WBA Lightweight Champion Juan "Baby Bull" Diaz

Aug. '05

Juan Diaz is in the unusual position of being an undefeated world champion boxer, who is still waiting for the respect he feels is due him. Diaz first took the bout with a 12-round unanimous decision over Lavka Sim of Mongolia in July of 2004. Since then he has defended the title twice, with a 12-round decision over Julien Lorcy of France in San Antonio last November, and a ninth-round TKO of Billy Irwin of Canada in Houston in January. But after pulling out of a scheduled title defense against Ebo Elder due to a cut suffered during training in April, Diaz has been having trouble getting televised 12-round bouts to defend his title. In the meantime, despite a record of 28-0 with 14 knockouts, there appears to be a perception among some in the boxing world that the Baby Bull does not quite measure up to the other sanctioned champions in his weight division. Coming off a fifth-round knockout of Arthur Cruz in a non-title bout on July 16th in Louisiana, Diaz remains busy at the Savannah Boxing Club, waiting for the time when he believes he will show the world that he truly deserves the belt he holds, and then some.

HBS - Describe what happened in your most recent fight.

JD - I fought about a month ago and I fought Arthur Cruz. The first round he came out, he was real aggressive. You know way different from the first time we fought. But I was able to catch him with a body shot and that slowed him down and round after round I kept hitting on the body and finally the fifth round I caught him with a good right hand which almost dropped him. After that I just jumped on him and the referee just stopped the fight.

HBS - So what are you working on now, what are you looking forward to, what's in your immediate future?

JD - Right now I'm just staying in shape. I'm lifting weights, swimming, and doing a little bit of running here in the gym. But as far as the future goes I don't know what's in store for the future because Main Events hasn't come up with a fight for me yet.

HBS - So is that a little bit frustrating? Obviously I know you'd like to defend the title and get the exposure.

JD - Yeah I'd love to get the exposure. I'm young. I want to fight every three to four months. That's why I am taking these non-title fights, because I want to stay active. Even though they're not big fights they keep my skills polished. They keep me in the ring, getting the feel of it.

HBS - How would you compare yourself to the other champions in the other sanctioning bodies? Would you like to fight any of them?

JD - Well right now they're actually doing a little bit better than I am because they're more on T.V. They're fighting more often. So I would like to be like that and when it all settles down and the three other champions are settled down then hopefully I can get a chance at them.

HBS - Your scheduled fight against Ebo got cancelled because you got cut. Tell us a little bit about what happened there and how you would have foreseen that fight going. Apparently you've worked with him before.

JD - Yeah I got cut the week of the fight and I was ready to go. I was excited, motivated, because it was going to be my first pay-per-view on ESPN. That didn't come through and it seems like after that fight that I did not fight everything just started slowing down for me. I think that if I should have fought that fight and came out looking good then I think a lot of doors would have opened up for me.

HBS - How do you think the fight would have gone?

JD - Ebo's a great fighter as many of the people have seen. He's aggressive, throws a lot of punches and the same with me. I throw a lot of punches. I think it would have been one of those fights where he would have thrown like, four or five punches. I always try to throw more than my opponent so I would have thrown six or eight punches.

HBS - So anybody in particular that you're interested in getting in against these days?

JD - Right now I want the champions in the lightweight division or any of the guys that are ranked number one in the world. There's a lot of guys out there calling me out but they don't have anything to offer. Like Julio Diaz, he keeps on calling me out on national T.V. but what he doesn't tell the people is that my promoters, my manager and myself, sent him a contract early on in the year and he didn't accept. Now he's talking like this because he's not a champion, but you know all these guys that are challenging me and telling me that they want to fight me, they don't have nothing to offer. They don't have nothing to bring to the table. I want to prove that I'm the best so I want to fight the best.

HBS - So time is going to tell. You look like you're in pretty good shape and you feel like you're ready to go almost anytime?

JD - Yeah, I mean if they were to call me up and say look, we've got a fight for you next month, I at least need a month or three to four weeks because I'm always in shape. I'm always ready to go.
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May '06

HBS - Give us your assessment of what happened in the Cotto fight.

JD - I know Cotta came ready to fight and I came ready to fight and he surprised me a little bit because he came out throwing 140-something punches in the first round so that was a completely different fighter from what I had seen.

HBS - So how did you make the adjustment?

JD - What I did is, I throw a lot of punches too so I had to warm up and get loose but once I started using my jab and my combinations everything worked out just right.

HBS - Even though he was throwing so many punches he only landed about 12 percent of them. How did you make him miss so much?

JD - I think it wasn't that I made him miss so much, I think it was just me defense. He was hitting me a lot on my shoulders and my elbows.

