Juan Díaz (Mexican American boxer)

Infobox_Boxer


name = Juan Díaz
realname = Juan Díaz
nickname = Baby Bull
weight = Lightweight
height = 5 ft. 6 in. (167 cm.)
nationality = flagicon|USA flagicon|Mexico Mexican American
birth_date = Birth date and age|1983|9|17|mf=y
birth_place = Houston, Texas
death_date =
home = Houston, Texas, United States
style = Orthodox
total = 34
wins = 33"'| KO = 17
losses = 1"'
draws = 0
no contests = 0

Juan Díaz, born September 17, 1983 in Houston, Texas, is a Mexican-American boxer in the lightweight (135 lb) division. His record is 33-1 (17 KOs). He is the former unified WBA & WBO and IBF world lightweight champion, having lost the titles to Nate Campbell on March 8, 2008.

Boxing career

Diaz was 105-5 as an amateur.He thought he had qualified for the 2000 Mexican Olympic team but was informed he was too young to compete in Sydney. He didn't want to wait four more years and turned pro.

Díaz made his professional boxing debut at age 16 on June 23, 2000 with a first-round TKO victory over Rafael Ortiz.BoxRec.com editors. [http://www.boxrec.com/boxer_display.php?boxer_id=029486 "Juan Diaz."] BoxRec.com. URL accessed 3 August 2006.] He won all of his first five fights by KO or TKO.

On November 22, 2003, Díaz won the WBO youth lightweight title with a sixth-round TKO of journeyman Joel Pérez.

On July 17, 2004, Díaz defeated Mongolian Lakva Sim for the WBA lightweight title by unanimous decision. Díaz defended the title seven times. On April 8, 2006, he defended his title against undefeated José Miguel Cotto (brother of Miguel Cotto). Díaz defeated Cotto by unanimous decision.. On November 14, 2006, Diaz successfully defended his title for the fifth time against Fernando Angulo of Ecuador.

On April 28, 2007 he successfully defended his title against Acelino Freitas by TKO after Freitas forfeited the fight before beginning the 9th round, unifying the WBO lightweight championship with the WBA lightweight title. The fight took place in Mashantucket, USA.

Diaz defeated Julio Diaz, the IBF Lightweight Title Holder on October 13 in Chicago Illinois.

Nate Campbell defeated Juan Diaz by split decision to become IBF, WBO, WBA Champion, on March 8, 2008 in Cancun, Mexico. This ended Diaz's undefeated streak of thirty-three wins.

Diaz's training is supervised by fitness guru Brian Caldwell of Houston Texas. [cite news
last = Brian
first = Caldwell
title = Caldwell a Source of Strength
publisher = Houston Chronicle
date = June 7, 2007
url = http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=2007_4359949
accessdate = 2007-07-28

]

Díaz,( 34-1, 17 KO's), won a 12-round split decision over Australia's Michael Katsidis, (23-2, 20 KO's) on September 6, 2008. Diaz became the new IBO lightweight champion in the "No Retreat, No Surrender" main event fight at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. Ringside judge Gale Van Hoy scored the fight 116-112 while Levi Martinez scored it 115-113, all for Diaz, but Judge Glen Hamada had it 115-113 for Katsidis. [ [http://www.ringsidereport.com/rsr/news.php?readmore=1074 ringsidereport.com, Houston Fighters Juan Diaz and Rocky Juarez Win Big, but Judges are the Big Losers] ] [ [http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=130423 abs-cbnnews.com, Diaz takes IBO lightweight belt via split decision] ]

Personal life

Díaz graduated from Contemporary Learning Center in Houston in 2001 [http://www.houstonisd.org/HISD/portal/article/front/0,2731,20856_67359489_94477637,00.html] . He is currently a junior political science major at the nowrap|University of Houston–Downtown.

Diaz is a community activist who has been deputized as a Volunteer Voter Registrar for Harris County (Texas). He works with the League of Women Voters of the Houston Area to promote full participation in civic life. [cite news
title = Could Politics Be Next for Juan Diaz?
publisher = Boxing Tribune
date = July 25, 2007
url = http://www.boxingtribune.com/index.php?go=article&id=1531
accessdate = 2007-07-28

]

See also

* List of current world boxing champions
* List of famous people raised in Houston
* List of lightweight boxing champions

* List of undisputed boxing champions
* List of WBA world champions

Notes and references

External links

* [http://boxing.about.com/od/records/a/juandiaz.htm Juan Diaz Fight-by-Fight Career Record]
*
* [http://www.boxrec.com/media/index.php?title=Juan_Diaz Juan Díaz - BoxRec Boxing Encyclopedia]
* [http://www.canadastarboxing.com/Fighters/juan-diaz-profile.htm Article]
* [http://www.boxen-artur.de/eng_juan_diaz_1886 Boxing-Enzyklopädie]

s-ttl | title=WBA Lightweight Champion | years=July 17 2004 – February 23 2007
Became super champion

Persondata
NAME=Díaz, Juan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Diaz, Juan
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Mexican professional boxer
DATE OF BIRTH=September 17, 1983
PLACE OF BIRTH=huichuca, Guerrero, Mexico
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=