Tuesday, November 13, 2007 Diaz wants Pacquiao By Edri K. Aznar Sun.Star Correspondent
WORLD Boxing Council lightweight champion David Diaz issued a challenge for Manny Pacquiao after WBC president Jose Sulaiman told Pacquiao that he fight for a belt and not just for money.
The Philboxing.com reported that the one-time Olympian feels fulfilled after beating a noble warrior like Erik Morales (48-6-0, 34 KOs) and wants to add Pacquiao (45-3-2, 35 KOs) to his list of victims.
WBC president Jose Sulaiman said Pacquiao should win a belt to earn a place in history.
David (33-1-1, 17 KOs) believes he will not be truly respected and feared until he beats the cream of the crop and that is Manny Pacquiao.
The champion is also impressed with Pacquiao and said that Manny is tough, aggressive, and a non-stop worker inside the ring. But he thinks that if there would be a fight between the two of them, it would be evenly matched.
David, who defeated Morales last Aug. 4, is the second lightweight champion to challenge Pacquiao after IBO, WBO and WBA champion Juan Diaz.
“I think his style would be a perfect match for my style. I don’t back down from a fight. I work my butt off. So Manny, if you’re listening, let’s get this fight on,” Diaz said in a report posted at Philboxing.com.
Juan earlier challenged Pacquiao after defeating Julio Diaz to add the IBF belt to his WBO and WBA title.
Aside from the two Diazes, another champion who wants to fight Pacquiao is WBC super featherweight title holder Juan Marquez.
However, for Pacquiao fans, a fight with Marquez is still the best option.
In an online poll at mannypacquiao.ph, 56.0 percent of 16,523, voted for a rematch with Marquez, while only 7.0 percent want a fight with David.
Meanwhile, Pacquiao said he is getting confused with so many challenges from champions in the super featherweight and lightweight divisions.
“Anyway, there are a lot of boxers who want to fight me. There’s Marquez, Casamayor, and the three Diaz’s. Even I am confused on who to fight next. But any of them will do, I’ll just make sure that I’ll give a good fight and most of all, make my fans happy, making everybody happy is so important to me,” Pacquiao wrote in his column for Philboxing.com.
