Exclusive Boxing Interview: Juan Diaz

© Jim Everett / Saddo Boxing

Saturday night in Cancun, Mexico, IBF, WBA and WBO Lightweight Champion Juan “Baby Bull” Diaz, 33-0 (17), will step into the ring for the first time in 2008 to face his mandatory IBF challenger Nate Campbell, 31-5-1 (25).

This morning as I thought I was finishing my write up on an interview I had done with Diaz, a boxing headline caught my eye, Don King Quits Juan Diaz. The premise of the release stated “Diaz’s attorney Fred Levin quit undefeated Lightweight Champion in February; promoter decides to follow suit by abandoning star boxer after Saturday’s match.”

SaddoBoxing had the pleasure of speaking to Juan Diaz in an exclusive phone interview earlier this week before he departed for Mexico and spoke about his promotional contract with Don King. Prior to King’s release, Diaz had already stated that this was his last fight under Don King and that his contract was set to expire on March 31, 2008.

Maybe King is treating it like a high school break-up and wants the bragging rights to say he left Diaz or perhaps considering King also promotes the challenger Nate Campbell he is hoping it may distract Diaz to give Campbell an advantage. However, the only thing that it has made clear is that Diaz will be a free agent after Saturday’s match.

This was by no means the first distraction that Diaz has had to face, 2008 has been busy so far considering this will be the first time he is stepping into the ring this year. He was originally slated to face a mandatory against WBO Interim Champion Michael Katsidis earlier this year after Golden Boy Promotions won the right for the championship fight after putting up a bid of $1.5 million of which Diaz was slated to receive an 80/20 split. The fight was scheduled to take place on February 9, 2008 televised on HBO.

Don King exercised a clause in Diaz’s contract which prevents the boxer from fighting for another promoter pursuant to a winning purse bid. King also issued a letter to HBO, which specified his position on the fight taking place and the network cancelled the event.

The cancellation of the fight was only the beginning of his battles. After tense negotiations Diaz manager, Willie Savannah came to terms on the Campbell fight and have been back and forth whether or not they will be stripped of the WBO strap for not defending the title against Katsidis.

Although the pressure would seem overwhelming to most Diaz truly does not seem to be concerned. He has faith in his manager, Savannah and looks at him as a second father, knowing he always has his best interest in mind.

Saddoboxing: Hi Juan, how’s your training going?

Juan Diaz: “It’s going pretty good, I’m at the end of a really intense training so it’s going great.”

SB: I bet its nice being in the gym and not worrying about the business side of things that have been going on the last few months.

JD: “Oh yeah, I have a great manager and I’m very thankful for that because if not I would be the one going through all the headaches.”

SB: Just stepping back a little back to a few months ago, your proposed fight with Michael Katsidis went to a purse bid was there any reason that you knew of that Don King did not want to make that fight?

JD: “I think it was mainly because I was his fighter and the contract is up after this fight. March 31 is the last day I’m going to be with Don King. I think that if I was to fight on February 9th then I probably wouldn’t be ready to fight before the 31st and the contract would go ahead and expire.”

SB: When the Katsidis purse bid was issued Golden Boy Promotions put in the only bid for $1.5M which is when Don King exercised his clause in your contract that you could not fight for another promoter. Do you think Golden Boy had a strategy in mind when they issued the bid?

JD: “I really don’t know what the main motivation was behind Oscar De La Hoya making the bid. I believe he has Michael Katsidis as a fighter and he has to give his fighter some fights. I think he saw the opportunity of a great fight between Michael Katsidis and myself and I think that was the main reason that Oscar did what he did. The other possible reasons why he did that I don’t know, he’s a business man like Don King and I’m sure he had his reasons.”

SB: Obviously you are focused on your upcoming fight right now but are you making any considerations for possible promoters after your contract ends with Don King?

JD: “Not yet, I’m just concentrating on my fight. I want make sure and win this fight; that I’m healthy afterwards and I don’t have any major injuries. I’ll wait, sit back and see what the promoters have to offer. I plan on taking all offers from multiple promoters not just one in particular.”

