Outstanding welterweight contender Keith “One Time” Thurman, 22-0 (20), gets to headline a high profile Golden Boy show for the first time on Saturday, when he takes on former lightweight champion Julio Diaz over 12 rounds at the StubHub Center in Carson, California. The card is to be shown live on Showtime in the U.S. and on BoxNation for U.K. viewers.
Thurman’s spurious WBA interim title is on the line in this fight, but what Thurman really wants is a crack at one of the big names in this most stacked of divisions. In these days of the “cold war” between Thurman’s promoters Golden Boy and the other major promotional force, Top Rank, Thurman can consider himself lucky. Aside from Pacquiao, Bradley and Brandon Rios, the remainder of the big names in the division also fight under the Golden Boy banner. Win on Saturday then and there is huge potential for Thurman to be involved in bigger fights in the near future.
Standing in One Time’s way on Saturday is Mexican Julio Diaz, 40-9-1 (29), whose career looked done and dusted almost five years ago. By that time he was already a former IBF lightweight champion, who had lost that belt in a unification match with Juan Diaz, in October 2007. Julio disappointed that night, being bullied out of the fight by his namesake before retiring at the end of the eighth round, for no obvious reason. Despite holding the IBF belt, Julio never managed to establish himself at the top of the lightweights; there was always someone that bit better. The defeat to Juan Diaz did not end his career as a top line fighter of course. A disastrous 2009 did however. He lost both of his fights that year, firstly in a shock stoppage defeat against glorified clubfighter Rolando Reyes and then clearly on points to Victor Cayo who, although undefeated at the time, has flattered to deceive since.
That last fight was up at light-welter and Diaz continued his career at that weight, winning a couple of decent matches before a virtual winner-take-all crunch match with Kendall Holt was made. The fight was televised on ESPN and resulted in another disaster for Diaz, who was sparked out by one of Holt’s vaunted left hooks in the third round. That took place in May 2011 and looked for all the world to be the end of Julio’s career. But no, he turned up again in December 2012, this time as an opponent for streaking welterweight fringe contender (at the time) Shawn Porter. Diaz put forth one of the best performances of his career in taking Porter through hell and earning a split draw on the judges’ cards. As British viewers will be well aware, Diaz nearly pulled off another trick in his next match, putting Amir Khan’s very career in jeopardy in losing a hair’s-breadth decision to Khan but putting him on the canvas and rocking him several times in a thrilling war.
Diaz’s only outing since the Khan fight was a rematch against Porter in which he was very well beaten. Porter had learnt a great deal from their first fight and never let Diaz into the rematch. Does this mean that Diaz’s Indian summer is over? We will probably find out on Saturday. He is up against a fighter in Thurman who looks every bit as good as Khan and Porter and, importantly, punches even harder than both. Keith has faced very solid opposition in his last four fights, but has still only been taken the full distance twice. One of those was in an 8-rounder back in 2009 and the other was in March of last year when iron-chinned Jan Zaveck from Slovenia took him the full 12.
In the course of those four fights previously mentioned – defeating Zaveck, Carlos Quintana and Jesus Soto Karass, Thurman did not lose a round, so dominant was he. In the other fight though, his one real test to date, against Argentine Diego Chaves, Keith found himself outworked in several of the early rounds and had to play catch-up. Any thoughts of defeat were banished in the ninth round. As the two exchanged blows, Thurman got through with a short left hook to the body which virtually finished the fight. Chaves was in agony and although he survived the round he was quickly overwhelmed in the tenth as Thurman put him down for the full count.
In summary, Diaz has produced two outstanding performances in his last three fights. Do not expect him to make it a hat-trick though. Thurman looks destined for stardom and will be aware of the threat that Diaz might pose him if he is not 100% committed. Keith will not blow it and I would expect his hard and classy counters to subdue Diaz, perhaps around the eighth or ninth round.
In the chief support, popular Argentine Lucas Matthysse, 34-3 (32), makes a welcome return to the ring following losing his big showdown with Danny Garcia in his last fight, in September. Matthysse has what looks a relatively easy task as he faces American knockout artist John Molina Jr., 27-3 (22), in a light-welterweight match.
