Boxing Analysis: The Lightweight Division

State of the Weight

Diego Corrales? Finished. Jose Luis Castillo? Gone. Floyd Mayweather Jr? A distant memory, in the lightweight division at least. Depending on how you’re looking at it, the lightweight division is either in a molting phase, shucking off its most popular current names, or it’s making way for the next batch of names that we should know.

1.) Juan Diaz, 31-0 (15): Diaz has quietly become the best in the lightweight division. At a tender 23 years old, he’s been the champ since summer of 2004 and carries a maturity inside the ring beyond his years. If he can maintain 135 for the next seven years or so, he could remain dominant in the division. But outside interests, mainly a future career in law, could prematurely end the pugilist’s reign even though they haven’t been able to erode his focus in the ring.

There is nothing he doesn’t do well. His defense was already good, but in his winning effort against Fernando Angulo early this month, he’s shown he’s getting even better. The only thing he needs to add for a complete package is power, which the baby bull will get, once shed of his baby fat, if premature retirement or a heavier frame don’t get to him first.

2.) Joel Casamayor, 34-3-1 (21): At 35 years old, Casamayor has finally recaptured a bit of his former glory by beating Diego Corrales for the WBC strap. But a sluggish and out of step Corrales, unable to make the 135 lb lightweight limit, is not a good test for an aging champion previously known for his speed. In their first two fights, Corrales was nearer to his lightweight prime and Casamayor was able to hurt him. Casamayor couldn’t rock Corrales like before and was hurt himself on the way to his one-sided victory.

A match-up with interim champ David Diaz could provide more insight as to where Casamayor’s skills truly lie these days. But if he fights the number two contender Sirimongkol Singwangcha, whose 54-2 resume is a who’s who of guys who should not be allowed in the ring (like fighting 0-2 Chao Liang at the end of last year) take it as Casamayor’s version of a victory lap before he calls it quits. I expect him to jump at the opportunity to fight Acelino Freitas again, considering the Brazilian has a belt too, but “Popo’s” record as of late is on the shaky side. Freitas could balk considering he’s “retired”. Either way, Casamayor better enjoy the view at the mountaintop; his days are numbered there.

3.) Acelino Freitas, 38-1 (32): Is he in or is he out? The WBO Champion announced his retirement in October several months after capturing the vacant title, but is this a clever means of angling for more dough in a unification rematch with Casamayor? Or has he truly had enough? In the disputed victory against Zahir Raheem, Freitas showed he still isn’t the fighter he was since his lone loss against Diego Corrales.

Once a guy retires, real or not, it means his eye is on other things. When your attention is divided like that, forget about being the fighter you were in your prime. Not to mention it also looks like Freitas is trying to avoid a verbal agreement to fight Corrales-esque Julio Diaz, the interim IBF champion.

4.) Jesus Chavez, 43-3 (30): Since the fatal KO of Leavander Johnson in September of last year, Chavez hasn’t been inside the ring. The IBF Champion should be able give any elite a run for his money, if not an outright trouncing. But at 34 years of age with no fight on the horizon, coupled with whatever demons are still swimming in his head, Chavez just may relinquish his title so he can knock off the ring rust if he’s even interested in coming back.

5.) Julio Diaz, 33-3 (24): The IBF interim champion is the lowest on my radar, but he seems like a viable threat to the other three title holders. At 5’9, he is only two inches shorter than Diego Corrales and has the same 70 inch reach. He took a knee a couple times in his loss against Castillo, another fighter Freitas managed to avoid, but after two walk-throughs against nobodies, Diaz got a W against an opponent who hadn’t lost since 2003, Ricky Quiles.

6.) David Diaz, 32-1-1 (17): Fighting his way down from welterweight in his early career, Diaz has found a home as interim WBC Lightweight Champion after a TKO victory over Jose Armando Santa Cruz. His opposition hadn’t been that strong until Cruz and now he seems poised to make a statement. As interim champ, he should be Casamayor’s next opponent, but we’ll see. If it happens, look for Diaz to eke out the decision.

7.) Zahir Raheem, 27-2 (16): Within the top five in the WBO, WBA and IBF and probably ranked number 21 by the WBC because he fought for another belt, Raheem is potentially dangerous because of a keen ability to slip punches and embarrass opponents as he did Erik Morales. If he has a decent beard, perhaps he could get more respect if he settled down on his punches and terminated a couple of guys.

8.) Juan Carlos Diaz Melero, 31-1 (16): The WBA and IBF have seen fit to put the Spaniard in their top ten, despite his plumped up 31-1 record against opponents with losing records and other punching bags on legs (the WBC and WBO have him at number 14 which is still too generous). Recently, Melero lost his European title while being exposed by Yuri Romanov, who was 17-2 going into the bout.

9.) Jose Cotto, 28-1 (20): Miguel’s busier, but less talented older brother should be viewed as more of a contender than he is. In the first three rounds against WBA Champion Juan Diaz, Cotto threw more than 100 punches in each. Many fighters would wilt against that kind of constant pressure and so far all but Diaz have in 29 fights.

Diaz wrote the book on what to do against a fighter such as Cotto, making him waste the majority of his punches until the Puerto Rican tired out. But he is rated as the number five and number six in the WBA and IBF, respectively and is the number 12 contender in the WBO, appearing behind Raheem in the WBC.

10.) Jose Armando Santa Cruz, 23-2 (13): Being the former WBC interim champion, Cruz isn’t ranked by any of the other three sanctioning bodies, but he should be. Cruz is a big lightweight with long arms with room to grow at 26 years of age. In David Diaz, he just came up against a superior opponent, although he’s young enough to become a better fighter.