Exclusive Interview: Juan Diaz

Click for larger image © Jim Everett Saddo Boxing

Chicagoland’s new Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, IL will hold their first boxing match in style with a compelling Lightweight World Title Unification Match between undefeated WBA and WBO champion Juan “Baby Bull” Diaz, 32-0 (16) and IBF champion Julio “The Kidd” Diaz 34-3 (25). The bout will take place on Saturday, Ocotber 13 and will be promoted

by Don King Productions in association with Sycuan Ringside Promotions.

Juan Diaz has earned his nickname “Baby Bull” with his crowd pleasing all action style, always displaying a relentless attack on his opponent with a high volume of punches. He became the WBA champion in 2004 at the young age of twenty years old when he defeated Lavka Sim by a unanimous decision.

After defending his WBA title six times he then added the WBO championship to his waist last April by forcing Acelino Freitas to retire on his stool.

IBF champion Julio Diaz will arguably be Juan’s toughest test when he attempts to further unify the lightweight division. Julio is a strong boxer who punches with pin point accuracy and has a lot of experience in the ring.

Saddoboxing had the pleasure of speaking to Juan Diaz in an exclusive phone interview earlier this week before he left for Chicago.

Saddoboxing: How do you feel about your current opportunity to further unify the Lightweight division?

Juan Diaz: “I’m very excited and ready for this fight to take place. I have been working very hard. I’m extremely happy that this opportunity has come to me at my age and happy how my career is going right now.”

SB: How was your training camp without Ronnie Shields present?

JD: “It’s been the same; the second guy that works with me Derwin Richards has been with me even before Ronnie. He was with me at the end of my amateur career and he learned a lot through Ronnie and now it was his chance to step up to the plate and show me everything that he has learned. Training camp has been the same; I’ve been working on the same strategy… well not the same strategy because it’s a different opponent but the same kind of technique that I have worked and used before.”

SB: What are your feelings on your trainer Ronnie Shields choosing to work with Evander Holyfield rather than you for your upcoming fight?

JD: “This is a sport where you have to get what you can whenever you can. Only he knows why he made the decision. I respect him for what he did, I’m not mad, I’m not angry with him. Right now our paths are not going in the same direction. I can’t say that I’ll never work with him again because if a time ever comes that our paths meet again we will definitely talk about it.”

SB: So you don’t have any immediate plans to bring back Shields after the Julio Diaz fight?

JD: “As of right now no. We worked real well together as a team with Derwin, Mr. Savannah and Brian Carlo my strength coach.”

SB: Are you happy with the promotional efforts of your upcoming bout with Julio Diaz?

JD: “I’m happy because Don King has brought us up there two or three times to promote the fight and the public seemed to respond really well to us. This week will be pretty hectic with interviews and going to radio and television stations to promote the fight.”

SB: It almost seems that you continue to be challenged with getting your big break at exposure even with all your success; you remain undefeated, you have a crowd pleasing style and provide all action fights, you unify the title forcing Freitas to quit and in your next fight further look to unify the division against Julio Diaz in a rare fall season of big name fights that seem to get the spotlight over you.

JD: “Every great or up and coming fighter has to wait for their time and glory. Right now it’s not my time yet. When I fought Freitas it was the week before the fight everyone was waiting for De La Hoya – Mayweather, this week they were emphasizing a lot on Pacquiao – Barrera and maybe that took a little bit away from our fight. There is always a time and place where things come together, right now I’m back in the shadows fighting my fights, winning my fights, but I think that eventually I will be one of those top headliners and there will be another guy that’s in my position.”

SB: That’s good, it seems that you are able to take it all in stride.

JD: “Oh yeah, I don’t want to rush things. When I became champion I didn’t rush it, Mr. Savannah wanted to make sure I was ready. Even after I became champion I took it easy and didn’t immediately go after the other champions. Now three years later I feel that I’m ready I beat one of the great champions already and I’m going up another great champion. It all takes time and I’m not in a rush to be that popular yet or be the guy that’s on top.”

SB: How do you rate Julio Diaz as a champion and as an opponent?

JD: “I rate him up there with the top lightweights. He has great natural boxing skills which a lot of the other guys that I fought do not. They are either power punchers or just go in there and slug to try to get me out of there. Julio is the type of fighter that will use his boxing skills.”

SB: How will your game plan differ facing Julio than when you faced Freitas?

JD: “Well it will be a little similar. I wasn’t sure what Freitas was going to do, if he would stand toe to toe with me because of his punching power or if he was going to try to box me like he had in his last couple of fights. I went in there and put pressure on him and I think for this fight it’s going to be the same because I don’t believe that Julio Diaz is going to stand there and go toe to toe with me when he has never done that, he has always been a boxer.”

