purchase at all Las Vegas Ticketmaster locations (select Smith’s Food and Drug Centers and Ritmo Latino). To charge by phone with a major credit card, call Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000. Tickets also will be available for purchase at www.mandalaybay.com or www.ticketmaster.com.

The Marquez vs. Diaz II pay-per-view telecast, which begins at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT, has a suggested retail price of $49.95 and will be produced and distributed by HBO Pay-Per-View® and will be available to more than 71 million pay-per-view homes.  The telecast will be available in HD-TV for those viewers who can receive HD.  HBO Pay-Per-View®, a division of Home Box Office, Inc., is the leading supplier of event programming to the pay-per-view industry.  For Marquez vs. Diaz II fight week updates, log on to www.hbo.com.

Marquez and Diaz will appear larger-than-life on the big screen presented by NCM Fathom. Marquez vs. Diaz II “Fight of the Year: The Rematch”will be broadcast in high definition LIVE to more than 270 movie theaters nationwide at 9 p.m. ET/ 6 p.m. PT. Tickets to see this fight on the big screen are available at theater box offices and online at www.FathomEvents.com.  For more information visit www.marquezvsdiazonthebigscreen.com.

For more information on these events, visit www.goldenboypromotions.com or www.whorupicking.com, on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GoldenBoyBoxing or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GoldenBoyBoxing.

GIANT OCTOPUS AT MANDALAY BAY SHARK REEF AQUARIUM PREDICTS JUAN MANUEL MARQUEZ WINNER OF SATURDAY NIGHT’S MARQUEZ VS. DIAZ LIGHTWEIGHT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP AT MANDALAY BAY EVENTS CENTER IN LAS VEGAS AND LIVE ON HBO PAY-PER-VIEW®

LAS VEGAS (July 29) – It’s official. The Giant Pacific Octopus at the Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay entered the sports predictions arena earlier this morning when he aggressively selected Juan Manuel “Dinamita” Marquez as the winner over Juan “Baby Bull” Diaz in Saturday night’s contest between the two pugilists who are fighting for Marquez’s Ring Magazine, WBA and WBO Lightweight World titles at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas and live on HBO Pay-Per-View.

The unnamed, 1-year-old male octopus weighs an estimated 40 pounds, has a six-foot reach, tentacles roughly three feet long, is the second octopus to predict the outcomes of sporting events this summer, the first being the mollusk Paul in Germany, who went undefeated in correctly picking all of Germany’s World Cup games as well as Spain’s championship win. The intelligent animal chose between two 8″ x 8″ acrylic boxes placed inside his tank. Each box was labeled with one of the fighter’s names.

“Let’s see if the octopus that picked Marquez to win Saturday night will be as accurate as Paul was during the World Cup,” said Richard Schaefer, CEO Golden Boy Promotions. “Either way, we are going to have a great night of boxing from top to bottom as this is one of the strongest events we have ever had for the fans watching in the arena and on pay-per-view. All of these match-ups have the potential of being fight of the year for 2010.”

Marquez vs. Diaz II “Fight of the Year: The Rematch” is promoted by Golden Boy Promotions in association with Marquez Boxing Promotions, and sponsored by Cerveza Tecate and AT&T. The 12-round rematch of the 2009 “Fight of the Year” is scheduled for Saturday, July 31 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, and will be for Marquez’s Ring Magazine, WBA and WBO Lightweight World titles. The fight will be produced and distributed live on HBO Pay-Per-View® beginning at 9 p.m. ET/ 6 p.m. PT.

The stacked pay-per-view undercard will feature Daniel “The Golden Child” Jacobsvs. Dmitry Pirogin a 12-round bout for the vacant WBO Middleweight title, Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero vs. Joel “El Cepillo” Casamayor in a 10-round junior welterweight bout and Jorge “El Niño De Oro” Linares vs. Rocky Juarez in a 10-round lightweight bout.

Tickets for Marquez vs. Diaz II are priced at $350, $250, $150, $100 and $50 and are on sale now. Tickets are available for purchase at all Las Vegas Ticketmaster locations (select Smith’s Food and Drug Centers and Ritmo Latino).  To charge by phone with a major credit card, call Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000.  Tickets also will be available for purchase at www.mandalaybay.com or www.ticketmaster.com.

The Marquez vs. Diaz II pay-per-view telecast, which begins at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT, has a suggested retail price of $49.95 and will be produced and distributed by HBO Pay-Per-View® and will be available to more than 71 million pay-per-view homes.  The telecast will be available in HD-TV for those viewers who can receive HD.  HBO Pay-Per-View®, a division of Home Box Office, Inc., is the leading supplier of event programming to the pay-per-view industry.  For Marquez vs. Diaz II fight week updates, log on to www.hbo.com.

NCM Fathom will broadcast Marquez vs. Diaz II in high definition LIVE to more than 270 movie theaters nationwide at 9 p.m. ET/ 6 p.m. PT.  Tickets to see the fight on the big screen are available at theater box offices and online at www.FathomEvents.com.

SHARK REEF AQUARIUM AT MANDALAY BAY

Dangerous predators and unusual aquatic creatures are the focus of Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay, a 90,560-square-foot aquarium with nearly 1.6 million gallons of fresh and seawater in 14 major exhibits.  Shark Reef Aquarium features more than 2,000 divinely dangerous animals including a Komodo Dragon, Golden Crocodiles and its newest resident, a rare and fascinating Shark Ray, along with several species of magnificent sharks all under one roof.  Open daily from 10 a.m., ticket prices are $16.95 for adults and $10.95 for children ages five through 12; children four and under are free.  Nevada residents with a valid ID receive a discount on admission – $13.95 for adults and $8.95 for children.  For more information, visit www.mandalaybay.com, www.sharkreef.com or call (702) 632-4555.

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