by Jeremy "fasttalker" Bjornberg of Doc's Sports
Showtime's doubleheader Diaz lightweight championship along with the Jeff Lacy super middleweight was everything I expected. I went to Las Vegas to catch the Jose Luis Castillo vs. Julio Diaz and Jeff Lacy vs. Rubin (Mr. Hollywood)Williams fight. In my pick last week I picked Castillo to win by knockout in the 10th round and I was right on the money, literally. Castillo used his head, forearms, elbows, along with a heavy workrate to turn Julio's face into a mangled mess. Diaz fought bravely but could no longer see out of his eyes and eventually Castillo's ruthless attack was just too much. This win by Castillo sets up a HUGE fight against the great pound for pound murderous puncher Diego Corrales. This fight has Morales vs. Barrera all over it and has the whole boxing community salivating. Diego and Castillo will fight on May 5. The winner of that fight will have no shortage of topflight possible opponents, both Castillo and Corrales would fare well one division north at Junior Welterweight. Either lightweight champion vs. the likes of my #2 pound for pound fighter Kostya Tszyu, Floyd Mayweather, Eric Morales, Acelino Freitas, and even Juan Diaz would be great matchups. The undercard matchup between champ Jeff Lacy and Rubin Williams was an all out war. Lacy showed devastating power as usual whereas Williams had sharp counters and a rockhard set of whiskers to make this showdown the best fight of the night. If only Williams didn't have such slow feet this would have been a huge test for Lacy. Luckily for Lacy, Williams just sat on the ropes and ate punches, a confusing plan against the shorter and also slow footed champ. Williams though looks to be in the Omar Sheika, Scott Pemberton mold of a fighter just short of the championship potential, but he will make for many entertaining scraps. He showed no fear of Lacy's bonecrushing power and all the fans loudly appreciated his effort.
Friday featured hot prospect Rocky Juarez icing Juan Carlos Ramirez with another one of his highlight reel KO's. Rocky is officially a contender and he is a big player for betters in the future. He is short and could be outboxed by a rangy counterpuncher, but I would give him a chance against anyone at 126, even the mighty Marco Antonio Barrera.
The next fight to get ready for is the epic showdown between Eric Morales and Manny Pacquiao. This fight is guaranteed fireworks as Manny looks to takedown all of Mexico again against the rangier Morales. The fight will take place at 130 where Manny will be moving up to for the first time. Check back for analysis of this fight and also Doc's Undisputed pick.
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