As HBO was replaying the rematch between Manny Pacquiao and Marco Antonio Barrera this past Saturday night, they cut away into Juan Diaz’s locker room before his lightweight unification bout against Julio Diaz. But instead of the customary shadowboxing, Diaz was taking left-handed cuts with a baseball bat to get lathered up.
Just as we suspected, Diaz speaks softly and carries a big stick.
HBO’s Bob Papa mentioned that ‘the Baby Bull’ is not a home run hitter, but one that gets on base time and time again with his high work rate. In wearing out the other Diaz – to add the IBF strap to his collection of belts – he showed once again that he’s the most prolific gap hitter out of Houston since Craig Biggio.
Over eight fast-paced rounds, Diaz would swarm all over his namesake, who had no choice but to try and hold his ground and fight. Julio tried to box for about the first minute or so but was forced to abandon that plan early on and dig in.
“It surprised me,” admitted Diaz, who improved his mark to 33-0 and is now the WBA, WBO and IBF lightweight champion. “I didn’t think that he would stand there and trade toe-to-toe with me and it was very surprising. But if favored me, so it was a good thing for me.”
For every shot and flurry that the native of Coachella, California, would throw, he was met with three times the output in return. It was only a matter of time before he would succumb to this onslaught. Diaz’s offensive attack is like an army of red ants. Individually they may not do much damage, but as a collective unit, they can wreck havoc with whatever gets in their way.
“I believe I felt him slow down in the fifth and sixth rounds. I felt him slowing down a lot in comparison to the first two rounds,” Diaz would say. His corner, led by Derwin Richards and Willie Savannah, implored him to employ his underrated jab as the night went along. The seventh and eight rounds would see Diaz snap his foe’s head back repeatedly with his shotgun left.
“I saw that he slowed down tremendously after my jabs,” Diaz would recall. “I know that my body punches and all my combinations were wearing him down. So I figured I needed to start using my jab to kind of wear him down a little bit more and once I started using my jab, I saw that it was affecting him. My jab is pretty strong, and to me, I feel as though I throw my jab like a right hand, and I think every time I landed that jab it affected him every time.”
After the eighth inning, Diaz and his corner would call it a day. It was like boxing’s version of the ten-run rule.
“I was astonished. I couldn’t believe that he gave up because he seemed like he was in tip-top shape. The interviews, the two, three press conferences we had, I could see in his eyes he was ready to fight and he wasn’t going to take no for an answer,” said Diaz.
It was a performance that left everyone duly impressed. Diaz is the type of fighter that could lead a boxing renaissance. Nobody ever leaves a Diaz contest dissatisfied and you don’t have to be convinced of his entertainment value.
“I think if we had just about three or four Juan Diazes they’d bring back boxing,” said Larry Merchant, who called this past weekend?s bout for HBO. “He is a real phenomenon; I don’t recall a fighter like him, as busy, as well-conditioned, being able to sustain such a high punch rate for as long as he does on the highest level. Because there is a vulnerability in a fighter who fights as aggressively as he does. But he just keeps coming. In the modern era I haven’t seen a guy like him, because aggressive guys are usually punchers. They usually can break opponents down and get them late in the fight. But he does it a different way.
“The two fighters I’ve heard him compared to – two old-time fighters, greats – Tony Canzoneri, who was a great featherweight, lightweight in the late 20’s and early 30’s. I know Teddy Atlas thinks he’s the greatest of all the Italian fighters – even over Marciano. A very busy fighter with a fairly low knockout ratio. And Henry Armstrong, now, he doesn’t punch as crisply as Armstrong did, probably, but that kind of perpetual motion is unheard of.”
It’s fighters like Diaz that are boxing’s greatest counterpunch to forces like MMA.
“Cus D’Amato used to say that the idea of professional prizefighting was to make money,” recalled Merchant of the noted trainer. “The way you make money is by fighting in a style that people want to pay to see and people want to fill the seats, whether it’s on television or in the arena. And so after a kind of a lull, in which we saw guys who were safety-first or semi safety-first fighters and happy to box their way to the bank, suddenly, we’re developing some crowd-pleasing type fighters, like Kelly Pavlik, like Juan Diaz, like Miguel Cotto, like Ricky Hatton, Mikkel Kessler – who I don’t know if he can make an impact here – and this is good.
“Because these are the type of fighters that don’t have to win every fight. You have to fight every fight, and people know that when they come they’re going to see fighters take risks, they’re going to see fighters who move them and make them stand up and cheer after rounds, instead of walking out before it’s over because the decision has been in by the seventh and eighth round.”
(Uh, Larry, stick to broadcasting, OK?)
Diaz would win the WBA title in 2004 by out-hustling Lavka Sim as a youngster. As he racked up title defenses against the likes of Julien Lorcy, Billy Irwin, Randy Suico and Fernando Angulo, he would come under some criticism by those with myopia, who couldn’t see the long-term, big picture for Diaz. Thankfully, those folks aren’t managing boxers.
