Juan Diaz hurts shoulder; Beltran replaces him in bout with Ao

Former lightweight title holder Juan Diaz tore his rotator cuff in his left shoulder and had to pull out of his May 1 title bout with Takahiro Ao that was set to take place at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas and according to Dan Rafael of espn,.com, Raymundo Beltran will replace Diaz.

“Juan was sparring with a southpaw and he threw the shot and winced in pain,” said Diaz manager Brian Caldwell. “He kept going for the rest of the round but when he came back to the corner he said he hurt his shoulder.

“We did conditioning work the next day and the shoulder was still giving him problems, so he went to the doctor the next day. He ended up seeing three doctors and all three concluded that, after looking at the MRI, he needs surgery. They said his rotator cuff is attached by a thread so it was inevitable that he would have had a complete tear if he continued to use it without getting surgery.”

“I feel bad for Juan because of the effort and time he has put into his comeback. Everything was on track for him to get another world title,” said Carl Moretti, vice president of Diaz promoter Top Rank. “He had really put in the work to get back to the level of being able to fight for a world title again.”

Said Caldwell, “Juan is pretty bummed out but he’s really optimistic. His thoughts are, ‘Let’s have the surgery and recover and get back on track.’ He is definitely not giving up the dream of getting another world title.

“So he’ll be out for about six months. It’s too bad because the fight [with Ao] was a winnable fight. Tell Beltran and Ao that in six to eight months we’re coming for that title.”