Veteran power puncher Nate Campbell stunned the previously unbeaten WBA/IBF/WBO lightweight world champion Juan Diaz by split points decision over 12 intensely fought rounds at Plaza de Toros in Cancun, Mexico on Saturday night, co-headlining HBO’s World Championship Boxing Peter-Maskaev broadcast Campbell 32-5-1 (25) who had doggedly and patiently fought his way to this evening’s title fight, was met by a typically energetic and pressure applying Diaz from the opening bell. The veteran Floridian, however, elected to immediately trade punch-for-punch with the young champion and didn’t stop until the final bell. Diaz 33-1 (17) suffered a horrendous cut in the sixth round and Campbell took complete advantage – grasping victory by pummeling the badly injured Texan with clean leather through the second half of the fight.
Campbell attacked the champion viciously to the body from the opening bell and he seemed content to fight Diaz’ fight on the inside. The challenger then focused his assault upstairs and connected cleanly to the face with numerous right hands, whilst employing his head to open a cut over the left eye of the younger man – a decision which spurred the 24-year-old into action. Diaz raked Campbell with both hands in the second half as both men refused to give an inch – trading to the close of this blistering frame.
Both fighters went after it again in the second, but, given the tremendous pace, Diaz must have been the happier man – his work rate and fitness would surely trump the 36-year-old’s in the later rounds. This was evident in the final minute of the frame as Campbell backed off to the ropes and allowed the champion to again strafe him with a steady onslaught of punches. Up until that point it was again an evenly fought round, with Campbell matching his opponent punch-for-punch to the body and head.
Campbell began to box a little more to start the third and he fashioned a beautiful right hand behind his jab in the opening seconds. Diaz responded with a hard combination to the body that stopped the challenger from gaining the momentum. The combatants battered each other again for the duration of the round but it seemed that Campbell’s punches were landing with more venom, although Diaz had his man reeling in the final twenty seconds with a perfectly thrown four punch combination – landed in equal parts to the midsection and dial of Campbell.
Campbell looked a little less eager in the fourth and, although both men invested heavily to the body, the champion was beginning to gain the upper hand with clean punching versus Campbell’s less accurate output. This was, no doubt, a spirited showing from the veteran Floridian, but one sensed that Diaz was finding his groove and was beginning to land a higher level of scoring punches as the fight continued.
Perhaps under the impression that his opponent was indeed tiring, Diaz attacked with even more gusto in the fifth round. Campbell, however, caught him cleanly with short counter punches in the opening minute – forcing Diaz to back-off a little which allowed Campbell to re-employ his jab. Not to be outdone, the Texan zipped his own left jab into the face of the challenger which served him well until the final thirty seconds. In that later portion of the frame, Campbell again tagged Diaz with hard, clean and short counters that stunned the champion.
The fierce pace continued into the middle rounds as both guys fought relentlessly at close quarters. Nearing the end of the sixth round, Diaz’s left eye – already wounded by an earlier Campbell foul – was slashed open by, what seemed to be, the challenger’s head. Referee Jesus Salcedo Lopez chose to deduct a precious point from Campbell’s tally, although television replays showed that it was a left hand thrown on the inside that opened the bloody wound.
Diaz was clearly bothered by the cut and he pawed at it regularly throughout the next couple of rounds, which allowed Campbell to batter the champion as the unbeaten youngster seemed preoccupied by his injury. Rejuvenated, ‘The Galaxxy Warrior’ enjoyed the better of the seventh and in the eighth he continued to use his head to cause further damage to his opponent’s eye on the inside. The tide had definitely turned by the ninth round and Campbell had, by this stage, stamped his control on the fight by landing clean and hurtful punches in staggering amounts for a 36-year-old athlete. Blood was pouring from the eye of the champion and he was visibly tired and desperate – throwing steamless punches loosely aimed in the general direction of his opponent.
Diaz’ eye was verging on the grotesque as the fight entered the final rounds and Campbell continued to pepper it with jabs, hooks and straight right hands as he wore down his foe systematically. The incumbent, who had surely been on the losing end of the majority of rounds, needed a knockout – not his forte at the best of times never mind when weakened and badly wounded.
Both men closed the show as they began – throwing punch after punch with heads rested on each others chest. Diaz, though, could never muster the strength to inflict the necessary damage on Campbell – allowing the 36-year-old veteran to pick up his first and richly deserved world title.
Scores: 116-111; 115-112; 114-113
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