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DAVID DIAZ
Born: June 7th, 1976 Residence: Chicago, Illinois Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois Record: 34-2-1, 17 KOs Height: 5’6” Reach: 69” Manager: Jim Strickland Trainers: Jim Strickland, Sam Colonna, Mike Garcia Titles: Former WBC World Lightweight Champion PROFESSIONAL HIGHLIGHTS: August 4, 2007, David Diaz vs. Erik Morales On August 4th, 2007, David successfully defended his WBC lightweight title against three division world champion Erik Morales at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, IL, in an outstanding battle which was broadcast on HBO-PPV. Although behind on the scorecards early, Diaz rallied before the raucous hometown crowd of 10,000 to capture the decision, sweeping the championship rounds against the future Hall of Famer and winning the decision by scores of 114-113, 115-113 and 115-112. As David had successfully done in numerous battles in his career, he rallied late to win the fight. The fight, billed as WAR FOR 4, lived up to its expectations as both combatants put on a highly skilled, true warrior-like display for the fans and large contingent of international media present. With the win, Diaz cemented his place among the best lightweights in the sport and one of the most popular and respected athletes in the sports-crazy town of Chicago. David also fulfilled a long-time dream of his with the win, to fight in his native Chicago for the world championship. After the fight David said, “We have a never quit attitude. That’s why I went all out in the final rounds as I knew how close the fight was.”In the post-fight stories, boxing writers unanimously lauded Diaz for his win over Morales and that he deserved to be ranked among the very best lightweights in the world. As a result of the efforts of both fighters, the fight was nominated as one of the “Most Dramatic Fights of 2007” by the World Boxing Council. ESPN.com’s Dan Rafael also nominated the first round of the fight as a “Round of the Year” candidate. August 12, 2006, David Diaz vs. Jose Armando Santa Cruz On August 12, 2006, in Las Vegas, NV, David knocked out defending champion Jose Armando Santa Cruz (23-1). The bout was co-featured with the Oleg Maskaev-Hasim Rahman main event at the Thomas & Mack Center and was an exciting fight, stunning the crowd with a come-from-behind knockout win. David started fast, winning the 1st and 3rd rounds on all three scorecards but Santa Cruz, who was four inches taller at five-foot ten, won all of the next five rounds. David came on strongly in the 10th round, scoring a knockdown with a left uppercut that put Santa Cruz flat on his back. Santa Cruz got up, but David sent him back to the mat with a flurry of punches. Santa Cruz got up again, but David rocked him again and the referee stopped the fight at 2:26 in the 10th round. After nine rounds, Santa Cruz led by scores of 88-83, 88-83, 87-84. Boxing columnist Graham Houston reported, “When a fighter simply refuses to give up, great things can happen, as David Diaz demonstrated with his dramatic 10th-round victory over Jose Armando Santa Cruz. The win against Santa Cruz also made David the WBC’s mandatory challenger and when no agreement could be reached during the free negotiation period with WBC champion Joel Casamayor, the fight went to a purse offer. Casamayor’s representatives did not participate and pursued another fight, and Casamayor was stripped of the title. According to WBC rules, David took his place as champion. AMATEUR BACKGROUND: 1996 U.S. Olympic representative, 139 pounds 1996 National Golden Gloves amateur champion, 139 pounds 1994 National Golden Gloves amateur champion, 139 pounds 1993 National Golden Gloves amateur champion, 139 pounds 1992 National Jr. Olympic amateur champion, 132 pounds 1996 Olympics Results In his first fight in Atlanta on July 24, 1996, David stopped Jacobo Garcia of the Virgin Islands at 2:27 of the 3rd round. In his second fight on July 28, 1996 he lost a 14-6 decision against Oktay Urkal of Germany, who went on to win the silver medal. 1996 Olympic Trial Results David beat LeChaunce Shepherd and Larry Nicholson in his first two fights, then Zab Judah in the finals. David later beat Judah again in the Box-Offs. STRENGTHS: Diaz is a lefthander with an aggressive style and good skills. At his best, he keeps a busy pace, pressures his opponents and wears them down. David is tough and durable, possessing above average physical strength. He is always in good condition and has good stamina. FIGHT STATISTICS:
PERSONAL BACKGROUND: “There were nine children in my family, five boys and four girls and I am the youngest”, recalled David. “They were all born in Mexico, I was the only one born here in Chicago. My dad had been coming to the U.S. since 1950, maybe ‘52. Our family was from the state of Guerrero. My mother is from a little town that you can only get there by boat, it’s called Acatlan. My dad is from Las Mesitas, a town that probably doesn’t exist anymore. There were only about two houses there. My father used to stay out in Sacramento, California, you know, working the fields like any other Mexican immigrant who came out to work. Then he finally settled here in Chicago and he brought over my mom and a year later, my brothers and sisters came. Then I came.” “One of my brothers used to fight and he got me interested in it. He only did it for a month or two. He took me to the gym one day but it was closed. My dad took me the next day and it was open, and I started working out. The first day I sparred, I fell in love with it. I was eight years old and I’ve been boxing ever since. I ended up having about 175 amateur fights (160-15). I won four Chicago Golden Gloves in a row at 139 pounds, from ’93 to ’96. By age eight, his father was taking him to the Wells Park gym in Chicago, where the elder Diaz instilled in his son a work ethic that defines him to this day. “He gave me a way to do things,” said Diaz of his father’s insistence that he finish whatever he started. “He wasn’t an educated person, but he was a very hard worker. I think I got that from him. He used to work at a trophy company, R.S. Owens. They make the Oscar statues for Hollywood and there used to be a joke when I was about 17 or 18. My buddies would ask, ‘Hey, your dad works here. No wonder you got all them boxing trophies!’” After winning his first 13 pro fights through September 2000, David took two years off from boxing before returning in September 2002. David recalled, “It was just like, a horrible year. I had a death in the family, my oldest brother passed away out in Mexico. He was 45. We hardly saw each other because he was in Mexico, he was a teacher out there. He was like the pride and joy of the family because he had gone through school, graduated, became a teacher, and was also a teacher in folkloric dancing. He was just someone that we tried to be like, because he had done so much and he had done it almost all on his own, because my mother and father were working all the time. He was almost like a mother and father to the rest of my brothers and sisters. He actually took care of the rest of kids for about a year by himself. “My mother had been on dialysis for like, five years, then she finally got a kidney transplant. After getting the kidney transplant, she had a heart attack. My being the small one of the family, I was the one helping out my mom and 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. I lost my sight. That’s how I like to call it, I lost my sight. I was working odd jobs, some construction and stuff like that”, he remembers. On June 14, 2003, David married his longtime girlfriend, Tanya. “We have two little boys. David Anselmo was born April 2, 2005. He has my dad’s name as his middle name. We welcomed our second son, Elias Armando, on May 18, 2007.” |
