Joel Diaz: “If Brandon Rios applies the pressure on Bradley and wears him out, it could be a dangerous fight”

Boxing trainer, Joel Diaz, is one of the most respected and sought after corner men in the sport, having had his biggest success with Timothy Bradley, who became a 5 time world champion. Recently it was reveled that Diaz and Bradley parted ways, ending a relationship that spanned the duration of Bradley’s career.

In part 1 of my “On The Ropes” boxing radio interview with Joel Diaz, he talks about two of his rising star fighters, Diego Magdaleno & Diego De La Hoya. Diaz also speaks in detail about his parting with Timothy Bradley and how he thinks it was handled. Additionally, Joel breaks down Bradley’s next bout again Brandon Rios. Here is what Joel Diaz had to say.

Jenna J: Diego Magdaleno is fighting for a world title fight on October 10th against Terry Flanagan. Can you tell me a little about the challenge ahead of him?

Joel Diaz: Diego Magdaleno is a kid that really dedicates himself to the sport and he’s very excited and hungry. He wants to be a world champion and we’ve been in camp for a while now and everything’s been looking really good. The sparring has been great, his conditioning is great, his weight is good.

This is a kid that has to work extremely hard to get to where he’s at and I have no doubt in my mind that we’re going to England to fight for the WBO title and we’re gonna bring it back to the United States, because hard work always pays off. Diego Magdaleno is one of those kids that really works extremely hard to get what he wants, and he wants to be a world champion this year.

Jenna J: This is the second time that Diego has had a shot at a world title. What has changed in him between that first title shot to now?

Joel Diaz: We made some adjustments, we added some work for him. He has improved so much that I can see the improvement in him. He’s pushing harder, the work is different. I can see the improvement, it’s very noticeable, and that’s why I know this is the right time for him to fight for a world title.

Jenna J: Another young fighter you’re working with is Diego De La Hoya, he’s only 21 years old and he’s making leaps and bounds in his career. How far do you see him being from competing against the top guys in the division?

Joel Diaz: I see Diego De La Hoya being there at the end of next year. That kid is very talented, he’s got power, speed. All I can see is that he will be up there among the bets fighters in his division by next year. He’s still young, he’s still learning, he’s still improving.

Jenna J: Recent news came out that you’re no longer working with Tim Bradley. What happened with that? Why did the relationship come to a close?

Joel Diaz: I was more surprised that anybody else. I was more surprised than you guys, the fans and the people, because this came to a surprise to me as well. After the last fight with Jessie Vargas, I thought everything was okay. Usually when a fighter and a coach separate, it’s due to something going wrong, but I didn’t see anything go wrong.

The only thing that goes wrong in our relationship is when other people start coming in. When you start bringing other people that were not there from the beginning with you, they start thinking more about them and not about the work that has been done for years. It’s hard for me to settle in and figure it out, but since he left Cameron Dunkin as a manager and he got a new manager, which is his wife, things started changing.

Things were changing at home, things were changing at the gym and all the changes were made because the manager had other plans. We’ll see, to me it came as a surprise because after a while I couldn’t get through to Bradley directly, everything had to be around somebody else. But now it’s another chapter that I closed in my career and my life and my job. I got other champions I got to make, I can’t look back and focus on that because that’s already done.

Bradley won five world championships under my guidance, under my supervision. What’s done is done, I just hope that he moves on and captures another five world titles, if that’s the case. I don’t think there’s anybody out there that can do better for Bradley than what I did.

Even though some people might think different, the job is done. Five world titles, he fought the best in the world, he fought Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez, and I made him push through the right way. He gave everything he’s got. I think Bradley has too many people whispering in his ear and he’s believing the people at home.

Jenna J: Bradley has an upcoming fight with Brandon Rios. Do you see any risk in that fight or do you think that’s a style that fits him?

Joel Diaz: Bradley can fight that fight if he wants. He can make that fight a fight that he can benefit himself by just boxing and moving, but Bradley is a type of guy that has a lot of pride in himself and the only one that could control him was me. I knew how to control him at some points. We’ll see if his new trainer has any authority to control him because if not, he can get in trouble.

Brandon Rios fought Manny Pacquiao and Pacquiao is a devastating puncher and he could not really hurt Brandon Rios. Tim Bradley doesn’t have the power to hurt Rios and if Brandon Rios applies the pressure on Bradley and wears him out, it could be a dangerous fight in the later rounds. It just depends on what they got and what they’re working on and the kind of strategy they’ve got.