According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, the rematch of 2009’s fight of the year between Juan Manuel Marquez and Juan Diaz will take place July 31st in Las Vegas on Pay Per View.
Marquez-Diaz I took place in front of a wild crowd of more than 14,000 on Feb. 28, 2009, at the Toyota Center in Diaz’s hometown of Houston. It turned out to be an unforgettable fight and was named fight of the year by ESPN.com, the Boxing Writers Association of America and Ring magazine.
“These two guys are made for each other,” Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer said. “The first fight was fight of the year and I have no doubt the rematch will be another great fight.”
“I came back to lightweight because at welterweight I lost a lot of speed,” Marquez said.
“I know that 140 is not my weight class,” Diaz said. “It didn’t take anything away from me.”
“I am going to forget our first fight. It is like it never happened,” Marquez said. “I am going in as if this were our first meeting. A lot of people are asking me, ‘Why Juan Diaz again?’ There are two reasons. No. 1 is that he is a great fighter and deserves a rematch. No. 2, the people deserve a great fight like this.
“Our fight was the fight of the year in 2009 and it may be the fight of the year again in 2010. Finally I want to give the people a great fight, especially the Mexican people. You are all going to see two warriors who will give everything they have and leave everything in the ring.”
“I am very excited because I have two things going on in these next couple of months,” Diaz said. “I have the second biggest fight of my career. I have some career defining decisions. On June 7, I am going to take the LSAT and those logic puzzles are kicking my butt. I am excited because this is going to be a great summer for myself, for my family and for my team.
“People are saying this is going to be a must win fight for me. But I don’t see it that way. I see this as redemption. Redemption for what I was going to accomplish in 2009, but it wasn’t meant to be. Come July 31, I am going to pick up in the ninth round. I left off in the ninth round last time, and I am going to pick it up from there.”
