Apr

22

Freitas-Diaz Interview

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FRED STERNBURG: We’re less than 10 days away and with a combined record of 69 victories, one loss, and 47 knockouts, next Saturday’s unification fight between lightweight champions, Acelino Freitas and Juan Diaz, has the potential of being the division’s biggest title unification fight since Diego Corrales and Jose Luis Castillo first clashed almost two years ago. In fact the two-year anniversary of that fight is May 7th..

Freitas vs. Diaz headlines FightCentennial, the landmark 100th professional boxing card hosted by Foxwood’s Resort Casino. It will going to be televised live on HBOï?½s ï?½Boxing After Darkï?½ at 10:00 p.m. ET and on delay to the West Coast at 10:00 p.m. PT.

Juan, how is it going down there? What are your feelings as we get closer to this big title fight for you?

JUAN DIAZ: It’s going great. You know, this has been one of my best training camps that I’ve had in a while. All my training camps are good, but I think this one has been the best because it’s so much more exciting to be fighting a guy like Acelino Freitas. It makes me train that much harder and just come in the gym every day motivated to work and put everything in the gym.

FRED STERNBURG: Ronnie, I know you’re kind of sweating it down there in Houston and working very hard. How has Juan evolved as a champion from the time he’s won the title through I think he said five or six title defenses already, and how do you see his progress as he heads into probably his biggest if not his most dangerous fight yet?

RONNIE SHIELDS: Juan is a hard worker so I really don’t worry about who he fights. The most important thing of course is to keep training hard and realize that everybody is after him because he is champion of the world.

It’s a shame that now he’s just really getting a big shot at fighting one of the big names in the division. He’s wanted to fight all of those world champions, but when it comes to putting their name on the dotted line, nobody wants to do it.

FRED STERNBURG: What are your biggest concerns in terms of what Freitas brings into this fight against Juan?

RONNIE SHIELDS: I don’t have a big concern about Freitas in honesty. He’s a guy, sometimes he likes to run, sometimes he’ll fight. The thing about Juan, he’s been trained to do both. So, it’s going to be a wait and see thing.

I don’t want to give up anything and I’m sure they’re not going to give up anything on the phone, but I really don’t have any concerns about Freitas. We both know that Freitas is a really good fighter and so is Juan, so this is what boxing is all about. The best should have to fight the best, and this is why Juan is in this fight.

PATRICK KELLEY, FIGHTNEWS.COM: Juan, what I wanted to ask you is following the loss at Corrales which, you know, Freitas obviously refused to continue any longer.

Many refer to that as quitting and he had a momentary retirement there. Do you feel that Freitasï?½ heart isn’t any longer in the sport and that right now he might be ripe for the picking?

JUAN DIAZ: He is a great champion and I think that retirement maybe at the time of the Corrales fight, you know, his heart may not have been in that fight or in boxing at that time.

And I think that retirement gave him a chance to think about what he really wanted to do and I think that he decided that he can’t stay away from boxing and that this is what he does and who he is. So, I trained for Freitas, who is undefeated. The guy you saw knock out all those guys in his early career, that’s who I trained for. I’m not concerning myself with his last fight as much as the other fights when he just started.

KEVIN IOLE, LAS VEGAS REVIEW: Ronnie, how much of an advantage do you think it is for Juan, given Popo’s inactivity? He fought one fight in the last year and then in two years he only had two fights.

He fought Francisco Salazar in July of ‘06 and only went one round, so do you think in any way that that is an advantage to Juan because he’s been busy?

RONNIE SHIELDS: I think it’s. It’s a minor advantage if anything. I just think that being active for Juan is good because he’s a young fighter. I don’t think it affects all the fighters as much as it does a 24-year-old.

I think the rest probably helped Freitas if anything, so you know, Juan is going to have to build his (INAUDIBLE).

KEVIN IOLE: And then secondly, Ronnie, can you just describe from your vantage point the evolution of Juan from when you brought him into the gym as what, 16 years old I guess, now how he is changed and how he has gotten better?

RONNIE SHIELDS: When I first met Juan and when he first turned pro, he was a guy that always put a lot of pressure on you and always dug deep, and just went to the body. Then, I told him his career would really last a lot longer if he added the jab to it and he did add the jab to it.

Now, he’s getting a lot stronger and he’s a lot stronger than he was — even a year ago. I mean, you’ve (ph) really been good to him, and you know, the good thing about it is (INAUDIBLE) and I can feel more power when I’m doing the pads with him. He is much stronger then he was a year ago.

DAN RAFAEL, ESPN.COM: Hey Juan, you’ve made several title defenses at this stage of your career, although as Ronnie just pointed out, you’re still a very young fighter. How much have you been anxious over the last few years, since you’ve had a title, to really test yourself against a top level lightweight?

I mean, you fought some good guys, but maybe not the ï?½Aï?½ level, elite guys or the other champions. How important is that for you?

JUAN DIAZ: At the age of 20, when I became a world champion, the next morning I told my manager, Willie Savannah, I said, ï?½look, I want to fight the best guys. Put me in there with the other champions,ï?½ but that’s where the management comes in and he takes care of that, so he said, ï?½no, no, you know, you became champion.

ï?½That’s what you wanted. Let’s hold off a little bit and wait and see what happens,ï?½ so he knows. He brought up, you know, Ronnie Shield, and a lot of other top contenders, professionals, and he knows how to do — he knows the game. I was a little upset at first, but I knew that with time, my opportunity would come.

I really don’t think that Acelino Freitas at this point is going to be the hardest fight of my career. I’m going to have to see that after the 28th, then I’m going to make that judgment, but right now, every fighter that I step in the ring that has two gloves, even if the guy is 0 and 30, knocked out 29 times, he’s still a dangerous guy when he puts those gloves on.

DAN RAFAEL: Well, if you don’t think he’s the most dangerous opponent, can you tell me who you think has been so far?

JUAN DIAZ: So far, at this point in my career, the most dangerous and hardest fight in my career was, I believe it was my 12th fight, a guy by the name of Ubaldo Hernandez. I was 18 years old. I got knocked down.

I got cut, I got hit low, you know, something I had never experienced in my life, and to this point, I’ve been knocked down before in another fight, so Iï?½ve got that experience of being knocked down, being cut and I can deal with those things now.

DAN RAFAEL: Let me ask one more question, Juan, about that. You said you were a little frustrated when you had first won your title about, taking the time to get to the point where Willie and Ronnie and everybody were comfortable with putting you into a fight with a big name opponent.

I know you thought at age 20 that you were ready. Looking back, do you feel as though you were really ready at age 20, or now you really are ready at age 24?

JUAN DIAZ: Yes. I don’t think at that point I was ready. I think at that point me being a fighter, we think that we can take on the world and beat everybody, but now I see myself a lot stronger, a lot faster than I was, when I was 20.

Sure, at that time, I beat a seasoned 33-year-old fighter, but at the same time I had a great night and now, three years later, I think that I’m a lot more mature and my body is a lot stronger.

DAN RAFAEL: How close until graduation are you at this point?

JUAN DIAZ: I’m about a year and a half away from graduating.

DAN RAFAEL: OK. Good luck to you, Juan. I appreciate it.

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