“First of all, I knew we had a developing fighter that needed to be groomed,” explained Savannah, who resisted all temptations to over-match his fighter for the sake of a big payday. “I know we had a 20-year old baby. I said, ‘No, he’s 20 years old.’ We went after our first mandatory with Lorcy, which I thought we would beat. The next one was Irwin and then I escaped the Castillos, the Corraleses and Freitases for two, three years. Then I waited until I thought Juan had matured enough mentally and physically to go in with those 27, 28 year old grown men. Juan was a 20, 21 year old kid.”
Now, at 24, Savannah is ready to take on all-comers.
“Juan can fight most guys from ’30 to ’40. He can fight whoever wants to come up from ’30 and some of the smaller guys at ’40, depending on if it was a big enough deal.”
Diaz, who by Monday afternoon was back to attending classes at the University of Houston-Downtown, says of his maturation, “I think that right now at 24 I’m getting into my full man-strength. I think I’m getting stronger and I’m getting faster as I grow older and I think right now it’s my time to shine. I believe that I’m strong enough to be in there with any of the lightweights and I’m showing it fight after fight. So I think that from here on out, it’s no more turning back and going down. I’m going to improve every time I step in the ring.”
And there’s no doubt who they want – they got ‘Pac Man’ fever.
“Our preference would be Pacquiao,” says Savannah, “but I don’t think Pacquiao would fight Juan. My next preference would be to unify the ‘BC belt but I don’t think that’s going to happen. The sanctioning bodies aren’t going to allow that. So I think probably the next guy in line would be Michael Katsidis.”
Diaz would say, “Right now, my dream fight would be against Manny Pacquiao. But a fight with David Diaz would also be fantastic. So it all depends on who we can make the contract with and who can agree to fight.”
David Diaz currently holds the WBC title. Like Pacquiao, he is handled by Bob Arum and Top Rank, who has a different agenda for his fighters.
“Right now, there seems to be four candidates,” he says, when asked of Pacquiao’s immediate future. “If he stays at 130, there are three and they are Juan Manuel Marquez, the Humberto Soto-Joan Guzman winner, and if he decides to go up in weight and fight at 135, then there is David Diaz.”
Arum says a bout between Pacquiao and Juan Diaz, while a blockbuster, still needs to be built up and nurtured.
“That would be a big fight and obviously I would want it. If Manny were going up to lightweight then it’s only right that he fight one of the Top Rank fighters, then somebody else’s fighter. Don King called me today looking to do that fight and it would certainly be attractive down the line,” he would say on Tuesday afternoon. “Juan Diaz is a terrific fighter; unfortunately, he’s relatively unknown outside of boxing circles. As witness, they didn’t do a particularly great rating and they didn’t do any attendance.”
Regardless of who he faces, Pacquiao is slated to return on March 15th in Las Vegas. But there is another enticing option: Katsidis, who is the interim WBO titlist and Diaz’s mandatory for that organization. Diaz has a ten day window to make his intentions clear (via letter) on whether he will face Katsidis within 120 days. If he doesn’t, the title will then go to Katsidis.
It would be a can’t miss battle. Diaz and Katsidis would have no problems finding each other and leather would be flung all night. The transplanted Aussie was stirred by Diaz’s latest outing.
“I think it was great,” he would tell Maxboxing. “He’s getting better and he’s improving with every fight. I hadn’t seen a whole lot of him in his earlier career, but the fights I saw, with Freitas and just a lot of his snippets they showed in the lead-up to the Freitas fight, and his latest fight with Julio, I think he’s a great fighter.”
A great fighter he wants to get in there with.
“Of course, how many times can I say it? I’m here to fight and that’s what I’m here for and that’s what I’ve got to do to become the outright champion,” said Katsidis, who has been involved in two ‘fight of the year’ candidates in 2007 with Graham Earl and Czar Amonsot.
“We want the fights that are going to make Juan look good and I think Katsidis is probably tailor made,” says Savannah, who also mentions their IBF mandatory, Nate Campbell. “But if you go look at it as far as marketability, you just say, ‘Nate’s a super guy, we love Nate and everything but I don’t think Nate’s as marketable right now as Katsidis.’ If we couldn’t get David Diaz or Pacquiao, who else is there?”
Diaz and Katsidis are mirror images in terms of their fight mentality and style. Each has shown an indomitable will to win at all costs.
“This is going to be one of those fights where it’s almost like science, and whoever puts in the hardest work will be the bloke that wins,” says Katsidis. “You can go on consistency. He’s very consistent and I’ve only had one fight here in the States but a lot of people believe in me and they believe in my power and I believe in myself. So to win the fight it’s going to be, I suppose in a lot of people’s minds, an upset.”
So far, Diaz hasn’t faced anyone that has been able to match his fire and intensity over 12 rounds. Some had the technical skill (Julio Diaz), others had the power (Freitas), but none had the passion of Katsidis, who is a heavier puncher than Diaz.
