JOEL DIAZ TALKS TIMOTHY BRADLEY: "TIM IS STILL SOMETHING TO BE RECKONED WITH...HE WILL BE A WORLD CHAMPION AGAIN"
By Percy Crawford | January 13, 2015
PC: Obviously you weren't happy with the draw Tim Bradley received against Diego Chaves. Most people thought Tim won. What are your thoughts on how everything played out?
JD: The fight itself, I thought it was competitive. We all know Diego Chaves gives everybody a bad night. He is tough. He's tough and he's rugged. We seen him when he fought Keith Thurman. He was doing really well early in the fight and he got caught. Keith Thurman has power and he changed the fight with it. He was in there with Brandon Rios, who is another elite name. I honestly think Chaves was winning that fight. I think Diego was beating Brandon Rios, so I knew it wasn't gonna be an easy fight for us. But at the same time, I don't know, things happen, but I think that Tim sort of overtrained a little bit. We started too early. We started at about 3 ½ months prior and the intensity of the way Tim trains, I think it was a little overboard. What happened, happened, but we fought the fight at one pace because I didn't need Tim to go more at one point because we were winning the fight. If I would have thought, "Okay, we're losing the fight," then I would have been demanding Bradley do more. But I didn't need to. To me, we were winning the fight. That's why when the fight was over, I was like, "Okay, we won the fight." And they give it a draw. I thought that was a bad decision. At this point, we walk away with a draw and we don't make a big deal about it because if we do, then they say we're whining and make a big deal about it. They always bring back the fight with Pacquiao; the first fight. So it is what it is. Boxing is boxing. You're gonna get some surprises every time and you're always gonna get something different in boxing. It is what it is, they scored it a draw, and we will move on to this year and put this in the past.
PC: You had to be a little disappointed that Tim went 0-1-1 in 2014 and I'm sure you guys are working on righting the wrongs from last year.
JD: We took a loss against Pacquiao and we got a draw, so yeah, it wasn't great. It wasn't great, but it wasn't as bad as some fighters who would have that kind of year. Tim is still something to be reckoned with in the sport. There are other fighters that have this kind of year and their careers are ruined. I think Tim is still a top name and I think 2014 wasn't a pleasant year for him, but we gotta make some adjustments and come back stronger in 2015.
PC: Would you like more than 2 fights this year or is that about the activity level we can expect from him at this level?
JD: I want to see Tim fight some time early in the year, but he's back. He's been back in the gym. He's good. I talked to him yesterday and he said, "Coach, I'm just taking a week off and I'll be back in there steady." It's a mistake blowing up to 185 pounds and having to start training really early to work on weight and not focus on the fight. That's what happened in this fight and that's what happened in the Provodnikov fight. Those two fights were basically more focusing on weight than the fight, but that was a lot due to injuries in previous fights. Now he wants to stay active in the gym with no pressure of a training camp. That way, when camp starts, we don't have to work so much on the weight. We can focus more on the fight and that's what we want to do. He's good. Mentally, he's good. Physically, he's good. We're just gonna get him to come to the gym more often and then we don't have to focus too much on the weight.
PC: Is Tim outgrowing the 147-pound division and that's why there are talks of moving up to 154 or is he just looking to challenge himself?
JD: Tim is up for a challenge. If there is an opportunity to fight at 154, he'll do it. Fighters have that mentality that they can do it. I think Tim is confident that he can fight at 154. In the amateurs, he used to fight at 152 and he fought top elite fighters in the amateurs at that weight, so he thinks he can do 154. It also depends on who the opponent is. There are fighters at 54 that are naturally 54-pounders, so they walk around at 170. They are huge fighters. But then there are fighters that come up from 40, 47 and then move up to 54. But Tim is up for a challenge. If there is the right opportunity, he will do it.
PC: One of the guys that reached out to me when they heard about Tim possibly moving up was Cornelius Bundrage. Tim also said his name leading up to the fight with Chaves. Is that a fight you guys would like to make if you move up?
JD: Tim said it. He will be a world champion again and if the opportunity is there to fight Bundrage, we'll take it. I know Bundrage well. I've seen him fight a million times. I seen when he fought Ishe Smith. He just beat Molina and Molina is just a rugged fighter and nothing special. I think Tim's speed and ability can beat K9 Bundrage. But at this point in Tim's career, we gotta look ahead. He wants to be a world champion and if given the opportunity, we'll take it.