Prior to the fight with Garcia, Matthysse was widely regarded as one of the best punchers in the sport, with only one opponent taking him the full distance (plus one disqualification win). He had two losses on his record, both highly dubious decisions, against Zab Judah and Devon Alexander. Even in those fights he put both opponents on the floor. Unfortunately for the Argentine, Danny Garcia really came of age in their match and outfought him, winning a close decision after 12 brutal rounds. Apparently, Lucas fell into something of a depression following the loss and there were rumours, not for the first time, that he was considering retirement. It sounds as though he is perhaps not in love with the sport. Luckily for us though he is continuing with his career.
As for Molina, he is just not in the same class as Matthysse. His boxing skills are negligible. The reason he has kept himself relevant in the sport is due to his unquestioned power. His three biggest victories are stoppages over Hank Lundy, Dannie Williams and Mickey Bey. In all three matches, Molina had barely won a round and was having his head boxed off before managing to get home with his power shots, finally lowering the boom and each time getting the stoppage win. Matthysse must therefore beware the threat of his opponent. On the flip side, one of Molina’s defeats was a first round stoppage in a challenge to WBC lightweight champion Antonio DeMarco. Molina was stunned early, sagged back into a corner and just covered up until the referee stopped the fight. It was interesting though that Molina never went down.
It should be pointed out that the whole of Molina’s career has taken place at lightweight, aside from his last fight, when he stepped up to light-welter with a stoppage victory. He is now preparing to face the deadly punching Matthysse in his new division. Although Molina’s chin does look sound, if DeMarco can hurt him, imagine what Matthysse’s savage punching is likely to do. Neither is Molina difficult to hit. Lucas may need to clear the cobwebs for a couple of rounds, but I would expect another stunning stoppage victory for him in about five or six rounds.
The third major fight on the card features WBC lightweight champion Omar Figueroa, 22-0-1 (17), defending his title against fellow American Jerry Belmontes, 19-3 (5). It looks as though the sole reason for Belmontes getting this wholly undeserved shot at the belt is that he holds several amateur victories over Figueroa. Apparently, these took place when both were aged around 11 or 12 years old and should carry little relevance on Saturday. It is Figueroa who has to date had the success in the pro ranks, streaking through very quickly to take the WBC title and thrilling boxing fans in the process. His war with Japanese challenger Nihito Arakawa, in Omar’s last fight in July, will live long in the memory. Figueroa has been out since with a hand injury.
Aside from the victories over Figueroa, Belmontes was a top-class amateur performer, including being runner-up in the U.S. national championships in 2007 to Diego Magdaleno. However, he has pointedly failed to translate that form into the professional game. Despite initially taking his record to 17-0, he has lost three of his last five since. Indeed, in his 10 round defeat against Golden Boy starlet Francisco Vargas, in December, Belmontes lost every round. To be fair to Jerry he has since come back with his biggest win to date, upsetting previously undefeated Aussie Will Tomlinson on points over 10 rounds just last month. This was a huge shock as Tomlinson had just signed a five-fight deal with Golden Boy.
In his loss to Vargas, Belmontes did little but flit around the ring, trying to avoid the hard punching Mexican. Not only this, but Belmontes’ whole career has been fought at super-featherweight. He is now stepping up a weight against a young hungry champion. It is not therefore too hard to predict what his tactics will be on Saturday, against another fierce punching opponent. Figueroa is clearly one of Golden Boy’s favoured fighters. He has huge money-making potential. He will be fired up by Belmontes’ recent taunts regarding their amateur encounters. Belmontes has not been stopped to date and his good footwork may make it difficult for Figueroa to catch him. However, look for the latter to chase and punish Belmontes for the full 12 rounds before winning widely on points.
Despite the lack of real star names on this card, it goes very deep, with career-building fights for Antonio Orozco, Frankie Gomez and Joe Diaz, plus warm-up fights for Jermall Charlo and Sharif Bogere. The quality of the names on this card just goes to show once again the talent at the disposal of the Golden Boy organisation.