{"id":1324,"date":"2012-06-20T04:35:17","date_gmt":"2012-06-20T04:35:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coachellaunincorporated.org\/?p=1324"},"modified":"2012-06-20T04:56:45","modified_gmt":"2012-06-20T04:56:45","slug":"former-boxer-joel-diaz-dedicated-to-building-champions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coachellaunincorporated.org\/2012\/06\/20\/former-boxer-joel-diaz-dedicated-to-building-champions\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Boxer Joel Diaz Dedicated to Building Champions"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Days after Timothy Bradley became the WBO Welterweight Champion, his trainer Joel Diaz was back at the Boys & Girls Club in Mecca training future champions. \u201cThe biggest motivation to keep me going is the talent that I have around me," says the Coachella resident. PHOTO: Alejandra Alarcon, Coachella Unincorporated<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n


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By Alejandra Alarcon,
\nCoachella Unincorporated<\/em><\/p>\n

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Mecca, Calif. — Joel Diaz\u2019s life has changed drastically since Timothy Bradley, the boxer he trains, became the WBO welterweight champion after beating Manny Pacquiao in a controversial split decision on June 9.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have every eye on us now. People always have something to say. People stop and ask me \u2018Do you think you won the fight?\u2019 Even kids tell me negative comments only because of what they hear people say,\u201d Diaz said.<\/p>\n

But he doesn\u2019t have time for the naysers. He is too busy building future champions at the Boys & Girls Club.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter a hard week and three months of training, (and being) stressed out, burned out, I\u2019m back to work,\u201d Diaz said. \u201cI still have people that depend on me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Diaz, now 39, arrived in Coachella in 1985 at the age of 12. His parents had previously left their children with their grandparents in Michoacan, Mexico, while they worked in Coachella. Finally, the time had come for the children to join their parents in the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t want to come here because I didn\u2019t know anything. I was afraid. To me, my grandparents were my parents,\u201d said Diaz. \u201cThey had to trick us. We got in the car with my grandma, she said she was going to get something from the store, and she never came back. We cried the whole ride.\u201d<\/p>\n

Diaz and his siblings went from their grandparents\u2019 ranch in Mexico to a cramped apartment on 52nd<\/sup> Avenue in Coachella. His parents were field workers struggling to support their two daughters and five sons.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy parents were in a bad economic situation,\u201d Diaz said. Being the oldest son, he felt it was his responsibility to help his parents.<\/p>\n

He started working at the age of 16 to help his parents financially. Every morning, he delivered newspapers before school. He worked at the swap meet, and he joined his parents in the fields or worked construction jobs during summer breaks.<\/p>\n

Diaz recalls stumbling up the boxing gym while walking the streets of Coachella.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a 13-year-old boy that weighed 138 pounds,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople made fun of my weight. I kept getting beat up but I kept going back.\u201d<\/p>\n

His persistence and determination soon began to pay off.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started getting better and better with practice,\u201d Diaz said.<\/p>\n

Although his parents were not supportive of his decision to box, their financial struggles led Diaz to begin his professional boxing career at the age of 18.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mom didn\u2019t want me to box, she was scared I was going to get hurt. My dad was never supportive either because he always wanted us to work. He believed it was a waste of time,\u201d Diaz said.<\/p>\n

Even without their initial support, he was determined to help his family by winning bout after bout.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was doing really good in my career, until here comes a world championship fight in Africa,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

When Diaz returned from South Africa, he discovered that the impact from punches to his head and face had caused major damage to one of his eyes. He began to lose vision and his pro boxing career \u2013 once full of promise \u2013 came to an abrupt end.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was going to be the biggest fight of my life, and I couldn\u2019t do it. My life at that time completely changed. I started hanging around with the wrong people. I didn\u2019t care about life. I didn\u2019t care about anything,\u201d Diaz said.<\/p>\n

His mother noticed her son\u2019s different behavior. She became worried and confronted him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told her I didn\u2019t care about my life. I told her that everything I did in my whole life for boxing was for her and my family. Every time I stepped in the ring I asked God \u2018Please if I win this fight, I\u2019ll buy my mom a dining room set.\u2019 or \u2018I\u2019ll buy my dad a truck.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

His mother then said something that turned his life around.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe God has a different plan for you. Everything happens for a reason. Help your brothers and other kids,\u201d she urged.<\/p>\n

Inspired by his mother\u2019s words, he began to train his younger brothers, Antonio Diaz and Julio Diaz.<\/p>\n

Under his brother\u2019s guidance, Julio Diaz twice became a world champion. Antonio Diaz also became a world champion and defended his title twelve times.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe did great in his career, he fought a lot of great fighters,\u201d Diaz said.<\/p>\n

By the time he met Bradley, Diaz had become a well-known boxing trainer.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was looking for a trainer when his amateur career was over. We built up and he became an undefeated fighter,\u201d said Diaz.<\/p>\n

Diaz and Bradley took advantage of every world championship competition and took every title.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter three world titles, here we are now,\u201d Diaz said.<\/p>\n

With all the success he has achieved, Diaz keeps working hard everyday.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people quit. They can\u2019t handle the pressure. This is hard work that you can\u2019t enjoy because you can never get a break,\u201d Diaz said, who lives in Coachella with his wife and children. \u201cI haven\u2019t enjoyed a Thanksgiving or Christmas in three years.\u201d<\/p>\n

The kids with the same dreams he once had are the reason he goes to work every day at the Boys & Girls Club in Mecca.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest motivation to keep me going is the talent that I have around me. I see kids that have a lot of talent and have great futures,\u201d Diaz said. \u201cSometimes I want to walk away from this sport and quit, but then I walk out of my office and I see a kid that really wants to do it, kids that went through the same thing I went through.\u201d<\/p>\n

He has worked hard to become the best of the best, and now his passion is sharing that with the next generation of Coachella Valley boxers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s happened a couple of times where I thought I wanted to get a job where I can work in the morning and come home and enjoy the rest of my day,\u201d Diaz said. \u201cBut then I walk outside and see a kid and they say \u2018Coach, can you train me? I want to be a champion.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

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[Translate]   By Alejandra Alarcon, Coachella Unincorporated   Mecca, Calif. — Joel Diaz\u2019s life has changed drastically since Timothy Bradley,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1326,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6,9,8],"tags":[249,471,447,21,474,469,472,473,200,470,475,476],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coachellaunincorporated.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1324"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coachellaunincorporated.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coachellaunincorporated.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coachellaunincorporated.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coachellaunincorporated.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/coachellaunincorporated.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1324\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coachellaunincorporated.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coachellaunincorporated.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coachellaunincorporated.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coachellaunincorporated.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}