THERE’S A new guy who is calling out Manny Pacquiao.
Juan Diaz, nicknamed The Baby Bull, is raring to bang bodies with the Filipino southpaw.
During the post-fight interview of his victory over Brazilian Acelino Freitas in Connecticut, the Texas-bred Diaz, the holder of two world lightweight titles, said he wants a piece of Pacquiao.
Pacquiao fights in the super-featherweight class of 130 lbs, while Diaz struts his stuff in the 135-lb division.
While a matchup remains a remote possibility today, it may not be so in the near future should the promotional outfits of both fighters begin to talk.
For the right price, Arum and King have set aside differences and went on to stage blockbuster shows in the past.
Pacquiao is under Bob Arum’s Top Rank, while Don King controls the 23-year-old Diaz, who holds a sterling 32-0 win-loss card with 16 knockouts.
Last year, after Diaz mauled Filipino Randy Suico, he craved to be paired with Pacquiao and the GenSan hitter did not bat an eyelash in telling his followers that he will exact payback should they cross paths.
However, it doesn’t appear that Pacquiao and Diaz are on a collision course just yet.
Arum has other plans for Pacquiao with an eye on the likes of other Pacquiao callers like Juan Manuel Marquez, Marco Antonio Barrera, Joan Guzman, Humberto Soto and Edwin Valero.
Marquez, Barrera and Guzman are under Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotionsm while Soto is with Top Rank and Valero fights under Akihiko Honda’s Teiken Promotions of Tokyo athough it has links both with Arum and De La Hoya.
As for Pacquiao, he is more concerned nowadays on how to beat a female foe on May 14 so boxing is taking a back-seat momentarily.
