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Anyone who has ever participated in an athletic endeavor has been told that adversity develops character. That you learn from your mistakes. “Tough times don’t last, tough people do”. That looks nice on a t-shirt, but how does it translate to the real world. In the last few months we have seen three champions deposed, WBC & WBO Middleweight champion Jermain Taylor, WBO Welterweight champion Antonio Margarito, and IBF Lightweight champion Julio Diaz. Taylor, knocked out in the seventh by #1 contender Kelly Pavlik, was in the fight having knocked Pavlik down in the second round. The inability of Taylor to make in-fight adjustments and it seems his opponents greater will caused Taylor to lose this fight. A rematch appears to be on the horizon in January, but one has to wonder if Pavlik, having actually been in the ring with Taylor, will be even better prepared the second time around. With Emmanuel Steward in his camp, Jermain needs to put in to practice what Steward is preaching or the next fight will be even shorter than the last.

Antonio Margarito was the welterweight that the entire division was supposedly ducking. Margarito held the WBO belt since 2004, but until fighting current IBF champion Kermit Cintron in 2005, he hadn’t fought a name fighter at welterweight. He did lose a WBO light middleweight title bout to Daniel Santos by technical decision in the 10^th in 2004. That fight was stopped due to a Margarito cut caused by an accidental head butt. Margarito blew out Cintron, as the fight was stopped in the fifth, after Cintron was down twice in both the fourth and fifth. After this fight the stars of the division decided they wanted nothing to do with this tall, rangy fighter. That is until Paul Williams burst on to the scene and called out Margarito. Williams, a taller, even rangier fighter than Margarito, was simply the busier fighter during the bout and this activity carried him to a unanimous decision victory, though some have said that they saw Margarito as the winner or at least a draw would have been the right call. Nonetheless at this point in time Williams owns the belt and Margarito does not.

How many Diaz vs. Diaz jokes can we make? Juan owned two belts, David one, and Julio one. So in order to unify the belts a Diaz had to fight a Diaz. This wasn’t Jerry and Mike Quarry we’re talking about here, this isn’t Vitaly and Wladamir Klitschko. By sheer happenstance three guys named Diaz ruled the 135 lb division. Now it’s two, and if the promoters cooperate it will soon be only one. Juan “Baby Bull” Diaz decimated Julio “Kidd” Diaz with a thudding, pounding, assault that ended with a TKO in the ninth round. Juan’s typical, methodical effort simply made Julio give up. Julio quit on his stool between the eighth and ninth round. One can only assume he felt he had taken enough abuse and could not possibly see a way to win by knockout, which was the only way that he had a chance.

Sometimes a loss is not loss. Alexis Arguello losing to Aaron Pryor raised our opinion of Arguello from being a solid, stylist to one of a tough warrior who would give everything he had in a fight. Oscar de la Hoya never seems to lose. In each fight where things do not go his way, he is able to spin things around and find a bigger payday and show even more heart than we thought he had. Conversely sometimes a win is not a win. Buster Douglas beating Mike Tyson proved that “Iron Mike” was vulnerable and sent him on a slide which seems to have no stopping point. Douglas followed that monumental victory with a very cavalier loss to Evander Holyfield and not much since.

Taylor’s loss to Pavlik was just that a loss. The questions surrounding him were answered. When a man stood up to him and decided to push back, he got beat. Nobody is questioning Jermain Taylor’s heart or desire, but his skill level and discipline need some work. Pavlik exploited that and until Taylor can go back in to the gym and work on and execute the things that his trainers are teaching him, he may be relegated to a second tier fighter. However, I feel that Margarito’s loss to Williams may prove to be the catalyst that Margarito needs to force him in to the picture as one of the next great welterweights. At this time last year I was as high on Paul Williams as I think I have ever been on an up and coming fighter. The Margarito victory showed me a few things that I didn’t like. For one thing, you can throw three thousand punches in a round and if none of them do any damage, someone like Miguel Cotto will just wade threw them and body blow you to death. Antonio Margarito has what it takes, he just has to bring out a little more of the “dog”. And as long as Juan Diaz continues to fight Julio Diaz should not. Actually the rest of the lightweight division should just settle in and hope that Juan doesn’t call on them to be his next victim. In his last two fights, the “Baby Bull” has made both Acelino Freitas and Julio Diaz quit. These weren’t just some last minute replacements, they were both reigning title holders. This win was a win and the best thing for Juan Diaz is if Manny Pacquiao decides to move up and present a challenge. Maybe the only thing.

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