Juan Diaz: Deep in the Heart of Houston, Texas.

Click for larger image © Sergio Martinez

At 6:00 A.M. this past Saturday morning, I stepped outside of a friend’s home in San Antonio, Texas, and began my drive to Houston, Texas. This was an exciting day for me as I turned on Loop 410, heading west and then took the exit for I-10 west to Houston. My SUV stereo was loudly blaring Pantera’s greatest

hits CD as I raced down the highway headed to the Willie Savanna Boxing Gym, home of WBA lightweight world champion Juan “Baby Bull” Diaz. Diaz has just been amazing to SaddoBoxing.com and he invited yours truly to visit him during training camp. The drive between San Antonio and Houston is about 190-miles, so it took me about two hours and forty-five minutes to get to the city limits. The problem was that I am from Laredo, a city of 275,000 and Houston, Texas is a metropolis of about three to four million people. There are more highways in Houston, than there are streets in my one horse town.

Don’t miss this SaddoBoxing exclusive as we go into the camp of world lightweight champion Juan “Baby Bull” Diaz.

I drove into to Houston on I-10, and looked for the toll road, Beltway 8 South, just as Willie Savanna told me. About ten minutes later, I was exiting on Beltway 8 south and was thinking, “That was easy.” I hit the first tollbooth and paid the $1.25 fee. By now, I had AC/DC’s Highway to Hell CD playing loudly, and I am thinking that this is going to be a breeze. Of course, I was singing one of the tunes, and I missed the 59 South exit I should have taken. I ended up traveling about fourteen miles before I realized that I was going the wrong way. I called Mr. Savanna via cell phone and he explained to me where I had gone wrong. I turned around, and exited on 59 south and headed toward downtown Houston. From there it got a little tough, but about forty-five minutes later, I finally found the Willie Savanna Boxing Gym.

It was 9:45 A.M. and Diaz was not scheduled to arrive until 10:00 A.M. I got my equipment together and walked in through an open warehouse door and the first person I saw was none other than world-renowned trainer Ronnie Shields. He was working the pads with a young female boxer in one of two boxing rings that the large warehouse gym has. Soon after, I met Willie Savanna himself. He is a very nice man who really cares about the fighters he manages.

10 A.M rolled around and, as if on cue, Juan “Baby Bull” Diaz walked into the gym with his younger brother, Jose “Pitbull” Diaz (bantamweight prospect). I was hitting the speed bag at the time and waited for the round clock to let me know that the three minutes were up. Once the buzzer went off, I grabbed my stuff and made my way over to Juan. The “Baby Bull” is a very nice, engaging young man who always greets you with a smile and will have a conversation with anyone who starts one with him. He welcomed me to the gym and talked a little shop while having his hands wrapped. Once the wrapping was done, Diaz immediately began to stretch-out with his brother and a cousin by his side. The buzzer went off and the three pugilists hit the matted floor and started their abs routine. They did every possible exercise to strengthen the abs non-stop for what seemed like ten to fifteen minutes. Diaz was up and immediately went over to the machine portion of the gym and used three apparatuses to do more abs work. Just like that, non-stop, he got up into the center ring, and shadow boxed for three rounds with his trainer, Ronnie Shields, looking on.

Once Diaz finished his shadow boxing, his team was already waiting with his sparring gear and, in “two shakes of a lamb’s tail” (as Uma Thurman’s character in Pulp Fiction said), the “Baby Bull” was suited to go to war. Across the ring from him was Leroy Fountain, a welterweight prospect from the mean gyms of Philadelphia. It was a very spirited sparring session with Diaz looking sharp and strong. After it was over, Fountain asked the “Baby Bull” for an autograph which Diaz gladly obliged. He signed three different articles for Fountain, and told him he had a great future and really appreciated his time.

Juan quickly moved over to do his bag work, and then skipped some rope. Once he was done with that, Diaz came over to me and talked some more. He brought out the WBA lightweight belt he won via unanimous decision against Lakva Sim and posed for some pictures. Yours truly also held the championship belt and added some pictures to my private collection of the “Baby Bull” and myself with the WBA trinket. I hung around a while longer and got to talk with Ronnie Shields, and joked around with Juan. He was very attentive and was so appreciative that SaddoBoxing.com had taken the time to go out to his training camp.

Unfortunately, the time would come that I would have to leave. As I walked out of the Savanna Boxing Gym, I turned around and saw Diaz, in a sauna type body suit, getting on a “Stairmaster” to do some more conditioning work. He looked at me, smiled and waved as he started to work hard on the machine. The “Baby Bull” may only be twenty-one, but he is very mature and dedicated, as no one had to tell him what to do next at anytime. I sat in my vehicle for a few minutes looking at the pictures I had taken, and the memories I had now made for myself. I headed back the way I came, but this time the music was off and the vehicle was quiet. I was tired, but very content to have been inside the camp of a champion. I have said it once and I will say it again: it is great to be a boxing fan!

Click for larger image © Sergio Martinez

Writer’s Note: I would really love to say thank you very much to Juan Diaz and his team for being so gracious during my visit. It was an honor and my privilege to be present and be surrounded by such great people. Thanks Again!

Stay tuned fight fans as SaddoBoxing.com has a very special feature with Juan Diaz coming up very soon.

Sergio Martinez can be reached at srg_mrtnz@yahoo.com