After a long month off from boxing it's great to have the sport back, especially when we're welcomed back with a fight that's pretty much guaranteed to be fucking great. Juan Diaz recently lost his impressive collection of lightweight title belts in a tough decision to Nate Campbell, and now he's poised to return to the top. Standing in his way is Michael Katsidis, an Australian warrior of Greek heritage who most recently lost to Joel Casamayor despite a tremendous effort. Earlier today Katsidis summed up his view of the fight quite well.
"All I know is I've got a big fight coming up. The only thing that concerns me is that there's a great potential for one of us to get seriously hurt on Saturday night. So there is no crossroads if one of us gets hurt. I am only thinking about winning. I'm not looking at it any deeper than that."
Awesome. And if you aren't yet familiar with Diaz, you should be. The Houston native is a tremendous American athlete who is consistently ignored by the national media. The 24 year-old nicknamed "Baby Bull" carries a record of 33-1, and when not boxing he's studying for his poly-sci degree at the University of Houston and volunteering to register voters. He's also one of the best brawlers in the sport today, and he never fails to entertain. The undercard features a pretty great fight in its own right between Jorge Barrios (another thrilling fighter) and another widely popular Houston fighter, Rocky Juarez. I'm not making a prediction for the main event, but I'm going with Juarez in a knockout victory on the co-feature. Enjoy the fights (free on HBO), and be sure to check back here tomorrow. Diaz-Katsidis: When Their Loss Is Our Gain Fight Day Quotes