With a Clear Mind, Diaz Begins a New Chapter By Steve Kim (Sep 5, 2008) Photo © Tom Hogan /Golden Boy Promotions Send this page to friend Give us your feedback The promotional arrangement between Juan Diaz and Don King seemed like a mismatched fit from the very beginning of its inception in late 2006. Like the short-lived marriage between Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley, it just didn't look or feel right. And at the end it became the most acrimonious divorce in recent memory that didn't involve Paul McCartney.   In a span of four fights - that went from November of 2006 to this past March - the fights inside the ring for 'the Baby Bull' paled in comparison to the backroom battles between King and Diaz’ manager Willie Savannah. Despite capturing several lightweight title belts and making career-high paydays under the DKP banner, Savannah and King could never see eye-to-eye.   Things came to a head as Diaz faced Nate Campbell six months ago in Cancun, Mexico, where Diaz's camp firmly believes that the deck was stacked against them, from large, prominently displayed placards that carried King propaganda against Savannah, to the selection of gloves and various other ancillary issues related to the fight.   On fight night, ironically inside of a bull ring, Diaz was gored late by Campbell. No doubt a sweet victory for 'the Galaxxy Warrior', but it paled in comparison to the satisfaction felt by King.   It would be the end of a rocky union. King, who co-promotes Campbell, got the belts and no longer had to deal with Savannah. Diaz and Savannah walked to Golden Boy Promotions (who they nearly signed with back before their deal with DKP) and got a new lease on life.   "It was definitely very hard to deal with those issues down there," Diaz said of his loss in Cancun. "To be honest, I didn't even know if I was going to fight till the night before the fight. That's when Don King gave us a signed contract. It's kinda hard to get mentally prepared for something when you don't know for sure if it's going to happen or not. So it's always a big, big deal when you don't have the contract signed for the fight until the night before the fight."   Dating back to his days as an amateur, it was the first loss suffered by Diaz in nearly nine years.   “I tell ya, it wasn't a great feeling at all," he admitted, of that disappointing night. "I was truly sad that night; after so many years, I finally got my first loss. I knew that it had to happen sooner or later. I was just thankful that I came out of the fight good and the main thing that brought me up and inspired me and helped me not get so down is the fact everybody that I love, everybody that I care about, was there in the dressing room with me. There was no TV, there was no promoter there to back me up and say everything was going to be OK. But my parents, Mr. Savannah, and my brother were all there to support me and make sure that everything was good. So I think that's what made it better and not feel so bad."   Shortly thereafter, Diaz would sign his promotional deal with Golden Boy and then agree to face the rugged Michael Katsidis this Saturday night at the Toyota Center in his hometown of Houston, Texas.   "I truly believe this is a new inspiration for me. With Don King we were doing a lot of fighting back and forth, back and forth, every single fight that we fought, we had to fight with him and argue because he wanted to extend my contract," Diaz explains. "The contracts for the fight would come, 15, 20 pages and the big difference is that for this fight, I signed with De La Hoya, the contract was made and I signed the fight contract and it was only two pages long, stating where it was going to be, how much I was going to get and against who. So that right there is a big relief, a big change. It's a big difference."   Coming off his tough loss to Campbell, there were some questions as to how Diaz would react. Would there be permanent scars that would linger?   "At first I was really concerned," Savannah admitted. "Juan hadn't lost in eight, nine years and you are always concerned with a situation like this. But he knows what happened down in Mexico. So it doesn't even bother him, and the first day he laced them up and got in the ring, I looked at Ronnie Shields and looked at the other trainers and everybody nodded their heads like, 'It's OK."   And they didn't choose a softie to return against. This encounter with Katsidis figures to be a bruising battle between two hard-nosed competitors who won’t give an inch.   "We never hesitated at all to take this fight. One thing I was always afraid of more than anything in the world is tune-up fights," says Savannah. "There's no such thing as a tune-up. A tune-up guy decides that he wants to kick your ass that day - and a lot of times he can, just like Emanuel Augustus. I remember Freddie Roach taking a tune-up and that cost him a title fight. On and on and on. And a lot of times a guy can't get up for a tune-up. I'm sure that's why Jermain Taylor did not take a tune-up fight before he fought Pavlik again.   "He takes a tune-up before he fights Pavlik for $50,000 or whatever, and then he loses two or three million to fight with Pavlik. Because how can you get up for Joe Blow when you've been fighting all of the good guys?"   This battle with Katsidis is exactly what Diaz wanted - a real fight.   "That's exactly what I told him. We spoke about that and I told him I didn't want a tune-up fight. I told him I didn't because, for example, let's say that the guy who is a nobody decides he wants to train his butt off and decides he can beat me and I do have a close, tough fight, maybe even a draw or another loss, that sets me back even more than my last fight. And I think I couldn't be mentally prepared like I am now. Now, I've prepared myself like never before, I feel that same little spark that I did when I fought Lakva Sim for the title."   But Savannah feels that from a managerial perspective, this is a relatively safe fight, regardless of the hype, saying, "Everybody says it's going to be a 'fight of the year' candidate maybe and this kind of thing. I don't know, I see it as being a good fight. We look at Katsidis in his other fights, he's a guy who shows you how tough he is, stuff like that. We're trying to get Juan to fight a smart fight, but we know he's going to jump on Katsidis' ass."   Regardless, Diaz believes that now he only has to face one opponent - the guy standing across the ring from him.   "For this fight I'm just very excited and my mind is very clear. I'm just concentrating on what I have to do, and I don't have no worries from my promoter being against me or having to worry about anything. So for this fight I'm just concentrating like I've always done in the past on Michael Katsidis and I'm 100-percent physically and mentally ready for this fight."   HOUSTON'S BOXING BLAST OFF?   This promotion must be going well; Savannah is actually satisfied, believe it or not.   "The promotion’s been running real good," says the hard-to-please manager. "I tell ya, I just can't believe that we hadn't fought in Houston before now. It's amazing the PR that Juan is getting in Houston. The ticket sales are going fabulous. They think there's going to be anywhere from 13-to-15,000 people."   The last time Diaz performed in front of his hometown was in early 2005 versus Billy Irwin. The city actually has a pretty deep boxing history, which was witnessed by Savannah, who came to Houston in 1966.   "I went to fights when Muhammad Ali was here a couple times against 'Big Cat' Williams and Ernie Terrell. I saw Sugar Ray Leonard- Ayub Kalule here at the Astrodome. And three, four fights before he died, Salvador Sanchez fought here."   Savannah believes Diaz can anchor Houston - which has a large Latino population - as a boxing city.   "I tell you what, and I've said this for a long, long time, Houston can be similar to L.A. I remember when L.A. used to have Ruben Olivares and they had 'Gato' Gonzalez and Gonzalez was filling up the Olympic Auditorium out there in 10-round fights and he was offered a title fight and he said, 'Hell, I make more money fighting 10-round fights, non-televised fights, than for NBC title fights.'   "And that’s the same way it can be in Houston if it's promoted correctly. As soon as they announced this fight here in Houston at the press conference, the next day they sold 1,500 tickets by 10 am."   FRIDAY FLURRIES   Dan Goossen says he's very close to completing a deal to have James Toney face Audley Harrison in England sometime in late October....And he tells me that it wasn't $200,000 turned down by Hasim Rahman to face Chris Arreola in late November - it was $250,000....Nice debut with Top Rank made by Demetrius Hopkins, huh?....I hear that if the November 1st bout between Antonio Margarito and Joshua Clottey is made, it will now take place at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. An informed source tells me that this deal is very close to being made....All-Star Boxing has another show tonight at the Quiet Cannon in Montebello, featuring lightweight prospect Johnny Molina.....Y'know, Bengals wide receiver Chad Johnson changing his last name to 'Ocho Cinco' just doesn't resonate like 'Marvelous' Marvin Hagler, does it?..... I have to agree with Main Events publicist Donald Tremblay when he points out that 'A Charlie Brown Christmas' trumps 'Snoopy Come Home' or anything else put out by the 'Peanuts'. I don't care how many times I've already seen it, every December I sit down and watch..... For Questions or Comments E-Mail Steve: k9kim@maxboxing.com Today's Boxing Press Discuss this Topic - Go to the forums