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Sunday Punch: Juan Manuel Marquez takes out Juan Diaz in 2009’s Fight of the Year

“What you just saw was a really good young fighter knocked out by a great, old fighter.”

Those were the words of Max Kellerman after Juan Manuel Marquez knocked out Juan Diaz for the unified WBO and WBA lightweight belts. The date was February 28th, 2009 at the Toyota Center in Diaz’s hometown of Houston, Texas.

“Baby Bull” was a rising star in boxing and a unified world champion, but he’d just suffered his first loss two fights prior to Nate Campbell. He got back in the win column with a split decision over Michael Katsidis, setting the stage for a big showdown with the Mexican icon.