Thurman vs Diaz inc Undercard:
By Damien McKinely
In what was supposed to be a kind up uncompetitive card (on paper at least) to most, turned out to be one of the most entertaining so far this year.
Keith Thurman (23-0, 21 KOs) took on Julio Diaz (40-10-1, 29 KOs) and from the off Thurman looked scary with his speed, power and movement. Each shot landing seemed to shake Diaz in the opening two rounds. Thurman working the body and throwing hard left hands each time Diaz tried to get his own off.
The third round was actually a pretty good round for Diaz as he caught Thurman towards the end of the round and looked to have shaken Thurman up a little. The bad thing for Diaz was, during his assault he received a hard left uppercut to the underside of his ribcage and as he sat in his corner at the end of the round.....the effect of the punch kicked in and the veteran couldn't get back up. Not the most satisfying of endings but Diaz has shown up over the years that he has guts and it must have been pretty painful for him to end the fight on his stool.
Before the main event we witnessed one of, if not, THE fight of the year. In what was thought to be a rollover fight in which Lucas Matthysse (35-3, (33 KOs) would blast John Molina Jr (27-4, 22 KOs) out, instead we got knockdowns, blood and a lot action on both sides. The fight started with Matthysse looking very frustrated with the size of Molina would moved around the ring using his jab to get his right hands off. The second round was more of the same with Matthysse stalking Molina trying to find that big punch that we are used to seeing from him.....but instead Molina, while coming under attack by Matthysse caught the Argentinian with a looping right hand on the way out and dropped Lucas for the second time in his career.
The fight then became a war as they say, both fighters willing to stand and trade. Just when it looked like Matthysse was getting on top, Molina would come back and send Matthysse backwards. In the third round Molina seemed to swing his head while trading, leaving Matthysse with a cut over his right eye and himself, a cut behind his left ear.
Matthysse began to crank up the pressure, Molina still standing up and giving it straight back. In the fifth round Matthysse got put down again by a Molina left hand. Matthysse complained that this was on the back of the head and the replays seem to back up that claim, but Pat Russell called it a knockdown regardless.
It was obvious from the sixth round onwards that Matthysse was beginning to take control of the fight. “The Machine” became absolutely relentless throwing just about every punch in the book and with them all landing. Molina was having success but his shots seemed to lack the power they had in the first half of the fight.
Matthysse got his revenge of a bogus knockdown in round eight when he was award a knockdown when in fact it was more of a shove that sent Molina to the canvas. Round nine saw the two fighters once again trade in front of a raptourous crowd who where in awe of every second. Both men covered in blood landing hard crunching shots and showing true spirit. on the ring like a wounded deer.
Great fight all around and Molina really showed he is a threat at 140lbs. Matthysse, even though he started slow, showed us why he is one of the most dangerous and heavy hitters in the sport.
Omar Figueroa (27-0-1, 17 KOs) won by split decision against Jerry Belmontes (19-9, 5 KOs). This fight was smeared by a ridiculous scorecard in Figueroa's favour (118-110) when in fact it seemed that Belmontes had outboxed Figueroa for the majority of the fight. Belmontes should have really done more as he seemed the fresher of the two going into the second half of the fight. But his lack of output seemed to cost him as the judges went in favour of the champion.