HBS - Then apparently around the fourth round you sort of made a little switchup and started doing some different things and essentially took command of the fight.

JD - Yeah, that was one of the things that my corner told me, Ronnie (Shields) and Derwin (Richards), they were telling me to box, to stay out there and box, to make it easy for myself. So I listened to my corner and I made it easy on myself, started using my jab, using my combinations, started moving around and I think that's what changed the fight around.

HBS - Then in the 12th round you were ahead going in but you went in and slugged it out with him.

JD - Well I heard his corner say, "Come on, let's go, let's go, he don't have nothing, he doesn't have anything left", so I'm like "Alright, so I'm going to show you how much I got left", and I went out there and just gave it all I could and especially that's what the fans paid for. They pay to see a fight so I was going to give it to them in the last round.

HBS - So there have been so many detractors who said you haven't fought any real contenders, and having finally beaten someone who no one can say this wasn't a legitimate contender, what do you say to all those people?

JD - Well that's what make me train hard and I know even now there's still a lot of people that's still going to question me but you know what, it doesn't bother me. That's what makes me a stronger fighter and for all those people that still question me, I'm going to prove to them that I can hang in there with the best.

HBS - What's next?

JD - I have to defend my mandatory against Lavka Sim. He's the number one contender and that's what's scheduled.

HBS - Any idea when that's going to happen or where?

JD - I think it's going to happen sometime in July. They gave me 90 days from the fight against Cotto to fight Sim.

HBS - He's the one that you took the title from so you obviously know plenty about him. What are your thoughts on how you're going to handle that fight?

JD - Well he's a very strong fighter and I have to mentally and physically prepare myself to the best of my ability because he's still a very dangerous fighter. He's very strong and he just keeps coming forward so I've got to prepare myself like I did the first time.

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Juan Diaz is about to defend his W.B.A. Lightweight title. While it will be Diaz's fourth defense, much of his reign has been a quest for respect, a desire to answer critics who claim he is not in the same class with the other title holders in his weight division. Diaz answered some of those critics with a unanimous 12-orund decision over previously undefeated Jose Miguel Cotto in Las Vegas on April 8th. He plans to further cement his position as someone to be respected and feared when he returns to Vegas to face Randy "Golden Boy" Suico of the Phillipines on July 15th.


HBS - What do you know about this guy, Suico?

JD - I know that he's an aggressive fighter, he's about 5'11", which makes it good for me because you know he's aggressive and that's the kind of fights that I like.

HBS - If he's 5'11" I suppose it's not really hard to imagine a pretty good body attack on your part, you coming in and blowing away his ribs.

JD - Everybody who's seen me fight knows that I like to work the body but I kind of like to change things up here and there. I mean I'm not going to go straight at his body and let him know that I'm going to do that all night. I'm just going to do it occasionally and try to break him down.

HBS - Have you seen any of his tapes?

JD - I've seen two or three of his tapes and I've seen that he's aggressive and that's how I know he stands that tall.

HBS - You were going to fight Lavka Sim. What happened with that fight?

JD - Sim, the contract that was sent to him, he had two weeks to sign it and he never signed it and apparently I believe he retired.

HBS - So what are the challenges that come up when you think you're fighting one guy and then it suddenly turns out you're fighting someone else?

JD - I had about 2-3 weeks to prepare for Randy Suico but it's not a challenge at all because I prepare to fight, I get ready to fight, I get 100% ready for a fight so it doesn't really matter who I fight. Right now I'm young enough that 2-3 weeks is enough time.

HBS - Then after this guy what might be coming up down the road this year or next year.

JD - Yeah, what I've been saying is I want to fight the top guys so any of the three other champions out there that's who I would like to fight in my next fight.


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The world is a very interesting place for W.B.A. Lightweight Champion Juan Diaz right now. Everything seems to be going his way. He's coming off his fourth successful title defense, a 9th round TKO against Randy Golden Boy Suico of the Phillippines. Houston Mayor Bill White recently proclaimed a "Juan Diaz Day". Diaz is renegotiating a new contract with promoter Main Events. So he is looking to improve his financial situation, and he looks to step up in competition and challenge on of the other title-holders in his weight division.


HBS - Tell us about this last fight. You went in, and how were you feeling and how did you approach it from the outset?

JD - Well it was a fight that I knew I had to win and I had to prepare myself to the best of my ability because you know after this fight, after July 15th I was going to be a free agent and in order for me to get the best deal that I could then I had to come out victorious and look good at it so it was a pretty tough fight to prepare for.

HBS - So Randy Suico was tall and how did you handle that?

JD - I hadn't fought a tall guy in awhile but it was one of those things that you prepare yourself for two months. I brought in a lot of sparring partners and that's what had me prepared for his height.

