LAS VEGAS ? In boxing, and this has been proven many times, the fellow who fights for survival, the one who fights to have food on his table, the one who feels he has nothing to lose, is very dangerous.
That description fits David Diaz, the guy who is looking at his fight with Manny Pacquiao on Sunday as the defining moment of his career.
Although himself a world champion, Diaz hardly measures up to the global reputation of the Filipino icon whose name is on the lips of boxing fans everywhere when the term “best pound-for-pound” boxer is mentioned.
He is the same person Diaz wants himself to be ? rich, famous and dangerous. And he can be all of these if he beats Pacquiao.
“This fight will set up my kids for college and if we win this fight, there goes a whole new different tax bracket for me,” said Diaz, laughing, as the media milled around him during Tuesday?s chit-chat with the press.
Win or lose, Diaz will receive 0,000, the biggest paycheck so far for the 32-year-old World Boxing Council (WBC) lightweight titlist who is making the second defense of the 135-lb crown at the 12,000-seat Events Center.
When he bested Morales, Diaz pocketed 0,000. So a win against Pacquiao could earn him a spot in the million dollar club.
For the past decade, Diaz has fought and won key fights but has never captured the fancy of fight fans the way Pacquiao did.
Since June 2001 when Pacquiao burst into the scene with a spectacular knockout of Marco Antonio Barrera, the Filipino has known nothing but success, well, mostly success.
But that?s not the case with Diaz, who brings to the ring moderate firepower but makes up for it with tons of toughness.
“I think I have done everything for this fight,” said Diaz, who, despite being a champion and fighting in his own weight, is a heavy underdog.
“I ran, I jumped rope, I hit the bag, I sparred, worked on stuff and watched film and did every possible thing to come to this fight prepared. I told my trainers to make it hard and every time it seemed we were getting tired, we had to push more. I was told to do faster, you have to one more, you have to do one of this and one of that. It?s been one of my toughest and the longest (training) camps.”
Diaz said he won?t make excuses after the fight because he and even Pacquiao trained long and hard for Saturday?s clash.
“Manny?s taking this seriously and he?s got the whole nation on his shoulders. He?s got history on this thing, too.”
Diaz then went beyond that normal pre-fight hype.
“It would be not too smart for him not to take my style of fighting too seriously. I know he?s taking it seriously and you can see in the guy that he looks in shape and he looks solid. No excuses. For nobody, there shouldn?t be no excuses. After this fight, the winner should just be the best-conditioned fighter.”
“I don?t make excuses to begin with and Manny doesn?t need this.”
