Look! A baby bull...

Juan Diaz stopped Julio Diaz last night in Chicago to grab a third lightweight belt for himself, Julio's IBF edition, which Juan can add to the WBA and WBO belts that he won from Acelino Freitas last April. Like Popo, Julio Diaz was forced by the Baby Bull to quit on his stool, although in Julio's case it was his brother and cornerman who did him the favor of ending the bout. It was indeed a favor - Julio was taking one jaw-rattling headshot after another from Juan last night and after eight it was doubtful that he had yet won a round.

The Baby Bull is a curious phenomenon - a buzzsaw with whiplash hands and a soft middle who comes forward relentlessly, boasts almost no defense to speak of, routinely throws 100-120 punches a round and seemingly never gets tired. His power is suspect. Of 33 wins (against no losses), he has only 17 stoppages, which may seem like a high percentage until you consider the fact that most of those fights were with the denizens of Palookaville who are set up for young talents of Juan's order like so many bowling pins. Last night's bout was a good example of Diaz's frightening volume and overall lack of pop - the blows that he repeatedly landed in flurries all over his opponent's head and body were crowd-pleasing and head-snapping (Juan has a great punch-accompanying grunt that, like Maria Sharapova, adds considerable panache to his every strike), but Julio did not look much the worse for wear when his corner stopped the fight, and never once seemed dazed or hurt during the proceedings.

There are a lot of exciting bouts looming on the horizon in the 135 class right now - there's the Baby Bull with his three belts, David Diaz, owner of the WBC belt, Joel Casamayor, in the eyes of many the lineal lightweight champion, and of course the little Filipino white whale named Manny Pacquiao, who claims that he is ready to jump up a weight class now that he's singlehandedly retired all the big names at 130.

Word is that Pacquiao will fight David Diaz first, which is a borderline sexy fight that, lest Pacquiao have some unforeseen problem with the weight jump, he will win without too much resistance. Juan Diaz's next fight is reported to be an IBF mandatory against Nate Campbell (The Galaxxy Warrior, word), which I think is a good fight for him and a potentially interesting bout. Juan is also calling out Pac Man, but I must say, I think that has problems written all over it for little Baby B. Pacquiao easily can match Juan's staggering energy and punch output, and what's more, when Manny hits you, you stay hit. One thing about Juan Diaz - he doesn't exactly hide from you in there. He's got a decent beard on him, as he showed again in the fight last night. Then again, never in his young career has he sucked down a six-Pac or two of Manny's cold left hands. If that fight ever comes around, you can trust that I will be one of the multitudes betting on Pac to bag the Bull in under six rounds.

(p.s. Evander also lost yesterday, as I'm sure you're aware. Good riddance. I'd like to think he would lay the gloves down now, but then again, I thought he would do that in '99, and again in '01, and then in '03...)