WBA lightweight champion Juan "The Baby Bull" Diaz will make his long awaited return to the ring on April 8th. Diaz will be fighting on the Floyd Mayweather-Zab Judah undercard against Jose Miguel Cotto. For Diaz it has been a frustrating year with fights falling through left and right. Diaz had his fight with Ebo Elder cancelled due to a cut, and had his mandatory defense against Lakva Sim postponed by Sim's camp on three different occasions. Diaz will finally step back into the ring on the 8th, and will be taking on a dangerous opponent in Cotto.

    Diaz took some time on Wednesday to talk with the press during a conference call to promote his fight. Diaz had a lot to say, and for a 21-year old, he showed that he is a breath of fresh air for the sport boxing.

    Here's a little of what the Baby Bull had to say...

-On what he learned from being off for so long- 'It taught me to put my money away now, instead of spending it right away. I realized that I need to put it back for school and for when I retire. I realized I need to make this money now from fighting and put it back for later.

-On how tough the layoff has been for him- 'It has been a tough number of months. I haven't fought in awhile, and I was used to fighting about every three months. I have been fortunate before, but eventually there comes a time for every fighter where things don't go as planned. It gave me time to think. After the third Sim fight fell through, I had a feeling it wasn't going to happen.

-On where he hoped to be right now- 'I was expecting big fights to be coming my way, but things didn't go right. So, I gotta keep training and I know things will happen. I've stayed hungry and have stayed in the gym during this layoff.

-On how much more time before he graduates from college- 'I got 40 more hours to go before I graduate. With all the fights I had planned I didn't take any extra classes, and stayed on my usual schedule. If I would have known these fights would fall through, I would have taken a full load.

-On whether he's been watching the 135 pound division during his layoff- 'There are some great champions in the 135 pound division. I haven't kept up too much during my layoff, because I was too busy concentrating on getting another fight, and that's all I could think of.

-On how long he plans on staying at 135- 'I feel good at 135, and it's right for me for the next for the next two years. My goal is and has been to unify the division. I got a little comfortable before last year, and thought fights would come to me, but it's made me hungrier.

-On his fight with Cotto on the 8th- 'It should be a great action fight. He's undefeated and we both are always coming forward.

-On his living arrangement with his parents- 'I still live with them and we have a great relationship. They don't have many strict rules for me, except on the weekends, because I'm so busy on weekdays. If I'm not home by 11 pm on weekends, my mother will call my manager telling him to get me home.

-On how he found out about this fight- 'My team tried to find someone else to fight, because Lakva Sim pulled out three times. Then I was told that I was going to be fighting on an HBO pay per view. I didn't know it was going to be a title fight, I was expecting a 10 rounder. Eventually though I will have to fight Sim, because he's the WBA mandatory.'
 

Questions? Comments? Email Tom Dickey

3-29-2006