SB: I haven’t spoke to you since your win over Freitas, how did that victory feel? Did you expect to get the stoppage or were you expecting to go the distance and try to get a decision?

JD: “I definitely didn’t see that coming because I figured this was his fight coming out of a short retirement and he was going to do everything possible to win that fight and not give up.”

SB: What kind of predictions can you offer for Saturday night?

JD: “I think in the early rounds it’s going to be a tough fight for me because Julio Diaz is a boxer and he is going to move around and use his angles. It’s going to take a lot of strength and a lot of my conditioning ability to get to him in the early rounds but as the rounds progress I’m going to start landing my punches and connecting good which will be the key to my victory.”

SB: What is more important to you at this point, working towards unifying the entire division or looking for big name opponents?

JD: “Well right now I want to unify the division, that would be a great accomplishment for myself. But a lot of times promoters and managers think otherwise, I can’t control that, the only thing I can control is to give my input and offer my opinion and if that’s not taken into consideration I guess it’s because it’s not the right thing to do. My job is to get ready and win the fights, the managers and the promoters are the ones that have the business sense.”

SB: I have to be honest as a writer I know I’m not suppose to be bias but I was hoping for Morales to defeat David Diaz and you to win against Julio Diaz so you could have a showdown against Morales and be the one to put him into retirement winning all four belts.

JD: “That would have been great (laughing). That would have fallen perfect into place but a lot of times things don’t happen the way you want them so you have to make little detours.”

SB: Last spring you were finishing a couple government classes that semester; did you continue additional classes this fall?

JD: “Yes, I’m in my last year and I’m scheduled to graduate in December 2008. I’m just doing political science classes now. This year I started with three but I could only handle two so I’m taking urban politics and political theory.”

SB: So you have another four or five classes to go?

JD: “I have about eight. Next semester I’ll take three, and then I will take two in the summer and then another three in the fall again.”

SB: Are you still able to successfully balance your boxing career with your scholastic goals?

JD: “It’s getting a little difficult but I have been doing it for so long… it really hit me hard this semester. I took a summer course right after I fought on April 28 which lasted five weeks. A fight didn’t come up and I had the whole rest of the summer off, I was off for about a month and a half without going to school or doing much training besides swimming and running. I got a little complacent and when I started school and found out I got a fight. I was happy but it was so hard for me to get in the rhythm, the training and the school was killing me so I dropped one class but now I got back into the rhythm.”

SB: So you have a tougher time with the down time?

JD: “Oh yeah, I have to be doing one or the other. If I’m not fighting I have to be in school, if I’m fighting… well I always have to stay in school.”

SB: Are you still doing the charity work with Homeboy Industries?

JD: “Not anymore, I had a marketing agent from California who I had the contact with but I’m doing some other things with the League of Woman Voters encouraging people to vote. I have been talking to the Foundation of Missing and Exploited Children and they are interested in me being the spokesperson and go around the country speaking to kids and parents about the things to watch out for in order for their kids to be safe.”

SB: Any message you would like to send out to your fans?

JD: “I actually want to thank them for all their support through out the years. It’s been a great ride and it’s going to continue to be a great ride. I just want them to know that every time I step in there, I step in the ring to put on a great fight. I’m young enough right now to know that I can take a lot of punches and I can come back and that’s what I’m here for to put on great fights. I do this not because it’s a job or basing this income for the well being of my family, it helps but I do it mainly because I love the sport and I love to be in there and put on great fights.”

SB: It’s always a pleasure interviewing you; you are one of the rare boxers in the sport that actually follows through with what they say. You said you wanted to unify the division and you have been going towards that, in your last fight you got an additional belt and you are looking to pick up the third here. You promise a lot of action and you follow through with what you say; there are a lot of other fighters who promise KOs and different things and their fight comes up short of what they predict. You always come through and it’s a pleasure watching your fights.

JD: “Thank you. It’s funny that you say that because for this fight I thought my punch stats have been going down a little bit since I started. I told my team and they went out and got a clicker to count my punches. I want to average about 100 punches per round which would be amazing. I started training camp and I was averaging about 130 to 150 on the hand pads but when we started sparring it dropped to about 65 or 70 and I was like, aw man that’s rough. But I have been averaging about 90 punches a round now during sparring, I figure if I stay in the 80s that’s what I would like to maintain.”

SB: That’s great, did you bring in anyone specific for your sparring?

JD: “I brought in two guys who can switch from southpaw to conventional stance; Julio does a lot of that. Actually, one of the guys just fought on Telefutura this past Friday night and won.”

SB: I wish you the best of luck on Saturday.

JD: “Thank you, I appreciate the interview.”