They need to have a great fight to close this show. Though I have been entertained, I imagine many casual fans who bought this show need a good closer to feel that they spent their money wisely. I wouldn’t put it past these guys to end this show with a bang.

Juan Diaz vs. Juan Manuel Marquez

R1
Marquez looked great in the first half of the round, but Diaz came back in the second half. Though Diaz didn’t come out swinging crazily, he did start to open up later in the round. Marquez looked great early on, beating Diaz to every punch. Really good first round.

R2
Strong second round. Diaz and Marquez matched each other shot for shot. It was almost like a game of one-upsmanship. Marquez would land a nice shot and then Diaz would land a better one. And then on and on. If I had to judge that round, I would’ve scored it 10-10.

R3
Marquez ended the round brilliantly. I’m threw an amazing combination that ended with a left hook that left me in awe of Diaz’s chin because I was so sure that he was going to fall. These guys are fighting hard. Marquez is breathing hard and already has a bit of blood coming out of his nose.

R4
Marquez beat Diaz like he was a lawyer or something. He buckled him badly with a left uppercut and controlled the entire round. It was a great shot. Diaz is having issues because Marquez is so accurate.

R5
Diaz boxed more in the round but still caught some good shots from Marquez, especially an overhand right that was the best punch of the round. Diaz stayed away and threw shots from the outside.

R6
Marquez is stalking him, looking like he wants to get him out of there. They showed a replay of a great Marquez combination that ended with a left hook and a left uppercut that both landed flush.
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I originally thought Guerrero was the semi-main, but this is the semi-main, probably because it’s technically a title fight in the middleweight division.

The marketing for Shane Mosley vs. Sergio Mora is that no Mexican fighters (Fernando Vargas, Oscar De La Hoya, and Antonio Margarito) have ever beat Mosley and Mora could be the Mexican savior. Highly unlikely, but they need something to sell that fight as a PPV.

Dmitry Pirog Vs. Daniel Jacobs

Jim Lampley pointed out that the reason this is a title fight is because it’s for Sergio Martinez’s belt that was stripped from him after he beat Kelly Pavlick.

R1
Jacobs switched back and forth between southpaw and conventional. The best shot of the round was when Jacobs leaned back against the ropes and the ropes catapulted him back towards Pirog’s right hand. Jacobs landed more punches, but Pirog landed the best shot.

R2
The first half of this round was huge for Pirog. He had Jacobs up against the ropes and Jacobs nearly went down. He went into a low crouch and caught himself. Jacobs is having a hard time timing Pirog’s punches. He started to feel him out much better late, but totally Pirog’s round.

R3
Much better round for Jacobs. He landed two pretty solid right hands that were the best punches of the round. Pirog still has an unconventional style that is giving Jacobs fits.

R4
Very entertaining round. Pirog would land a shot and then act as if Jacobs wasn’t giving him any credit. Then Jacobs would throw a lightening combination to show that he’s the better guy. Pirog is definitely trying to prove to everyone that he’s Jacobs’ equal. Pretty close round too.

R5
And just like that, Pirog went out and took his respect. He knocked Jacobs out. He pushed Jacobs back toward the ropes and just as his momentum was bringing him back toward Pirog, he unleashed a right hand that put him down. Jacobs looked out and then was about to raise his head and the referee stopped out before counting him out.

Winner: Dmitry Pirog by way of 5th round TKO

Jacobs seemed to be very upset that he wasn’t allowed the chance to get up. I imagine Golden Boy was too.

Next up is the main event.

The PPV broadcast was having technical difficulties and they threw it to the international announcing team and they showed Frankie Gomez’s first round win and Sakio Bika’s first round DQ loss for hitting his opponent who was on his knees.

From what I’ve read, it looks like it was a power issue for HBO. But they’re back up and it’s time for Guerrero vs. Casamayor.

Joel Casamayor vs. Robert Guerrero

Pretty much a nothing round. Casamayor might’ve taken the round just because he landed a couple of shots late, but really, nothing happened.

R2

Very sloppy round. Casamayor doesn’t want to be in there. He was deducted a point for holding too much and then took a big left hand and decided that rather than fight his way out of the corner, he would continually shoot in for a double leg take down. Rather than dock him another point, the referee decided to call it a knockdown. 10-7 round.

R3
Easy round for Guerrero, but he’s pretty cautious. Casamayor threw a sloppy left that landed, but he didn’t have much on it.

R4
If Guerrero wants to be a PPV attraction type of fighter, he needs to be able to win a fight like this impressively. He can’t just win on points against a guy who doesn’t really want to be in there. What’s actually happened is that by Guerrero’s patience, Casamayor is getting more comfortable. Guerrero probably wins the round, but not impressively.

R5
Better round from Guerrero, but he seems willing to just throw 1-2 combinations, when it seems like just throwing a myriad of shots would make Casamayor give up. He looks like he’s going to the body more too.

R6
Strongest round for Guerrero since the 2nd. Guerrero looked to be a little upset and grabbed Casamayor by the back of the head and Casamayor took a fall that looked a little acted. Then he unloaded with a left hand that rocked Casamayor. The right hook follow-up is wide open for him too.
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Since this PPV has four quality fights on it, I’m going to create separate posts for each fight and see if that works out better than simply having one long post for all the fights.

First up on the PPV broadcast is Rocky Juarez vs. Jorge Linares in a bit of a comeback fight for Linares. He’s won since losing in embarrassing fashion to Juan Carlos Salgado, but this is his first fight back on the big scene.

Rocky Juarez vs. Jorge Linares

R1
Linares is trying to use his length and land from the outside, but Juarez is jabbing his way inside. He’s not really landing many punches though, but he’s setting the pace. Linares wins the round simply because he landed more clean shots.

R2
This doesn’t look like a good match-up for Juarez after two rounds. He’s not able to force his will enough and pressure Linares. Linares is landing big counter shots when Juarez comes inside, including two big left-uppercuts.

R3
Probably Juarez’s best round. He didn’t get hit with any real shots and landed his best shot, which was a straight left. Not sure he did enough to win the round, but it was close.

R4
Another strong round by Linares. He’s looking really good right now. He’s making Juarez do all the work and landing the best shots. I imagine that’s his game plan to a tee.

R5
Linares knocked him down with a left hook right at the end of the round. A series summarized the fight very well. Juarez dug in to Linares’ body and the second he was ready to load up again, he took two shots to the face.
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Duan and I were chatting the other day and puzzled as to why HBO didn’t put a preview show together for the fight this weekend. Low and behold, I saw something on YouTube that looked to be a short one.

What it looks like is that HBO Sports put together an online multi-part preview for the fight, which I have added below.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Kevin Iole and Steve Cofield go over this weekend’s fight in a video blog.