Joel Diaz: “Manny Pacquiao threw punches from every angle with speed and power and I never saw any signs of injuries”

Renowned trainer, Joel Diaz, is widely regarded as one of the best trainers in the game due to his success with Timothy Bradley, bringing him to a championship in two weight classes and attaining wins over future Hall of Famer fighters, Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez. With that success, Joel has recently gotten more opportunities to work in the sport and is now a featured commentator on HBO Latino.

In part 2 of my “On The Ropes” Boxing radio interview with Joel Diaz, I get his thoughts on the current boxing landscape and his thoughts on some of the biggest fights in the sport. Diaz shares his views on the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao result and his thoughts on Pacquiao’s injury claims. Additionally, Joel talks about the future of Diego Magdaleno and speaks on the fights he would like to see happen in the sport. Here is what Joel Diaz had to say.

Jenna J: I had you on the show just before the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight, now that it’s over, what were your thoughts on that whole event? Do you think it was a bit disappointing?

Joel Diaz: That fight I could honestly tell you that it went as I planned it. I’m never interested in doing research and going back and looking at videos and just analyzing weights and analyzing styles everything, and I did. I actually took my time way before the fight and I said, “I want to analyze this fight going into the ring.”

Exactly the way I called it, that’s the way it happened. That’s why I wasn’t surprised. It was disappointing for the people but I was already expecting it. Just going back and figuring that Mayweather is a natural welterweight and Pacquiao is not. Pacquiao is a small welterweight. Matching the same opponents they fought and due to the outcomes, and going on styles.

I always said Manny Pacquiao had speed and power but he is reckless, and Mayweather knows the sweet science of boxing, which is hit and don’t get hit. I said from the beginning that Mayweather was going to dictate the pace of the fight from the beginning.

Once that first round, once that bell starts in the first round, he’s going to see if Pacquiao is a threat. He’s going to put his undefeated record in jeopardy, he’s going to pick and move and just put round in his pocket and walk away regardless of what people in the world think.

If he feels that he can take the punch from Pacquiao and he could stand in front of him, he’s going to do it to please the people for a little bit, but other than that, Mayweather is going to get in there and just pick and move, and at points if he feels a little threatened he is going to pick and move and then hold, and that’s exactly what happened.

Jenna J: Pacquiao claimed he had a shoulder injury after the fight and then he went and had surgery on it. Does that say that there was a legitimate ailment with him or was he maybe trying to force a rematch?

Joel Diaz: I don’t really know. You can always tell when something is wrong, but Manny Pacquiao went in there and threw punches from every angle with speed and power and I never saw any signs of injuries in him. But like I said, I’m nobody to judge him and maybe there was something in camp, I really don’t know.

I can’t say yes or no, but on going by what I saw that night when Mayweather and Pacquiao fought, there was a point in the fourth round when Mayweather is leaning on the ropes and Pacquiao unloads a series of punches on him and I didn’t see no signs of injuries, but like I said, only they know and the reason why they didn’t say anything. They have there reasons.

Their camps do business, the promoters have their reasons why they didn’t bring it out. I really don’t know. I’m not going to judge on this but I didn’t see no injuries on Pacquiao that night.

Jenna J: I want to ask you about Diego Magdaleno because he recently returned to the ring and he came away with a knockout win in seven rounds against Jose Gonzalez. Being now in the position that he is in, do you think he’s ready for another title shot?

Joel Diaz: Oh definitely, he is ready. He didn’t give the people the fight the people wanted to see, but it wasn’t because of him. Going back and looking at Jose Gonzalez, his style is not a fan friendly style. Those are the things that a lot of people don’t realize that we have to work on as far trainers. You have to make the right decisions at the right time. There is a thin line between right and wrong and you have to make it at the right time.

That night I told Diego exactly what was going to happen, I said, “This guy is not going to come looking for you. He’s not going to move around the ring, he’s going to be standing right there trying to make you make mistakes.” He has power on his right hand and then as people saw, that was a fight that was not suitable for HBO, that’s why they put him on truTV.

The first round was a boring round, the second round was a boring round, and people started booing him and at that point we as a trainer can get carried away by the fans and tell him, “Diego go in there and fight,” but I am putting him in danger of getting caught with a punch so it was a just a matter of following the plan.

Going into the middle rounds, Jose starts fading. He doesn’t like pressure, but I just wanted Diego to be smart in early rounds, and even though people booed him, I wanted Diego to just stay composed and follow the game plan because in the middle rounds we were going to start applying pressure like he did and sooner or later Diego was going to land that punch that we worked on to knock him out.

Jenna J: I wanted to get your thoughts on what fights you see in boxing that could now be super fights, a fight that you think the fans truly want to see that could really deliver what Mayweather-Pacquiao didn’t deliver. What fight do you think could be that super fight?

Joel Diaz: I would like to see a Mayweather and a Keith Thurman bout. That’s a fight that would catch some attention. A fight with Gennady Golovkin and Canelo I think would be a great fight if they were to come to an agreement on weight.

I know the Canelo-Cotto fight is going to be a big fight because any time a Mexican fighter is in with a Puerto Rican fighter, it always creates a lot of noise, and a lot of excitement. That’s the only fight right now that is in the works that if it could happen is going to be a great fight, Canelo and Cotto