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David Diaz, the reigning world lightweight
champion, guaranteed he will slug it out toe-to-toe with
Manny Pacquiao come June 28 in their 12-round title
fight.
And he
does not intend to do something extra special for the
Filipino idol.
“Am I
changing anything? No. My style of fighting, it has
worked for me so far this long. Why am I going to change
it? Why will I try to be something else that I know I’m
not?” said Diaz in a telephone interview with Sports
Radio’s Sports Chat Monday morning.
 “The
way you see me guys fight before is the way I’m going to
come out for this fight,” he stressed.
Just
like Pacquiao, the Mexican-American Diaz said he is
dedicating his fight to all boxing fans who will spend
their time and money expecting an explosive matchup.
“This is
the stuff that you have to do where you put everything
on the line. You have to do it because if you don’t, not
only do I cheat myself, I cheat the people out of a
great fight,” said Diaz.
Diaz,
avoided by many because of his awkward but effective
southpaw stance that has earned him an impressive record
of 34-1-1 with 14 knockouts, profusely thanked Pacquiao
for the opportunity he will be getting next month.
At the
same time, however, Diaz apologized in advance to
Pacquiao fanatics.
“Like
I’ve said before, I’m sorry guys, I have to keep my
belt. I really mean it because I want to be champion for
a long time. It‘s something I really mean from the
bottom of my heart,” said Diaz.
Diaz’s
biggest win was against another Pacquiao rival, Erik
Morales, whom the Chicago-native champion sent to
retirement in August in Rosemont, Illinois.
Critics,
however, gave more attention in Morales’s insistence in
continuing to fight rather than talk about the victor,
something that the nonchalant champion just shrugged
off.
“It gets
to you a little bit but I just ignore it. That’s why you
go out and you go for the bigger fights. If I can’t
prove it to them with the Erik Morales fight maybe I can
do that with Manny Pacquiao. God willing I win the fight
and still not satisfied then we gotta go out there and
do it again,” said Diaz.
The
29-year-old Pacquiao (46-3-2, 35 knockouts) recently won
the World Boxing Council super featherweight crown via a
split verdict over bitter Mexican rival Juan Manuel
Marquez last March 15 also in Las Vegas. The win made
Pacquiao the first ever three-division world champion
from Asia. He also held titles in the flyweight and
super bantamweight divisions.
Diaz’s
last bout was beneath the Marquez-Pacquiao rematch where
he won a 10-round verdict against Mexican Ramon Montano. |
