David Diaz Relishing Familiar Underdog Role By Jake Donovan (June 24, 2008) Send this page to friend Give us your feedback Top lightweight David Diaz enters the fight this weekend as a considerable underdog… Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. His March tune-up bout with Ramon Montano notwithstanding, you’d be hard pressed to recall the last time David Diaz entered a notable fight as the favorite. That won’t change this weekend, as he heads to Las Vegas to take on perhaps the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world today in Manny Pacquiao, who moves up in weight for their 12 round main event (Saturday, HBO PPV, 9PM ET/6PM PT). The difference between this fight and most is that Diaz is no longer a man without a country. “The fans that come up to me in Chicago, they look at me and are like, come on David, you’re our last straw,” comments Diaz (34-1-1, 17KO) on the hopes the Mexican community has of someone shutting down the man tabbed by noted publicist Bernie Bahrmasel as ‘The Mexicutioner.’ He wasn’t getting that kind of love a year ago, not even in his own backyard, as he would have to win over the crowd at the Allstate Arena in nearby Rosemont, IL last August against the legendary Erik Morales. Despite his being the one in possession of alphabet hardware, it was Diaz’ name that appeared on the other side of the promotion, and it was Morales who received the lion’s share of the cheers when the two entered the ring for what would become a 12-round war. The night would end with Diaz’ hand raised, winning the bout and also earning the respect of the crowd, which was good enough for him. It’s not how you enter the fight, but how you leave the ring, which could help explain why Diaz embraces the underdog role like no other. Overcoming the odds is nothing new to Diaz or his family. His father came over from Mexico with no education, but a strong work ethic that allowed him to provide for his family in America. Those same values were instilled into David as a young child, and remain the driving force behind his career. Diaz summarized his upbringing with a story he shared during a recent media conference call. It was a tale of how he and his father were waiting for a bus that David believed wasn’t going to arrive. “Let’s just give it five minutes,” father Anselmo told his son. “If in five minutes the bus doesn’t show up then we can leave.” They would leave – on the bus that would come less than five minutes later. “Like that he showed me,” David reflects, “you have to go do what you’re supposed to do.” It was with that mindset that he set off for the 1996 Olympic Trials, even though others stood a much better chance of making the squad. Others like Zab Judah, one of the more gifted amateurs in the world at the time and all but a lock to lead the charge for the summer games in Atlanta. That would change by tournament’s end, when Diaz would upset the odds for the first of several times in his boxing career – as both amateur and pro – by beating Judah in the Finals. A repeat win over Zab in the Olympic Box-Offs earned the Chicagoan a berth as the 139 lb. representative, before bowing out in his second fight of the Games against eventual silver medalist Oktay Urkal. The next step was to turn pro. Four-time Golden Gloves champ, 1996 Olympian – surely someone would come along and snatch him before long, right? Diaz wasn’t so confident. “After the Olympics, I said if anybody calls me I’ll turn pro,” he admits. “If nobody calls me then I’m not going to do it; I didn’t win a medal so I figured I wouldn’t get no money.” Once upon a time, that bus eventually came. Soon after the Olympics, so too would that phone call. “When Bob called I was shocked, surprised, and I was like ‘Hey, somebody’s interested.’ I thought I had made it just by doing that.” For nearly a decade, “just doing that” was really all that was accomplished in Diaz’ pro career, which hadn’t progressed beyond the local level. Between an ailing mother, an older brother passing away after a losing battle with a disease and his heart just not being in it, Diaz decided to step away while still undefeated rather than “a regular Joe, a guy that I could beat, ends up beating me, or I end up getting seriously hurt.” It was on to constructions and any other odd job that could help make ends meet. Boxing was no longer a consideration; the only fighting in the family was from his mother, who would suffer a heart attack after getting a kidney transplant. Diaz felt it was his obligation to care for his ailing Mom. “My being the youngest of the family, I was the one helping out my mom,” recalls Diaz. “Most of the time it took away from boxing. “I also lost track of what I was doing. I was young kid; I didn’t have my head on right. I had lost a little bit of interest in boxing and I had gone away from it.” Then came the moment that would permanently change his life in and out of the ring. It was the inspiration of a young woman named Tonya Quinones who would convince her then-boyfriend to return to boxing. He listened. He returned. He also made her his wife, a week after his 27th birthday. By that point, he was 18-0 but still in search of quality wins. Two would come back-to-back, upending Nelson Manchego and Juaquin Gallardo to make it an even 20 without a loss. Still, his first bit of shine wouldn’t come until 2005, and it was as the B-side of a ShoBox televised co-feature on another promoter’s card. It would turn out to be the one time as a pro where he didn’t overcome the odds, dropping Kendall Holt before suffering a knockdown of his own en route to the lone loss of his career. David would return to the win column two months later, though outside of the ring, as his wife gave birth to the first of