Diaz poised to lay down law against Marquez

Juan Diaz has done his homework, studying more than just fight tapes of his opponent tonight, world lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez.

Diaz recently graduated from the University of Houston and has a game plan for life after boxing. He wants to become a lawyer and says, in order to do so, he will soon have to retire from the sport that has brought him wealth and fame.

"It makes it very important, bigger than any fight I ever fought," Diaz, a former three-time world champion, said of the rematch against Marquez at Mandalay Bay. "I'm 26. I'm probably only going to fight another year and a half, two years at the most."

That's if he wins. A loss, particularly a bad loss, could prompt Diaz to trade his boxing gloves for textbooks.

"I'm not thinking about that right now," he said. "My focus is entirely on winning this fight. If things don't go my way, we'll see."

His longtime trainer, Ronnie Shields, thinks he knows what will happen if Diaz loses tonight.

"Depending on how it goes, my gut feeling is if he loses, he'll quit and move on to his law career," Shields said.

Diaz (35-3, 17 knockouts) is a 4-1 underdog against the 36-year-old Marquez (50-5-1, 37 KOs), who stopped him with a huge right uppercut in the ninth round of their first meeting in February 2009 in Diaz's hometown of Houston.

The Boxing Writers Association of America voted it 2009's Fight of the Year.

"I lost because I committed some dumb mistakes on my behalf, mistakes I normally wouldn't make," Diaz said. "I was too excited, too pumped up for the fight. I didn't control my emotions like I should have."

Still, Diaz was hardly overmatched. The fight was even on the judges' scorecards entering the ninth round.

He said the change in venue this time will help him focus.

"I know how to react, and it helps that we're in Vegas," he said. "Yes, Vegas is a big fight town, but it's not like fighting in your hometown. We had 15,000-plus. When I heard the roar of the crowd, all my concentration went out the door and I was fighting on instinct.

"I think it's a positive to be here. I know Juan Manuel Marquez has fought here many times. It's almost as if Vegas is his own backyard. But I like playing the underdog role, knowing that I'm not going to have all the people behind me."

Diaz got a taste of that during Friday's weigh-in at Mandalay Bay Events Center, where Marquez's supporters clearly outnumbered the Diaz fans. Marquez came in at 133½ pounds, and Diaz was right at the limit of 135.

Diaz said he is better prepared for his second shot at Marquez.

"It's been easier in the sense in that people doubt my ability to win," he said. "We haven't had a lot of calls or people come by the gym. People have pushed me to the side, figuring I'm going to lose. There's no crazy entourages of friends and people hanging around. When we went to camp, we went right to work. It's been all business."

Shields said being in Las Vegas should help Diaz relax inside the ring.

"You don't put pressure on yourself when you're away from home," the veteran trainer said. "When you're a young kid, you want to please everyone, when what you really need to do is please yourself."

Shields said Diaz needs to use his brain as much as his fists in order to defeat Marquez.

"The primary thing is to make sure when he's finished punching he's not standing there waiting to get hit," Shields said. "(Marquez) is such a smart fighter. You have to outsmart him.

"We've trained that each round is the 12th round. He has to maintain the intensity over the entire 12 rounds."

Diaz said his aggressive approach worked well last time.

"I was taking the fight to him, and I was working well inside," he said. "I was able to take away his counterpunching.

"I have to do the same thing this time, but I have to do it smart. I have to be smart offensively and defensively. I can't leave myself open like I did the last time."

And if it's not good enough?

"It may be time to move on," he said.

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913.