JM Marquez the master over Juan Diaz as Amir Khan waits in the wings -- Telegraph

By Gareth A Davies, Telegraph.co.uk

Juan Manuel Marquez still has it. In abundance. The Mexican master fought his way to a unanimous decision over Juan Diaz at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas in the early hours of this morning, to retain his WBA and WBO lightweight titles.

Clinical, rarely troubled, Marquez put on a top-level, counter-punching performance, to defeat Diaz for a second time, following his ninth round stoppage victory in February last year.

The memories of Marquez (51-5-1, 37 KOs) being dominated by the much bigger Floyd Mayweather Jnr – in September 2009 – eased away as Diaz (35 wins 4 losses) was picked apart by a fighter whose ambition shows no sign of decreasing.

It is now it is a question of what happens next…British WBA light-welterweight king Amir Khan was ringside, as was David Haye, the WBA heavyweight champion, who was working the corner for supermiddleweight George Groves, making his debut in the United States.

Diaz – known as Baby Bull – was forceful in the opening rounds, but as the fight progressed, Marquez’s superior ring skills began to tell, from round four the two belt world champion landing at will with left hooks and piston right hands. Diaz was in trouble in the middle of the fourth round, rocked by upper cuts.

Marquez, 36, who has held titles in three divisions, may now move up to light-welterweight, after the 116-112, 118-110 and 117-111 verdict.

Marquez said after the fight that his preference is for a third fight with Manny Pacquiao – with one draw and the Filipino winning by split decision in the other – yet the pound for pound king is due to fight at light-middleweight against Antonio Margarito on Nov 13.

Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, is looking at Khan as a possible opponent for Marquez in December.

Marquez said: “There’s a lot of possibilities, the door is open. One challenge is to move to 140 and be the first Mexican to win four divisions. My priority right now has always been Pacquiao. If I have to defend my title I will with honour. Against [Michael] Katsidis [who was ringside for th fight] ? That’s what I’ll do.”

Source: blogs.telegraph.co.uk