Casamayor's Choice Between Money And Legacy

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Casamayor’s Choice Between Money And Legacy

By Tim Starks | June 2nd, 2008

What decision should a man make when the choice boils down to money vs. legacy?

Tomorrow, Joel Casamayor, the Ring magazine lightweight (135 lbs.) champ, must pick whether to battle Nate Campbell, who holds a few title belts himself and is considered by many the best fighter in the division, or Juan Diaz, the man Campbell smoked earlier this year but who happens to share promoters with Casamayor. The decision has ramifications for Casamayor’s esteem and bank account, plus the rest of what is arguably the hottest division in boxing.

For the Campbell fight, Casamayor would make $610,000. For the Diaz fight, Casamayor would make — so he says — double that. Casamayor is a borderline Hall of Famer and one of the best Cuban boxers ever, and beating Campbell in a rematch of what many considered an excellent first fight would go a long way toward enhancing his status on both counts. But he’s also a 36-year-old man who would like to cash in toward the end of his career. His decision, once he makes it, will have a ripple effect on other potential bouts in the weight class.

Diaz is still a good young talent, but it’s a joke that he would be in line for a meeting with Casamayor over Campbell, considering Campbell beat Diaz down pretty thoroughly. And yet, potentially fighting Diaz is the situation Casamayor finds himself in, through no fault of his own. Skip this part if your eyes glaze over at dumb boxing politics: Because the WBO mandated the fight — ridiculously, they consider Campbell their champ and Casamayor their “interim” champ — and because it went to purse bid, which Campbell promoter Don King Productions won, Casamayor risks losing his “interim” title if he doesn’t accept the Campbell assignment. Separately, Golden Boy has been negotiating its own thang with Casamayor-Diaz, and its offering at the WBO purse bid — $571,000 to DKP’s $1.2 million — very much indicates which fight has drawn its interest, and it doesn’t involve Campbell. The WBO is giving Casamayor until Tuesday to make up his mind. Golden Boy has behaved as though Casamayor has not yet done so. Remarks by Casamayor at BoxingTalk suggest otherwise. He is clearly leaning strongly toward fighting Diaz.

Now, it’s hard to begrudge someone too much for wanting to make the most money in their job. It is, after all, called “prizefighting.” But, as a fan, I wish Casamayor would make the best decision for the sport. Diaz does not deserve the fight. Campbell does. The winner of that fight would undoubtedly be “the man” at lightweight. We could forget about all the belts and point to the winner and say, “There’s the real champion of the division.” Besides, beating Diaz does less to enhance Campbell’s Hall of Fame cred. Beating Campbell does. Plus, it’s not like he’d be fighting Campbell for free, right? Long-term, I think you can even make a business case that Casamayor would be better off fighting and beating Campbell. If Casamayor wants a truly big fight, beating Campbell and becoming “the man” is the way to do it, because then Casamayor might be able to goad money machine Manny Pacquiao into a challenge. Paquiao makes his debut at lightweight this month against David Diaz, and Pacquiao’s a proud fighter who might respond to Casamayor yelling that the Pac-Man is ducking the division’s best.

Whatever Casamayor decides, it will shape what comes next for the lightweights. If Casamayor picks Diaz, Campbell likely ends up fighting Joan Guzman in a very interesting fight. If Campbell does not pick Diaz, Diaz likely ends up fighting Michael Katsidis — a Fight of the Year candidate should it happen, given both warriors’ come-forward style. That fight would decide who is the third-best boxer in the division, since Katsidis recently lost to Casamayor in a close, see-saw affair. There is an off-chance that Casamayor could go a whole different direction and fight Juan Manuel Marquez in what would be a war between two of the biggest brains in the sport, both of whom have proven of late they can put on a pretty good show, too. Failing a Casmayor-Campbell fight, or a second rematch between Marquez and Pacquiao, that is the fight I would most like to see for both Casamayor and Marquez, and one that offers a balance of both money and legacy. Then, a whole second wave of fights involving all those men and perhaps some of the division’s young guns like budding stars Amir Khan or Anthony Peterson. And for chrissakes, considering how badly Jose Armando Santa Cruz got rooked last year in that decision loss to Casamayor, can somebody find a big fight for him?

