Diaz out for redemption

Diaz: redemption time

I started a task and I didn't finish it and I think that now it's redemption time and I believe in my heart of hearts I'm going to win.

Juan Diaz
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David Diaz has warned Juan Manuel Marquez he has unfinished business to resolve.

The pair meet in Las Vegas on Saturday night, live on Sky Sports HD, in a repeat of the 2009 Fight of the Year, which the Mexican won with a ninth-round stoppage.

Marquez still wants Pacman

The defeat triggered a tough time for Diaz, as he beat then lost to Paulie Malignaggi in back-to-back 12-rounders.

He has had seven months to regroup after the third defeat of his career - all of them coming in his last five fights - and says he will make Marquez pay at Mandalay Bay this weekend.

"I'm very excited," he told Sky Sports.

"When you start a project and you leave it undone you really want to get back to it - that's the way I feel right now.

"I started a task and I didn't finish it and I think that now it's redemption time and I believe in my heart of hearts I'm going to win."

But Diaz, nicknamed the Baby Bull, knows he is at the crossroads.

Less than three years ago he was the undefeated, unified lightweight champion after stopping namesake Julio in nine rounds. But five months on later he lost a shock decision and the WBA, IBF and WBO belts to the veteran Nate Campbell.

Victory over Michael Katsidis in September 2006 put him back on track but without a belt and Marquez proved too canny and too powerful in their first meeting, in which Diaz was largely the agressor before being overwhelmed in the ninth.

He soon added the scalp of Malignaggi but lost an immediate rematch with the feather-fisted New Yorker and knows that defeat on Saturday night will rule him out of further title contention.

Sky Sports Xtra