PC: Tim came back to the corner against Chaves and his face was a mess. Is it tough being his trainer and cutman when you gotta deal with the eye and cut issues he had in his last fight?
JD: It's not really hard on me. I can handle being in front of Tim and work cuts and give instructions because I've always done it. I've never needed a cutman in my corner. When I started with Tim, he said he didn't need one. He don't trust anybody. He said, "Nobody is ever going to wrap my hands or do my cuts but you." And I don't have a problem with that. That's why I have his father and other guys on my team. If I'm focusing on getting the swelling down, those guys are right there in his ear and giving him instructions that we were talking about before he comes to the corner. So I can work on a cut or swelling while my team gives him instructions. It's always been like that. I think in the Chaves fight, it was from accidental headbutts. He was headbutted twice on that cheekbone and then his eye was shutting, so mentally, it's a problem. I never let his eye close completely. I was working on it. He finished the fight and his eye was still open. He went in the dressing room and that's when it closed. Other than that, everything was good. I just think that mentally he thought his eye was going to be a problem.
PC: Robert Garcia recently said that he thought Tim Bradley was fighting the wrong style of fight in an effort to please fans. Would you agree with him or do you think he's off base?
JD: Robert has a point, and I respect it coming from a trainer that knows. I respect his opinion and I also think the same way. I think that sometimes Tim goes out there to please the crowd instead of changing his style and focusing on his style. Here is the problem though, if Tim focuses on his style, he's going nowhere because Tim is a great boxer and they know Tim doesn't have power to knock people out. Imagine Tim boxing around the ring and he was just winning fights by just scoring points. That's not what the fans want, so Tim is in an unusual situation. If Tim was to fight his fight and move around the ring and use the "hit and don't get hit" strategy, we ain't going nowhere. At some point, Tim has to engage. In order for Tim to game plan and give people what they want to see, that's what he needs and at some point, he has to risk a lot.
PC: Do you think it's always been like this or is it because we are in an era of punchers like Thurman, Gennady Golovkin, and Sergey Kovalev?
JD: I just think that a lot of people in boxing wanna see knockouts. They want to see action. They want to see an action-packed fight. They want to see a fight; they don't want to see a boxing match. If you really want to see a boxing match, of course boxing is hit and don't get hit, but they want to see that excitement. They want to see a Manny Pacquiao because he brings that power and explosive speed. They want to see a Gennady Golovkin and Juan Manuel Marquez and Brandon Rios because it's going to be exciting fights. But they don't want to see a Mayweather or Andre Ward or Tim Bradley because they don't bring that spark, but that's boxing.
PC: Anything in particular you would like to see this year in boxing, whether it be a fight or just a change or progression?
JD: I want to see a change in the scoring system in boxing. There are a lot of fans losing love for the sport because of stupid decisions, you know. There has got to be something done about the scoring system. I think they should have 3 judges around the ring and another 3 judges watching on screens in private rooms and have 6 or 7 people scoring a fight and not just 3. When you are watching it live, it's different than when you are watching it on a screen. And when you watch it on a screen, it is different from watching it live. Something should be done about the scoring in boxing because there have been some ridiculous decisions lately. And regardless of whether it's Manny Pacquiao, Mauricio Herrera, or Danny Garcia, it doesn't matter who it is, they gotta fix this problem. They need to do what they have to do.
PC: Unfortunately, Tim and Herrera got raw deals in the same night on the same card and that kid Tyson got it on Friday Night Fights a few weeks prior.
JD: I mean, as you can see, Harold Lederman had Tim Bradley winning and his daughter had him losing.
PC: I always appreciate your time, you know that. Best of luck to you and your guys this year. Is there anything else you would like to add?
JD: We are just gonna keep working hard and keep bringing boxing to the fans and giving them what they want to see.
http://www.fighthype.com/news/article19004.html
BATB gets up to 185 in between fights and has to drop all the way to 147?
He's always in great shape, but Diaz is right...dont use training camp to focus on losing weight. Bradley beats Bundrage though and picks up a Junior Middleweight Championship in the process
Poor Timmy