Maybe, should Casamayor beat Diaz, he can get the best of both worlds and then face Campbell. Of course, he could do it the other way around, too. But Casamayor could well lose against either Diaz or Campbell, and then all hope of taking on the other next evaporates. So, in the short-term, it comes down to choosing one over the other. Money. Or legacy.

I don't get why he would get more money fighting Diaz? I mean it's not like Diaz has an incredibly high profile and if he does, he got beat by Campbell. I really don't understand how that fight generates that much more money.

I'm all for fighters making as much money as possible especially ones who deserve it and haven't made as much as they could. Casamayor could easily be one of the greats of this generation.

So if the money really is that much better then go ahead and take that fight, I guess.

Casamayor needs to take the Diaz fight and get paid. It's one thing if he had never fought Campbell before. But he did. And he beat him. Casamayor is in the home stretch of his career. He needs to do what's best for him and his family. He's given his whole life to the sport of boxing. He doesn't owe the sport anything. Take the money.

He's going to take the money. He's got ten kids and he's at the end of his career. He doesn't have any choice.

Somewhere Santa-Cruz is still throwing objects around the house & yelling at the walls.....:furious2:.Casa in a perfect world would go for the unification and seemingly travel the "safer" road with Campbell ;D who He has already beaten and parlay that next.....But Money talks yell's and Diaz is lighthitting and busted up in last one,And has a promotion with phat pockets.Just dont think Diaz has earned this one.

Beating Juan Diaz still adds to his legacy. Nate will add too, but Casamayor has done so much that at this stage in his career any high profile fight near the top is good. Taking on Diaz won't hurt him. Diaz can still fight.... even though Casa has the style to make him look ugly.

Or rematch Santa Cruz to show he was just having an off night?

Is that meant to be a tough choice for him?

Who ever chose legacy over money?

"Fighters want to fight for titles, but not as much as we want to fight for money." Roy Jones jnr

;)

campbell-casa will happen that im quite sure of.

Dont believe all the double your money fighting diaz shit for a second.

casa`s promoter is merely trying to up the purse for his fighter.

He needs to fight Nate. Although Casa is the legit champ, he needs to beat Nate to solidify this in many fans minds.

Go with the money Casa. Everyone else is.

If Casa just got the decisions that went against him he'd be one of the top p4p fighters today up there with Joe and Floyd. Casa can say like those two that he has beaten every man he has ever fought .

Obviously he will go with the money.. But as has been mentioned, I really don't see how Diaz offers a higher purse than Campbell:confused: I think Hattonthehammer might be spot on, sounds like Golden boy is just trying to make it out that Casa has a much better option in hopes that King will put more $$$ on the line..

Take the money.....try buying a house with legacy payments. People are remembered today and forgotten tommorow. For all the punishment these guys take they all deserve whatever they can get.

I don't know why Diaz is not taking a return fight against a lesser guy. I mean for a while there were talks about Katsidis, now Casamayor. I think he could still beat either guy but they definitely seem confident in him, two losses in a row wouldn't be good for him.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OumaFan

I don't know why Diaz is not taking a return fight against a lesser guy. I mean for a while there were talks about Katsidis, now Casamayor. I think he could still beat either guy but they definitely seem confident in him, two losses in a row wouldn't be good for him.

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I honestly see Diaz beating Casamayor at this stage, perhaps even quite handily. My feeling is that either option is a sort of cash in fight, since Casa is at the end of the road. I expected him to beat Katsidis easily, quite honestly... THe fact that he had so much trouble with him pretty much confirmed that he is finished(If the Santa Cruz fight hadn't already). The question for me remains whether Golden Boy will actually offer Casa more money to fight Juan Diaz than Campbell... I guess I could see it happening, but then there will be a lot of pressure among boxing fans to see Diaz fight Campbell again. Perhaps by that time Nate will have gotten to old though. I just think it's crap that Juan Diaz may become the ring champion without rematching Nate Campbell.