Joel Diaz: “Bradley-Pacquiao II was a more exciting fight than Mayweather-Pacquiao. I don’t see why not go for a third one!”

Timothy Bradley and Manny Pacquiao have met inside the ring two times. In June of 2012 Bradley won a highly controversial split decision, a result that angered many boxing fans. In April 2014 the two met again, this time Pacquiao got the decision, in what people felt was a closer and more exciting fight than in their first encounter. Now with Bradley again holding the WBO welterweight belt, fans are hoping to see a third and deciding bout.

In part 1 of my “On The Ropes” boxing radio interview with Joel Diaz, I discuss with him Timothy Bradley’s recent title win and what he thought of the final round of the Jessie Vargas bout. Joel also talks about Tim’s future going forward and if he thinks Bradley will get bigger fights due to the ending of his last fight. Additionally, Joel shares his thoughts on the possibility of a third bout with Manny Pacquiao. Here is what Joel Diaz had to say.

Jenna J: One of the last times we saw you in the ring was in the Timothy Bradley vs. Jessie Vargas fight. Tim was having an easy time most of that fight but ran into a little bit of a trouble at the end. What are your thoughts now on that fight?

Joel Diaz: Well, Tim is a stubborn a fighter. Tim has to earn his decision the hard way, at some points in his career. He was following the game plan through the whole fight, and obviously as a fighter if you feel confident in there that everything is fine and you’re doing good, obviously the confidence can get you a little reckless and careless, and that’s exactly what happened.

I was telling him and repeating every round, “Tim, don’t get careless. Don’t drop your defense, one punch can change the whole fight, one punch can make a big difference,” and he said, “Yes” but once he’s in there, he’s in his own world and he’s feeling confident and he goes on his own.

When that punch landed, of course I saw the damage that Jessie did to Tim, but what I saw was that Tim was in control and we practice for everything. In the gym, we practice for knockdowns, we practice for everything and I knew Tim was hurt, but he was in control.

As Tim wass moving around the ring coming towards my corner, I see him block two punches and I turned to his father to tell him “Ray, relax he is fine, he is fine,” I repeated to him twice “He’s fine.” And then when he got to the corner where I was sitting, I told him, “Tim just get in there and hold him,” and he did! He went in there and he held Jessie and that’s when the referee stepped in to separate them and then he called the fight and it’s over.

At that moment he signaled ten seconds, the ten seconds before the bell, and the referee said, “The fight is over,” so Jessie starts celebrating. For a minute I was in shock. I said, “What happened here? Did Jessie really think he won or did the referee really stop Tim?” So, it took me a minute to focus on exactly what was happening in that moment.

Until I saw Todd duBoef — which is the promoter — and then I saw another guy from Top Rank and he said “No Joel, relax, relax. Tim won, Tim won,” so then I relaxed a little bit. But you know there are a lot of things in boxing, there are new things every time and you’d be surprised at the things that are happening in this sport lately. Those are things that worry anybody in there, in a situation like that.

Jenna J: Going forward with Tim, do you think this result will actually maybe help him because he looked a little bit more vulnerable in that sense that if a light hitting guy in Jessie Vargas hurt him, that maybe Tim will get more big opportunities?

Joel Diaz: Well, Tim obviously is getting older in this sport and it’s common sense. Tim has been in some really tough fights and it’s understandable. His body already took a toll in his career, his body is already getting tired.

You get to a point where every fighter starts diminishing his ability the older you get and we see it. I don’t know, maybe this is a sign of Tim losing a little bit due to his age already, and plus he puts a lot of work in to himself he puts a lot of work in his body. The older you get, the less you have to train, and Tim has no limits.

I’m not going to take anything from Jessie Vargas. Jessie Vargas really put in his whole body into that punch, and we could all see it. I see that punch in slow motion, and Jessie really, really wanted to hurt Tim. But you can’t win a fight, I mean you’re losing eleven and a half rounds and then one punch?

It could change the whole thing but Tim could have survived the few seconds that were on the clock. He survived against Ruslan Provodnikov, a heavy hitter. I don’t think just one punch made a difference in the fight. It gave people something to talk about, but it doesn’t deserve a rematch.

Jenna J: Tim is now the WBO welterweight champion, Floyd Mayweather vacated the belt, and now Tim is the full champion, so obviously there are opportunities there. Do you think there is any chance that a third Pacquaio fight could still possibly be out there?

Joel Diaz: Anything can be possible. Anything can be possible, and don’t get me wrong because Tim at one point in his career after he lost to Pacquiao the second fight he said, “If I get that WBO title, Manny is going to come back to me again.” He doesn’t doubt it, and I don’t doubt it.

They went at it twice and you know they had controversy in the first one and he beat him the second time. Tim put up a hell of a fight in the second fight and Bradley-Pacquiao 2 was a more exciting fight than Mayweather-Pacquiao. I don’t see why not go for a third one. I mean, Pacquiao fought Marquez four times.