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01/08/2007 Archived Entry: "Juan 'Baby Bull' Diaz Rules Lightweight Roost"
Juan 'Baby Bull' Diaz Rules Lightweight Roost
By Karl Hegman
Photo courtesy of http://www.wbaonline.com
Juan "Baby Bull" Diaz
HOUSTON –Juan “Baby Bull” Diaz never strays too far from the Savannah Boxing Gym and Youth Association in Houston, Texas.
Two weeks remained until Christmas and he was already prepping for his upcoming sixth title defense against one Prawet Singwangcha to be held on February 3rd at the Miami Arena the night before the Super Bowl. The University of Houston junior had just finished an hour on the Stairmaster in the Association’s immaculate new location in Southwest Houston to wrap his conditioning for the day when noted Houston actress Angeles Romero and myself dropped in for a visit one late Friday morning.
I asked him about the unflattering comments that ESPN boxing reporter Dan Rafael made about him and his manager, Willie Savannah, when Rafael termed his fight against Fernando Angulo a big payday for a “meaningless” fight that was exactly what Juan and Mr. Savannah wanted.
“What Dan Rafael writes or says doesn’t bother me or my team at all. There are certain people in the media that we talk to and like, and then there are others that will write negative things about you for dramatic effect,” said Diaz.
I then pointed out to Diaz that Mr. Rafael has no boxing experience, and that if he did, he would know that no fight is ever meaningless.
“That’s right,” replied the champion. “Look at boxing history and how many champions have lost to underdogs. I take no man and no fight for granted, and train as hard as I possibly can each time out. All it takes is one punch from any fighter on any given night and that could be it for you. Every fight is dangerous, and no fight is meaningless. I have to fight Singwangcha as well as the WBA selected him as my mandatory, and if I don’t fight him I will get stripped of my title. Mr. Savannah, Don King, and myself had nothing to do with choosing him.”
I asked him if the Singwangcha fight was part of the lucrative deal with Don King.
He said, “No this fight isn’t included in the deal. We really didn’t want this fight as we wanted a higher profile name. I am supposed to fight the winner of Julio Diaz and Jesus Chavez in the summer, or I can fight Casamayor instead perhaps, and that fight is part of our structured deal with Don King. Julio Diaz has turned down numerous offers to fight me in the past, and I have sparred with Jesus Chavez before his fight with Mayweather. We were supposed to spar for a week, but he quit coming to the gym after the second time we worked as I handled him, and it remains to be seen how the tragedy with Levander Johnson has affected him. I am not worried about either one of these guys, but I am in no way underestimating them, and I can’t wait to fight and defeat the winner of their upcoming bout.”
With an aging stylist in 35-year-old Joel Casamayor tentatively slated to defend his WBO title vs. the wild swinging Acelino Freitas in a March return go in Brazil, and the aforementioned two lightweights in Julio Diaz and Jesus Chavez, the 23 year old man of action from Houston is rated by many boxing experts and analysts at the top of the 135 lb list.
“I think I am the best out there, and would love to fight either Casamayor or Freitas, whoever wins, by the end of the year to prove it,” said Diaz. “There has been some talk of fighting Casamayor next for me as I stated before, but we will have to see how things go.”
When I asked him about the possibility of fighting the WBC Interim Lightweight Titleholder David Diaz, he said, “David is a good fighter, a tough southpaw, it would be a good fight for me. I am excited to be associated with Don King who has made millionaires out of more fighters than any other promoter in boxing history, and I look forward to putting on some exciting fights for the fans out there on Showtime.”
Juan’s younger brother, undefeated featherweight prospect Jose Diaz is also slated to appear on the February 3rd card. We at the CBZ wish both fine young men the very best of luck.