HBS - So tell us what you did when you went in and how he responded and what you did as a countermeasure.

JD - At the beginning he came out pretty strong. He had a pretty good defense and I could feel his punching power. He had some pop in his punches so what I did is just kept on using my jab and keeping my hands up, working on my defense and finally I started hitting some good shots to the body and I think that opened up for me to start tagging him to the face and eventually i slowed him down a lot.

HBS - At what point did you figure "Yeah, I definitely going to stop this guy."?

JD - I think at the point when I heard the commentator say "Oh, if Diaz does this and this and that I think the referee will step in and stop it". You know the last couple of fights I feel so comfortable that I can hear things around me, my surroundings and I can hear the commentators and I think that's what gave it away then. You know they're outside, they can see better than I can in there.

HBS - That's interesting that you're sort of in your own little zone in the ring. You're able to focus on you opponent but also able to focus on something outside the ring at the same time.

JD - Yeah, it's pretty neat because I'm getting to the point where in the ring it feels so natural to be in there and I feel confident, I feel great just being in there so you know I'm starting to listen and see more of the things that I couldn't see before.

HBS - Tell us about how you eventually finished him in the ninth round.

JD - From my body attack I think I slowed him down a little bit. I opened up my opportunity to hit him with head shots and eventually I was hitting him so much that the referee decided to stop the fight.

HBS - So what's coming up?

JD - Right now we're at the end of the week where we're about done with the negotiations with Main Events and I should find out whether I'm going to stay with them or move on with another promoter. My plan right now is to fight again in November.

HBS - So your situation is kind of fluid right now with regard to who's promoting you?

JD - Yes, it's the first time and it's a great opportunity for me because not a lot of fighters get the opportunity to be a free agent while they're champion.

HBS - You've finally worked long and hard enough and you have the chance to do the most with what you've achieved. Any thoughts on who you might be fighting coming up?

JD - I don't know. I definitely would love to get a chance with one of the three champions in the lightweight division but I don't think that's going to happen right now so I'm just going to look for a good exciting fight for the fans to finish up the year and then come back strong '07.

HBS - No shortage of tough guys out there to fight in your division.

JD - No there's not. There's a lot of tough fights out there and I'm just going to leave that up to my management team and whatever they decide is best then that's what we're going to do.

HBS - What are you doing to work on your power? That's one of the criticisms of you, that you don't have the big one-punch power.

JD - That's one of those things, a lot of people are going to criticize everything fighters do so I'm just going to keep training hard, keep doing what I do. My gift is my stamina and my speed so I'm going to work on the gift that was given to me and not worry about the other things.

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HBS - Give us your assessment of this upcoming fight.

JD - Well this fight's a great fight for me. It's one of the fights that I've been waiting for, to fight a guy like Acelino Freitas. I've been a champion for three years now and I think that I need one of those fighters to get recognized and get to the superstar status like he is, or like Diego Corrales, Luis Castillo and all these guys.

HBS - What was your initial reaction when you heard that you got the fight?

JD - I was real excited. At one point I thought I was going to fight Joel Casamayor but that just didn't come through and all of a sudden this comes through and it just made me real happy that I'm fighting a guy of his caliber.

HBS - What do you think of his style, his strengths and weaknesses that you're going to have to defend against and try to capitalize on?

JD - The biggest and most obvious one is his power. You know he has a lot of power with both hands so I'm going to have to be real cautious when I step in the ring with him. I'll be real careful, keeping my hands up, moving and making sure I don't make any mistakes because any mistake can cost me the fight. What I see is that in the last couple of fights he's become a boxer instead of a brawler so I think that is going to work to my advantage.

HBS - You think your endurance is going to pay off for you in the later rounds?

JD - Most definitely. I'm not know for a power puncher but I am known for keeping my punch output at the same level each round so I'm thinking that's going to be what's going to win me this fight.

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12-10-07

Juan Diaz continues to rise to new heights in the world of boxing. His recent wins over Acelino Freitas and Julio Diaz have silenced his critics and made him a high-dollar commodity among promoters. He is now scheduled to defend his WBO Lightweight title against Michael "The Great" Katsidis of Australia on February 9th in Houston.



HBS - One of the underlying themes of the Juan Diaz story used to be, "He doesn't get enough respect." Those days are over. You're widely regarded as the best lightweight in the world right now. That has to be pretty satisfying.

JD - Oh yeah, it's very satisfying and I'm very excited about my situation in the sport and I'm very thankful. I'm very thankful that all my hard work is paying off and everyone that helped me throughout my process in becoming a champion.

HBS - Your last two fights showed a similar pattern against Freitas and then Diaz. You kept coming and they couldn't hang. Give us an overview of what happened in those fights, starting with Freitas.