“I believe it would’ve been hard for him to get to where he’s got without facing people with part of what I have,” Katsidis surmises. “Like I said, I haven’t seen a lot of the fights, only snippets, but I’m sure there would’ve been guys that did have that power and guys that were as consistent as maybe my work rate. Look, I think he will know what he’s expecting. I think now after fighting Julio, he’ll have the confidence – if he didn’t already have it – he will have it to face me.”
When asked about Katsidis, Diaz states, “I’ve seen him fight and he is a great fighter and very, very strong. So I think that would be a great fight between him and I. My goal is – and my duty is – to fight, to get ready and win fights. I leave all the dealings to my manager and my promoter and whoever they tell me to step in the ring with, that’s who I’m going to step in the ring with.”
They have taken their time with Diaz, and the timing could not have been better.
“Boxing needs a kid like Juan and they need somebody that can unify and is willing to unify the belts,” says Savannah, who has been with Diaz since the fighter was nine.
It’s been quite a year so far for Diaz; while other fighters have negotiated their way out of lucrative bouts and sat on the linear title and made themselves irrelevant to the public, Diaz had unified three-fourths of the lightweight division. And with that, he has gotten a newfound respect and recognition.
“I believe that with these two great fights (Diaz and Freitas) that I’ve shown the people, now they recognize me as a true champion,” says the still-humble Diaz. “I think now that people are starting to see me as a threat. And sure, I don’t have the one-punch knockout power or the devastating power that knocks people out in one round, but people can see that I’ve been able to stop high-caliber fighters that I’ve faced in the recent months.”
PAC PLANS?
So what does Freddie Roach think of a Diaz fight for his man?
“It’s a tough fight at ’35,” he would admit. “Juan’s very active but not a big puncher. It’s a fight we would think about taking, for sure.
But for now, they have unfinished business at 130, it seems.
“Manny told me he wants to fight his next fight at 130,” said Roach, who mentioned the same possibilities as Arum that reside at jr. lightweight.
Roach believes that they would have to work their way into being a lightweight before taking on the Houstonian.
“I want to see how Manny feels at ’35 first, test the waters a little bit. Why go into a big title fight right away with a guy like him? He’s a big, strong guy and he’s very active. But he’s a little bit slow of hand and so forth. I think Manny could out-speed him, but I would like to see how Manny reacts to 135.”
What remains to be seen is just how much punching power Pacquiao – who won his first world title as a flyweight – would carry up with him.
“I think he’d still have good power but maybe not the devastating power he had at ’26 and ’30, where he’s been,” said the respected trainer. “His speed I’m concerned about also, because maybe the speed won?t be quite as sharp at ’35. He had to lose a couple of pounds for the last fight because he wasn’t watching his weight; it wasn’t a problem making weight. He has no problems making ’30 and after the fight he kept talking about ’35, but the next day when he talked to me he said he wanted his next fight at ’30.”
BATMAN
So why was Diaz taking cuts on a Louisville Slugger before his bout? It’s all about balance, leverage and torque.
“I started using that because I’m trying to work on my leg movement in the ring, trying to not just stay flat-footed, trying to get in the rhythm a little bit more while throwing my combinations so I won?t fall in and lean over,” he would explain, of the routine put in by Brian Caldwell. “One of the things my strength coach realized was I wasn’t turning over my punches, I wasn’t using my feet. So he gave me the baseball bat to get more body movement, more leg movement and it?s also a good way to stretch myself.
Diaz says he takes about 25 swings both right and left-handed.
DUDDY DEAL DONE?
No, Kelly Pavlik-John Duddy for January 26th in Atlantic City, New Jersey is not a done deal.
“It is certainly NOT a done deal,” said Bob Arum, who promotes Pavlik. “It is far from a done deal for a couple of reasons. I haven’t even negotiated with Duddy. Secondly, I have no right to even talk about a Duddy fight because Jermain has a rematch clause. They haven’t passed it, they haven’t made a deal with me – not that they’re obligated to do that. My hands are tied.”
Taylor and his representatives have a 30-day window from the date of the Pavlik fight (September 29th) to enforce their contracted stipulation. It’s not clear what direction they will go.
“I think Lou (DiBella) would prefer an interim fight and to build the rematch into a pay-per-view,” Arum opines. “But I don’t know if Jermain feels that way. What I would like to do is – and I’m sort of ambivalent – I would sort of like them to exercise the rematch clause because if you’re going to fight Jermain Taylor again, you might as well fight him right after he got knocked out. I mean, that is the stupidest thing. You exercise the rematch clause if you have a disputed close fight, not if you get knocked out cold.”
You get the sense that Arum is playing a version of Jedi mind tricks with his last statement. But either way, expect to see Pavlik in late January, one way or the other.
“January 26th is the working date for the Kelly Pavlik fight,” Arum would state. “Now, as I said, it could be Jermain in a rematch or if he wants to postpone the rematch and have an interim fight, certainly Duddy would be a good possibility.”