their two children in April 2005. He hasn’t done so badly between the ropes either; Diaz is 8-0-1 since the Holt debacle, including the two biggest wins of his pro career. Fittingly enough, he was the underdog on both occasions. Jose Armando Santa Cruz was heavily favored to win their August 2006 interim lightweight title bout to where it was a foregone conclusion that Santa Cruz would be next in line for the winner of the then-upcoming rubber match between Joel Casamayor and Diego Corrales. Santa Cruz would get the winner, Casamayor, in fact in the Cuban’s next fight, 13 months later. What he didn’t pick up was the victory. He was close, enjoying a sizeable lead on the cards heading into the 10th round. It wasn’t enough, however, to discourage the determined Diaz, who twice dropped Santa Cruz and had him out on his feet before forcing the referee’s intervention. Just like that, Diaz was an overnight success story, ten years in the making. But it still wasn’t enough to command the respect of his peers, or even remain active. Nearly a year would go by before his next fight, at which point he was merely referred to as the least of the Diaz lightweight titlists, ranked behind Juan and Julio. The two added insult to injury by fighting a unification match less than an hour from his hometown. But by then, Diaz added to his resume, once again overcoming the odds and a scorecard deficit to put another check mark in the win column. It mattered little that Mexican icon and former three-division champ Erik Morales appeared on the A-side of the promotional banners, despite the fact that he entered their August 2007 bout as the challenger to Diaz’ title. It couldn’t be claimed that Diaz’ title status simply went unacknowledged; the bout was labeled “War For 4”, as in Morales attempting to become the first Mexican in boxing history to rack up alphabet hardware in four separate weight classes. It didn’t even matter to Diaz that he entered the Allstate Arena to a mixture of cheers and boos, while the roof nearly blew off the joint upon Morales’ entrance to the ring. Nor was it a concern when North Side’s latest favorite son found himself on the canvas at the end of the first round. All that mattered was whose hand would be raised by night’s end. Diaz did everything in his will power to make it a reality, rallying back strong over the second half of the 12-round war to eke out a close decision. But it still wasn’t enough. Some claimed that Morales was robbed. Others who reluctantly gave him credit claimed that it took for a shot version of Morales for Diaz to finally beat a notable fighter. Yet a year later, David would become the only Diaz standing in the lightweight sweepstakes. Julio was forced to quit on his stool by Juan, who five months later would lose his undefeated record and three titles in a brutal one-sided loss to a resurging Nate Campbell. David, meanwhile, put himself in position to earn a fight with the biggest draw in the lower weight classes. He’s also finally made a name for himself in the Windy City, having thrown out the first pitch at a recent Cubs game and also participating in a shootout during a Chicago Blackhawks hockey game. The fame has arrived. All that’s missing is the fortune. “I just don’t have the money yet,” Diaz jokes. “I got a ’91 Honda that I’m still driving with no A/C, so hopefully after this fight - after this victory we’ll be able to afford something better.” Win, lose or draw, the $850,000 payday that comes with drawing the biggest name in the lower weight classes should at least solve his travel woes. An outright win, however, could be the key to Diaz finally earning industry-wide respect. Much like the Morales fight, Diaz enters the fight on the right side of the “vs.” portion of the promo items, despite it being Pacquiao challenging for his title. Like Morales, Pacquiao’s attempting to make history in his own country, as a win would make him the first Filipino ever to earn world titles in four separate weight classes, having previously collected hardware at flyweight, junior featherweight and most recently junior lightweight in barely outpointing Juan Manuel Marquez in their March rematch (note: he also claimed linear champion status at featherweight, though no official title accompanied his reign). The win over Marquez gave Pacquiao his eighth over a fighter of Mexican heritage since destroying Marco Antonio Barrera in 2003. A close loss in his first fight to Morales in 2005 and a controversial draw against Marquez the year prior barely served as speed bumps on the road to Pacquiao’s single-handedly terrorizing the red, white and green. Despite the 4-1 odds suggesting otherwise, Diaz insists the madness ends this Saturday, no matter how outnumbered he or his people may find themselves in Vegas. “We have a saying in Spanish – pocos pero locos (“The few but crazy”). We’re going to have at least 100 people from Chicago going (to the fight). Believe me, 100 people from Chi-Town can take on 17,000-18,000 people easily!” Especially when those few but proud have something to believe in. Twelve years into his career and 32 years into his life, David Diaz has become that source of inspiration. “There’s just that feeling of hope that I see in them when they talk to me that I can accomplish this. And if I can do this, then all Mexicans in Mexico and the ones here in the U.S. are going to be having a good time.” Chief among them, David Diaz. Because if there’s one thing he’s become more familiar with than being on the short end of the odds, it’s overcoming them. Jake Donovan is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the Tennessee Boxing Advisory Board. Contact Jake at E-mail Jake Donovan Today's Boxing Press Discuss this Topic - Go to the forums