Diaz Overwhelms Irwin, 'Baby Bull' Needs to Lose The Diapers
by
Frank Gonzalez Jr.
1/22 - Friday night in Houston Texas, WBA Lightweight Champion, Juan "The Baby Bull" Diaz, 27-0-13 KO, lost his belt, but not in the ring. According
to Diaz, he left the belt in his car, which was broken into by thieves who stole it along with his car stereo. But Diaz enjoyed defending his missing belt anyway. On the menu was aged Canadian veteran, Billy Irwin, 42-6-30 KO, who offered himself up like a sacrificial lamb at a slaughterhouse.
36-year-old Billy Irwin’s passive, defensive style enabled the furious
punching Diaz to have his way with him. Irwin started each round boxing
in
the center of the ring, then worked his way to the ropes and just stood
in
one spot, trying to block and duck shots the entire round. He blocked a
lot
of Diaz’ shots but he also ate lots of leather in the process.
Rarely did Irwin offer up much offense of his own but when he did, he
usually landed. I wondered how Diaz would fare against the other
Titleholders in the division, like Jose Luis Castillo, Diego Corrales
or
Julio Diaz.
In the second round, Irwin was downed from a Diaz left hand. After
that, he
continued to be outworked and outscored in every single round until the
referee; Earl Morton finally stopped it midway into the ninth. Watching
Diaz
attack a heavy bag for nine rounds might have been more entertaining.
Diaz is all offense, always coming forward, punching to the body and
the
head, outworking and chasing down his carefully selected opponents.
He’s
still young and has a lot to learn, particularly on defense, but
because he
owns a major Title, he needs to prove that he deserves such an honor.
So
far, he has not done that. Cherry picked opponents like Billy Irwin
does
nothing to enhance his stature as a Champion. If anything, it raises
questions about his handler’s confidence in his ability.
Irwin’s style was tailor made for Diaz. He tends to be stationary and
relies
entirely on his defense, which consists of blocking and waiting for
opportunities to counterpunch. Irwin fought this way in every round and
never made any adjustments. It was the perfect recipe for maintaining
Diaz’
unbeaten record.
Before the fight, Irwin vowed that he was going to retire, win or lose,
after taking on Juan Diaz. He went out with a bang—only it Diaz who did
all
the banging. It was kind of sad actually.
During the post fight interview, Irwin said he had been sick all week
and
thought he’d be able to fight through it. He admitted he felt weak
during
the fight.
This kind of match making makes me sick.
Billy Irwin is a good guy and I mean him no dishonor but how does a guy
that’s not even ranked in the top ten get a shot at a Title? It’s
unfair to
the more deserving fighters who didn’t get the opportunity Irwin got
without
earning it. It’s not even as if Irwin had put a string of impressive
victories together to justify a Title shot.
At 21-years-old, Juan Diaz’ handlers are still treating him like a
baby,
feeding him Puppy Chow—even though he’s the WBA Champion. I’d like to
see
Diaz step up and fight some of the top guys in the division, and answer
the
question of how he deals with adversity.
A few months ago, the IBF Lightweight Champ, Julio Diaz (absolutely no
relation) had publicly issued a challenge to Juan Diaz—but the Baby
Bull
didn’t answer the call. There are plenty of top-notch contenders at 135
that
would be more entertaining match ups for Juan Diaz’ camp to consider
for his
next TBA (To Be Announced) bout, scheduled for April 23rd.
Here are some recommendations: Juan Lazcano, Joel Casamayor, Carlos
Hernandez, Javier Jauregui, Acelino Freitas, Aldo Rios or at least a
Juan
Valenzuela. These high quality fighters are more befitting opponents
for a
World Champion at 135-pounds. These legitimate contenders would bring
bigger
audiences, bigger bucks and greater respect to the Diaz camp. Beating
any
of those fighters would erase the idea that Juan Diaz is just a kid who
got
a lucky break fighting Lakva Sim, who happened to win the vacant WBA
Title
by beating a guy with a 17-3 record named Miguel Callist. By the way,
Sim is
currently ranked 25th in the World. Coincidence? I think not.
* * *
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