According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, Former Lightweight champion Juan Diaz will return on August 17th against Adailton DeJesis in Laredo, Texas under the Top Rank banner that will be televised bu UniMas.
“I feel good and, of course, I felt good getting the ‘W’ against Cuevas,” Diaz told ESPN.com on Wednesday. “I haven’t had that feeling of winning in a while. I had to find my balance. It took about three rounds to get comfortable and find my distance, but once I got the feel of being back in there I felt good. It went as planned and I won. I saw that I needed to take one or two more of those kind of fights.
“Clearly, Juan showed in that last fight that there’s a lot left,” said Carl Moretti of Top Rank, which signed Diaz to a one-fight deal. “This isn’t a guy doing it for the money. He’s successful outside the ring (as owner of a trucking company) and he’s a smart guy (as a college graduate). He still wants to fight and his style has always been fan-friendly. That hasn’t changed. We’re looking forward to the fight on Aug. 17 and then we’ll see where we go from there.”
“It’s a one-fight deal,” said Moretti, who was close to Diaz when he turned pro with Main Events, where Moretti worked for several years as its matchmaker. “I met with Juan and (adviser) Brian Caldwell in Dallas (last month) at the Mikey Garcia fight. I’ve known Juan since his pro debut and we have a great relationship.
“We’ll take it step by step, but I’m looking forward to working with him for this fight and, hopefully, beyond. He’s in a division that we have a lot of interest in and it seems like it will be an interesting division in the next year.”
“He’s lost against top-level opponents,” Diaz said. “He’s a strong fighter, a durable guy and this is a step up. That’s helpful for me. I don’t want to be in the sport to take a punch. I want to become champion again and by stepping up the level of opposition and being victorious, it shows me I still have a lot left in the tank.
“So far things are going according to plan. The ideal situation is I would love to fight two more times this year, Aug. 17 and then another one and then start 2014 fast, you know fight a top contender or a world champion.”
