Trainer Joel Diaz and WBO welterweight champion Timothy Bradley recently parted ways, news that surprised a lot of people, including Diaz himself. With that relationship over, Diaz looks to move forward with his current stable of fighters and his recent big name addition, Ruslan Provodnikov.
In part 2 of this “On The Ropes” boxing radio interview with Joel Diaz, I talk with him about wheather or not the door is left open for Timothy Bradley to return to his stable. I also get Diaz’s thoughts on Floyd Mayweather’s retirement and a potential Pacquiao-Khan bout. Additionally Joel gives his thoughts on Canelo vs. Cotto and talks about his stable of fighters. Here is what Joel Diaz had to say.
Jenna J: A lot of fighters leave their trainers and later in their careers they go back to that same trainer. If Tim Bradley has some sort of struggles with his new trainer and he wants to come back, is that door open or closed?
Joel Diaz: That door is completely closed for Bradley, and I added a couple of locks and I threw away the keys, so that basically says everything. The way it was approached, I don’t think it was in a professional way. If you want to leave the door open, you have to approach the right way as a professional.
You can’t just approach a person and tell them, “You know what, things have not been right,” when in reality they have been. In reality the things have been right. The problem was not Bradley and me, it was everybody else around him.
When Tim tells me, “I’ll get back to you and we’ll figure out what’s gonna happen,” and then I get a phone call from him and I didn’t pick up the call because it was a blocked number, and I get a voicemail saying that it wasn’t gonna work out because of his wife and his brother in law and that he was gonna move on and find another trainer. That was his approach, and to me that was very unprofessional.
That’s fine, he can move on and do whatever he wants, but if things don’t go right with his next trainer and he wants to come back, his doors are completely shut. The doors to him are completely shut and I added a couple of locks and threw away the keys, so there is no reason to come back and try to find an open the door, because there’s no more door for him.
Jenna J: Lets move things to the current boxing scene. Floyd Mayweather recently fought Andre Berto in what was supposed to be his last fight. Do you think this is truly the end for Floyd?
Joel Diaz: No, Mayweather is not going to retire yet. Mayweather has so much influence in the sport of boxing, he has so much power that he does basically whatever he wants. He’ll pick any opponent he wants and there’s no retirement for him yet. He’ll be back next year, we’ll see more of Floyd Mayweather.
Jenna J: There’s talk about Pacquiao fighting Amir Khan next year in his comeback fight. Is that a good style match up for Pacquiao?
Joel Diaz: Right now there’s really not much for Pacquiao but Amir Khan would be a great opponent for Pacquiao. There’s a few out there too for Manny Pacquiao, there’s Danny Garcia. I would like to see Manny Pacquiao fight a fighter like Keith Thurman, something like that. Are we gonna see it? I don’t know. There are a lot of fighters out there that deserve an opportunity and deserve a chance to match up against some of the top elite fighters in the sport.
Jenna J: If Pacquiao somehow loses his next fight, do you think that would be the end of him?
Joel Diaz: Of course. If Manny Pacquiao fights Amir Khan and loses to Amir Khan, he has no more business in boxing. Amir Khan got knocked out by Danny Garcia, he’s been in the ins and out. Losing to Amir Khan, boxing has no more sense for him.
Jenna J: As a trainer what fights are you looking forward to watching as a fight fan?
Joel Diaz: A fight that really excites the fans is the Canelo-Cotto fight. That’s one of the fights that is okay for us to watch, not like a Mayweather-Berto because we already knew what kind of fight would happen. Berto has been beaten by Soto-Karass, that fight had no interest in me watching, I didn’t even watch it because I knew what was gonna happen.
Canelo vs. Cotto catches my attention, because Canelo is young, he’s a rising star, and Cotto has a lot of experience. I think in that fight it’s interesting to watch because it’s an even fight, but I think towards the end, Canelo’s youth is going to be a factor in that fight.
Jenna J: Can you tell the fans about your current stable of fighters and some fighters that fans should look out for?
Joel Diaz: I got Felix Diaz, he’s a 2008 Olympic gold medalist who is fighting Lamont Peterson in Virginia on October 17th. I got Diego Magdaleno fighting Terry Flanagan. I got Diego De La Hoya who I think is opening the Canelo-Cotto event in November. I got other up incoming fighters that you guys will see pretty soon.
Floyd “Ultimate Medicine” Man
Joel Diaz still sour grapes over Bradley’s lost to Manny.
Yep, still sour about the loss.. In fact, Pacquaio barely had scratches on his last fight agains the running and holding FRAUD “IV-Gate” Mayweather!