Juan Díaz (Mexican American boxer)

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Juan Díaz

Statistics
Real name Juan Díaz
Nickname(s) Baby Bull
Rated at Lightweight
Height 5 ft. 6 in. (167 cm.)
Nationality Flag of the United States Flag of Mexico Mexican American
Birth date September 17, 1983 (1983-09-17) (age 24)
Birth place Houston, Texas
Stance Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights 34
Wins 33
Wins by KO 17
Losses 1
Draws 0
No contests 0
This article is about the Mexican American boxer. For other uses, see Juan Díaz.

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.

Contents

[edit] 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.[1] 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.[1]

On July 17, 2004, Díaz defeated Mongolian Lakva Sim for the WBA lightweight title by unanimous decision.[1] Díaz defended the title seven times.[1] On April 8, 2006, he defended his title against undefeated José Miguel Cotto (brother of Miguel Cotto). Díaz defeated Cotto by unanimous decision.[1]. 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 SD 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.[2]

[edit] Personal life

Díaz graduated from Contemporary Learning Center in Houston in 2001 [1]. He is currently a junior political science major at the 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. [3]

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^ a b c d e BoxRec.com editors. "Juan Diaz." BoxRec.com. URL accessed 3 August 2006.
  2. ^ Brian, Caldwell. "Caldwell a Source of Strength", Houston Chronicle, June 7, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-07-28. 
  3. ^ "Could Politics Be Next for Juan Diaz?", Boxing Tribune, July 25, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-07-28. 

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Lakva Sim		 WBA Lightweight Champion
July 17, 2004 – February 23, 2007
Became unified champion		 Succeeded by
Jose Alfaro
Preceded by
Established		 WBA Unified Lightweight Champion
February 23, 2007 – March 8, 2008		 Succeeded by
Nate Campbell
Preceded by
Acelino Freitas		 WBO Lightweight Champion
February 23, 2007 – March 8, 2008
Preceded by
Julio Diaz		 IBF Lightweight Champion
October 13, 2007 – March 8, 2008
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