My first impression of
19-year old super featherweight prospect Joel Diaz Jr., 7-0 (6), was that he
was like the cool little brother I always wanted who could fight. Laidback and
humble with a constant California Cheshire cat grin, Diaz appears to be the
kind of guy you can’t imagine ever being serious.
Then I watched him spar. Right
off the bat, I could see Joel Diaz Jr. loves what he does for a living. There’s
“gamer” in his eyes and a stubborn will that pushes him back into the fray time
and again looking for his shot. There was no doubt that this lower weight
division dog had huge hunt in him.
Though he had been on TV
before, Telefutura to be exact, Diaz had yet to make a real impact on boxing
fans until two Fridays ago on Showtime’s prospect series “ShoBox: The New
Generation.” Diaz and his opponent had each taken a replacement fight on short
notice, risking all they had built to this point to move forward on the path to
boxing greatness. In a back-and-forth, early “Fight of the Year” entrant, Diaz
showed us everything he didn’t know he had against Sacramento’s Guy Robb. The
two battled hard for seven rounds to remain undefeated before Vegas’ Palms
Casino crowd. In the end, it was Diaz Jr., dropped in the second round, who
came out the victor in an outright street fight. The performance was so badass,
the best boxer in the world, Floyd Mayweather Jr., came up to take a congratulatory
picture with him afterward.
That moment was glorious for
Diaz but it was almost not to be. As Robb backed up Diaz with a series of shots,
a right hand in the second round clipped Diaz’s chin, sending him to the canvas
on all fours. He popped back up quickly almost before the count began. From
there, it was on.
“It was a flash knockdown,”
Diaz explained on Leaveitinthering.com radio show. “It was a punch that
[Robb] threw starting from the bottom to the top and I didn’t see it. No one
saw it. It wasn’t powerful. It wasn’t strong or nothing. It didn’t put me on my
ass but it made my hand touch the canvas. That’s what happened. After that, I
had to show everybody what I have. I couldn’t go down like that.”
Diaz didn’t attack recklessly.
He just put up his guard, got back into a rhythm, using his heavy hands, hard
combos and pure tenacity.
“[Robb] was landing a couple
body shots on me. None that really hurt me but he was landing some body shots,”
Diaz explained not with a tone of denial that says, “Actually, I was hurt,” but
the way a carpenter explains why he built a chair a particular way. “I’m not
gonna lie. His power punches to the face, he had a couple of them behind him,
you know? A couple of them that were hurting and a couple that weren’t- but
it’s boxing. You can’t expect not to get hit. It was a war, man, and me and him
went toe-to-toe and we stole the [show] that night. The guy was a pretty tough
opponent but we stuck through it.”
For a kid with 10 rounds of boxing
going into his first eight-rounder on short notice against a fellow undefeated
fighter, Diaz was putting everything on the line and himself to the ultimate
test. In the end, it was mental and physical toughness that got him through.
“Yeah, to tell you the truth,
it was about toughness,” he explained. “We were toe-to-toe and going punch-for-punch-for-punch-for-punch.
Most of mine were landing. Most of his were landing. I was eating some of his
punches. He was eating some of mine and it was a pretty tough seven rounds. It
was the toughest fight I have ever had in my career and I am barely starting.”
That first big test was tough.
Diaz hit the deck and almost immediately jumped back, a rookie move. While no
one wants to get knocked down, the best thing a downed fighter who is still mentally
fresh can do is take the eight-count and then rise after gathering himself.
Live and learn, says Diaz.
“It wasn’t that serious. It
happened but I learned from it,” he said. “I learned I shouldn’t back up with
my hands down. I shouldn’t lower my guard, period, but it happened so fast. But
as a professional, I should have at least stayed down six or seven seconds. But
like I said it wasn’t a very powerful shot. I didn’t have no spaghetti legs.
That’s why I got up. I didn’t react like I should have. It was good, man. It
was good.”
The hard part after that was
getting back into the moment and finding his rhythm.
“Afterwards, that is when I had
to think beyond it. I couldn’t stop thinking about that knockdown,” Diaz said,
“but I had to stop thinking about the knockdown; otherwise, it would have gone
a whole other way. But the knockdown taught me a lot. Hopefully, it doesn’t
happen a lot in my future. That’s about it.”
To say that once Diaz got off
the canvas, he reasserted control over the fight is to do Guy Robb a
disservice. The kid came to win and though he had lost the first round on my
scorecard, the fight was on the table for either. With Diaz down, it was Robb’s
for the taking. But Diaz wasn’t having it. For the next five rounds, fight fans
live and at home were in for a violent treat as Diaz endured hard body shots
and right hands to land both of his own along with a nasty left hook. In the
seventh, Diaz began to land shot after shot and referee Vic Drakulich, sensing
it was better to save a prospect than further the public beating, ended things
mercifully.
It was a banner moment for Boxing
360, the company that promotes Diaz Jr. Once again, they had entered a perceived
underdog and emerged victorious. For Diaz, he had entered as an unknown
quantity and emerged as a fighter who possesses heart, will, power and, above
all, toughness. It’s going to take a lot to get this one down and keep him
there.
“If he wants it, the rematch is
out there,” Diaz said in praise of Robb, who gave him the gift of
self-knowledge. “If he is up for it in a couple of months, I am always up for
anything that will boost my career. We train for hard for fights like this. We
didn’t think it would be that tough. I have to give my respect to Guy Robb. I
didn’t think I was going to have too much trouble like that but that’s where
training and hard work comes into play. I give my respect to Guy Robb.”
Diaz had never been down in a
fight before. While he is happy knowing he can get back up and quickly recover,
he has zero plans of returning to that situation. Still, it was nice to get
answers to questions about himself.
“I didn’t. I really didn’t,”
Diaz answered when I asked if he had known he could recover well after a
knockdown, much less get up. “I hadn’t felt a punch like that. Getting dropped
like that…it wasn’t the punch but...I mean, it was a punch, but getting dropped
like that wasn’t in my book at all. I didn’t really like that. From now on, I
am going to keep those guards up, for whenever you hear that bell, the guard is
going to stay up, no matter what. We are going to practice that more and more.”
Another piece of good news is
that Diaz came away with virtually no injuries. Whatever soreness he might have
seemed to heal or is healing fairly quickly.
“After the fight, I really
didn’t have too much hurtness,” said Diaz. “My hands recovered well. My face,
just some bruises. It goes away. I am actually going to start training on
Monday. I don’t like to take a long time off. They gave me a date of February
17 up in Chicago. I’ll just wait and see what my manager and my promoter got for
me. We’ll just take it from there, you know? I like to stay ready for whatever
comes my way.”
For then, at least that brief
moment he was on the radio, Diaz enjoyed the victory. As of press time, he was
back in the gym, readying for another battle to come.
“It actually feels really
good,” said Diaz of those answered questions. “I heal fast; I got up off the
canvas really fast. It feels really good. It doesn’t take so long to get the
picture. I can heal real quick. I’ll be in the gym once again in a week- and I
will be ready again.”
No doubt that when the call
comes again, this is a man who will continue to answer and say “Yes.” Lucky us.
Boxing 360 News
Boxing 360 prospect,
Brownsville’s Travis Peterkin, 4-0 (3),
won last weekend against 2-3-1 Steve Tyner. The card was significant to the
company because, for the first time, they were the promoter of record.
Hopefully, this burgeoning company builds on this moment and keeps it going.
Currently, they have a number of very interesting prospects.
