Has ?Baby Bull? Juan Diaz been broken?
Maybe, maybe not but the Houston resident and former world lightweight champion hardly seems to have the unbridled confidence he had before taking beatings at the hands of first Nate Campbell and then Juan Manuel Marquez.
Or, more accurately, maybe it?s manager Willie Savannah who has been turned into a shrinking violet by those two thumpings.
When unbeaten Dominican Dandy Joan Guzman, now fighting at 135 pounds, was proposed as an Aug. 22 foe for the Texican, the Diaz team said there was ?static? on the phone line. In other words, they quickly passed on dealing with the nimble two time champion.
Recent college grad (University of Houston) Diaz?s status has taken such a dip that 31-4, 20 KOs Rolando Reyes, coming off a mild upset KO 5 over ex-lightweight champion Julio Diaz, came to H-Town recently and threw down the gauntlet.
Reyes, out of Oxnard, Ca., took the mic at a local club show to challenge Juan, saying, ??I told him that I heard he?s looking for someone to fight and I?m that guy. I respect what he?s accomplished but I feel that I?m ready for him. If he wants we can fight here in Houston where he lives.?
Diaz promoter Golden Boy proposed Reyes as the comeback bout foe but latest word is that HBO decision makers put the kibosh on the match.
This ?Baby Bull? needs to start bucking again.