SB: I read a brief press release about your attorney Fred Levin is no longer representing you; what transpired?

JD: “I think it was one of the things that he wasn’t getting along with Mr. Willie Savannah, they didn’t understand each other anymore. The number one guy who is in charge of most of my decisions is Mr. Savannah, he is like a second father to me and whatever he says goes. I never questioned his authority. I always know he has my best intentions in mind, I think they weren’t really getting along anymore as far as being with Don King so that’s why there was a split.”

SB: What’s the current status of your various titles? Have you been stripped of any of them at this point?

JD: “No, no, I’m still the three-time World Champion. I still hold the WBA, WBO and IBF and as far as I’m concerned I will be defending all three of the belts on March 8th.”

SB: Do you have any mandatories that you have to look towards after the Nate Campbell fight?

JD: “The Nate Campbell fight is a mandatory for the IBF and following that the WBO said that because I’m defending a mandatory they will let take a step aside fight but I do have to defend the title of the WBO mandatory against Michael Katsidis if he is successful against Joel Casamayor.”

SB: How about the WBA is there any pressure there to defend your title against mandatories?

JD: “The WBA has been working real well with me I don’t have any mandatories coming up with that sanctioning body.”

SB: As far as your training is concerned who is working with you in the corner? Did you bring Ronnie Shields back?

JD: “Yes, I’m working with Ronnie Shields again, we parted ways for one fight but we are back together again. I have Ronnie Shields and Derwin Richards as my two head trainers.”

SB: I recall for your last fight you were working on punch output which the results were very evident in your fight where you averaged about 100 punches per round. Have you been working on anything in particular in your training for this fight?

JD: “One of the things that I’m working on is my head movement and defense. A lot of times I’ve been distracted because I’m throwing so many punches that I don’t really focus a lot on the defense but I’ve been working on that somewhat and getting better at it.”

SB: You put forth such a tireless effort in the ring and never seem to stop moving forward throwing punches round after round. What do you attribute your strong conditioning to?

JD: “It has to do a lot with the different methods of training I use. I do a lot of swimming, a lot of strength training, I do the Stairmaster as well. I don’t do any running; I don’t go outside and run or anything like that. Those are some of the things that help me to have the stamina that I do.”

SB: What do you think about your opponent Nate Campbell?

JD: “Nate Campbell is a great fighter, he’s the type of fighter that’s pretty strong and likes to come forward but I think with the pressure that I will apply it will help me to win the fight.”

SB: Any predictions that you would like to offer for the fight?

JD: “I know it’s going to be a tough fight. I know that I’m going to have to dig through in order to win this fight. I know that with my hard training and my stamina I know that I can pull the fight out. This fight I know that I will win with my tremendous conditioning, my stamina and my will to win.”

SB: Do you have any concerns about being on the undercard of a fight? At this level you hold three belts and you are obviously a headline fighter but you are fighting as the co-feature to the Maskaev v Peter main event. How do you feel about being co-feature instead of a main event at this level of the game?

JD: “It doesn’t bother me at all. The heavyweights are heavyweights and they will always prefer heavyweights on top of lightweights. It’s one of those things that eventually with time I will get to the point that they aren’t going to be able to put me as the first fight; they are going to have to put me as the main event. But that is one of the least things that I worry about, I just worry about fighting and winning my fights.”

SB: Describe for me how you feel about your accomplishments from last year?

JD: “Last year was a great year. I think every year that I step in the ring I get stronger and better. Every year keeps getting better and better and last year doesn’t change anything. I think that I had two great championship fights and this year I believe it will be even better, I think I may get to a point where I can unify the division and that would be an incredible accomplishment in my book.”

SB: That would be a great accomplishment. Would you like to say anything to all your supporters?

JD: “Make sure to tune in on March 8th on HBO because it’s going to be a great fight. Expect the Baby Bull to come out and do what he always does and just step in there and dominate the fight and put on a great show for the fans.”

SB: Thanks for taking the time with me today and I wish you the best of luck on Saturday.

JD: “Thank you, it’s always a pleasure talking to you.