Marquez retains titles

The Mexican drew with the Filipino in 2004 and suffered a narrow defeat four years later but will hope to come away with a victory if they meet for a third time.

"The trilogy with Pacquiao is what I want," said Marquez, 51-5-1, (37 KOs). "Everybody wants to see it. It's good for all fight fans, for the Mexicans, the Filipinos. Everyone wants to see it. That's the most important fight for me now."

The fight with Diaz was a rematch of a February 2009 contest, in which Diaz set the pace early before Marquez took control and scored a knockout in the eighth round.

There were no knockdowns this time, but on several occasions Marquez appeared to hurt Diaz with sharp combinations. He landed more than Diaz in every one of the twelve rounds and in total scored with 288 punches, 133 more than his opponent.

Diaz, 35-4 (17 KOs) said he had intended to set a more measured pace than in the previous encounter, but that Marquez had thwarted his plans.

"I fought the best fight I could," he said.

"I think I fought a good fight. We were trading punches. I didn't want to stand in front of him. The game plan was to get in there, throw combinations, step around him and get out.

"But it was tough and I got hit with some good punches. He's a great fighter."

On the undercard, Dmitry Pirog upset the previously unbeaten Daniel Jacobs to claim the vacant WBO world middleweight title.

The undefeated Russian scored a fifth round knockout victory thanks to a beautifully thrown right hand, 57 seconds into the round

In the opening bout of the evening, English super middleweight prospect George Groves notched his 10th consecutive victory by stopping Alfredo Contreras 48 seconds into the sixth round.

In a junior welterweight clash, Robert Guerrero overcame a late knockdown to score a unanimous 10 round decision over fellow former world champion Joel Casamayor while former two-division world champion Jorge Linares scored a relatively comfortable ten round unanimous decision victory over veteran contender Rocky Juarez.

In Mexico, Alberto Rosas claimed the IBF super flyweight crown with a sixth round stoppage win over champion Simphiwe Nongqayi.

WBC interim middleweight world champion Sebastian Zbik notched a unanimous decision over previously unbeaten Argentine Jorge Sebsatian Heiland at the o2 World Arena in Hamburg.

And on the same bill WBA super middleweight champion Dimitri Sartison outpointed challenger Khoren Gevor 115-112, 117-109 and 117-110.