JD - With Freitas, I was a little anxious going into the fight just because I know I was fighting a great champion in Freitas and you know I was excited because a lot of people regard me as a guy that cannot punch and everybody was thinking that Freitas was going to test my chin and I was excited because I wanted to prove to the people that I can be in there with the best. I went in there the first round aggressive like always. I didn't go in there cautious because I'm very confident in what I can do and what I can't do. Since the first round I pressured him and he threw punches and you know he landed a couple of good punches but I didn't feel that devastating knockout power so it just made me more confident and I kept pressuring and pressuring and he gave it up in the later rounds.

HBS - Then Julio Diaz.

JD - Julio Diaz was I think a little bit more of a better boxer. I went in there and established my pressure and he went in there to show me that he wasn't going to back down and he didn't. I give him full credit for that, for not backing up. It played right into what I wanted to. I thought I was going to chase him around the ring all night long but he stood there like a true warrior and we created an exciting fight but at the end he said that I just had too much energy and he didn't come out for the ninth round.

HBS - Last year Ronnie Shields went to go train Evander now you're with Derwin Richards and there was some thought that the change could have an impact on you but it doesn't seem to have hurt you in any way.

JD - When Ronnie was training Evander our paths weren't going in the same direction at that point but during my career I see it like this. You know if I want to be the best I cannot be concerned with what my trainers do, what anybody else around me does. I've got to do what's best for me and I don't hold grudges. I never had a grudge against Ronnie. He did what he had to do, what's best for his family and if it got to a point where I need him then why not? I'll definitely work with him. I'm going to do what's best for me.

HBS - Has it been any different working with Derwin?

JD - It's not much different because Derwin's been with me since my amateur career. A lot of people don't realize it but Derwin's been with me longer than Ronnie and he's learned a lot through Ronnie. They grew up together. They used to fight for (Willy) Savannah and Ronnie taught him a lot of stuff and when it was time for Derwin to step up to the plate he did and he's very excited to be the head trainer now and I think that carries in to me. His motivation carries me and makes me work even harder

HBS - Then you had Kenny Weldon come out and work with you on what were described as balance issues.

JD - It was for about two weeks that I was working with Kenny Weldon. He and Savannah talk a lot after my fights and they talked a lot about my balance and my balance needs to get a little bit better if I want to improve my boxing skills so we brought in Kenny to help me with my balance and kind of give me some pointers because a lot of times I throw punches and I'm off balance.

HBS - So technically what did you learn from him?

JD - Well a lot of times I go in putting pressure head first. What I've learned is to stay in my boxing stance, that I can be just as fast getting to the guy staying in my boxing stance then leaning like I usually do.

HBS - Now you've got Katsidis.

JD - Well Katsidis is a fighter that came up on the popular networks like HBO recently so I had never seen too much of him but from what I've seen in the tapes is that he puts a lot of pressure and he's a real, real strong fighter so I'm expecting a tough fight in that fight because I know that he's hungry. I don't believe one minute is he going to give up in that fight like my previous two opponents.

HBS - How are you going to handle him?

JD - Well I've been in difficult fights all my career. I always said that these journeymen that are coming up through the boxing world, those are the toughest fights in my eyes. A lot of people don't think so but those are the guys that have hit me the hardest, that have really made me push deep down and become what I am. The elite fighters I have found to be a little easier to fight so I know that this fight is going to be rough because he wants to be where I'm at and I know he's not going to give up.

HBS - The first time I interviewed you about three years ago you made a reference to becoming a millionaire boxer and with this purse ($1.2 million for Diaz) you will have achieved that so that has to feel pretty good.

JD - It's very good for me because I feel that every fight I earn a little bit of money, I put a little money away for them rainy days like I did about two years ago when I couldn't get a fight. I almost went a whole year without getting a fight so I'm saving for those rainy days and this fight is going to get me closer and secure my retirement fund because I don't want to be like a lot of athletes, not only boxers but athletes all around that get a lot of money and by the time they're senior citizens they don't have anything.

HBS - There was some word that Don King was going to stop the fight.

JD - This is a mandatory fight and I do have to fight this fight. The fight went to purse bid and if he really wanted to have me in another fight then he could have bid on the fight and got the fight.

HBS - So it appears you'll be fighting again here in your hometown.

JD - Yeah, by the time I fight it's going to be three years since I fought here. I was the W.B.A. champion. Now it's a little bit different. I'm a three-time world champion. Like you mentioned earlier I'm considered the best lightweight out there so a lot of people in my hometown, family and friends, supporters from all around want to see me fight here so I think that's going to create a lot of excitement for this training camp.