JOEL DIAZ JR. FIGHTS TONIGHT IN WEST VIRGINIA

Photo By Miguel Salazar

Via Gabriel Montoya – MaxBoxing.com

It’s already been a transformative year for talented, undefeated super featherweight prospect Joel Diaz, Jr. (8-0 with 7 knockouts). In January, he and fellow prospect Guy Robb went to war for seven rounds before Diaz took over, scoring a 7th round TKO on a Shobox: The New Generation card on Showtime. The boxing world woke up to this exciting young man in that fight.But his manager, Mike Criscio, and his promoter, Boxing360’s Dr. Mario Yagobi, saw a dangerous trend in his fighting style. The kid ignored defense to land his heavy bombs. That’s exciting for fans but for a young man barely 20-years-old with under 10 fights, that was a recipe for a short career.A change in trainers was made and he was brought to Big Bear, Calif., too work with respected trainer Abel Sanchez. It is here he has stayed since Feb. 2, only coming down off the mountain to knock out Ryan Pederson in Chicago back. Diaz returned right away and continued his training, ironing out his footwork and defense while maintaining that aggressive streak.”It’s a big transformation,” Diaz told Maxboxing this week of his new environment and training habits. “The high altitude is no joke. The first week, I felt like a big weight was thrown on my body. I’d be sparring and I couldn’t even go two rounds. I was exhausted. After weeks go by, you start getting used to it. Like my trainer Abel Sanchez said, it takes 10 days to level it out, you know? And it did. Now I feel great. Now when I come down off the mountain I feel light as a feather, man.”