ROBERTO Diaz left Golden Boy Promotions having, as one of the world’s main matchmakers, lengthy been so essential to their success. During a doubtlessly defining time in their quick promotional historical past, his affect can even perhaps nonetheless be felt. By Declan Warrington.
The combat between Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and John Ryder, in Guadalajara on Cinco de Mayo weekend final 12 months, got here weeks after Roberto Diaz had suffered a coronary heart assault, and but the revered matchmaker was ringside – watching, and absorbing – having travelled from Los Angeles to be current.
He was joined there his spouse Carla, who has lengthy labored for the world’s main fighter. Weeks later he then watched from afar when Jaime Munguia narrowly outpointed Sergiy Derevyanchenko and with specific curiosity, given he had additionally contributed a lot to Munguia’s profession earlier than Diaz’s departure from Golden Boy Promotions earlier in 2023.
Throughout his 15 years with Golden Boy, he had come to be recognised as one of the world’s most interesting matchmakers, and an important determine at a promotional organisation that for a interval was extensively thought of the strongest in the world. Ryan Garcia’s latest victory over Devin Haney has strengthened their pursuits much more than maybe would Munguia defeating Alvarez or Vergil Ortiz Jnr beating Tim Tszyu, however even then they could not once more rediscover the heights reached beforehand, when the tremendous fights and the presence of Oscar De La Hoya, Bernard Hopkins, Shane Mosley, Ricky Hatton and extra gave them such enchantment.
It was Diaz, by his long-term affiliation with Marco Antonio Barrera, who earlier than becoming a member of Golden Boy had put Hatton in contact with De La Hoya and De La Hoya’s then-partner Richard Schaefer, making certain that the combat between Hatton and Floyd Mayweather was made. Mayweather, by then, had already defeated De La Hoya on one other Golden Boy promotion; the two largest fights of 2007 had been finally theirs.
A-list affiliation: Marco Antonio Barrera (Stephanie Trapp/TGB)
If it was additionally by Barrera that Golden Boy and different fighters first grew to become conscious of Diaz, it’s since his separation from the Mexican that his fame has grown. Like Barrera – and certainly De La Hoya, Hopkins and Schaefer – he could by no means once more be fairly so influential, however like so many others who labored alongside or in opposition to him, he’ll perpetually know the way accountable he was for therefore many advantageous fights being made.
To be taught the full image of Diaz’s 55 years is to be taught of a lifetime earlier than his assembly with Barrera. Of the trappings of gang tradition in San Francisco, the place he was born, and his father forcing him to relocate to the Yucatan area of Mexico the place it was past him; of his occupations as a salesman and as a parole officer; of the life-threatening automotive crash and profitable battle in opposition to most cancers that saved his marriage on account of the dedication Carla continued to point out him once they had beforehand determined that they need to divorce.
It is probably for these causes that the perspective Diaz has gained – his most up-to-date well being scare adopted his departure from Golden Boy – is much more acute. By his personal admission there have been instances his household was uncared for whereas he pursued what he describes as his “dream”. Perhaps the calls for of his career and the fee at which Golden Boy was rising even implies that was the solely method that it may ever have been.
“That’s what I learned after the 15 years when we parted ways,” he tells Boxing News from his residence in LA. “Another message is first is your well being; second is your loved ones, and third is your job, as a result of your job’s at all times going to be there so long as they want you. Family must be there.
“I don’t want to sound like I regret it, because it got me to where I am and who I am today, but you gotta give your family that importance, and there were times – ‘I’m sorry; I can’t make it to that’ – because work comes first. There was a [Barrera] fight. I was in camp. My father [Roberto] had been sick for 30 years. They depend on me – I gotta be here.’ ‘Man, I should be going – when the fight’s over I’m gonna head out.’ He passed away the morning of the fight. One more day, I probably would have saw him. Marco – his whole family – everybody knew. Marco gets cut, so after the fight I rush him to get stitched up. We get back to the hotel. The pool’s reserved for an afterparty. Everybody’s with this long face. I turn around, and Carla’s sobbing. ‘My dad died, huh?’ In retrospect, the job was always first.”
Barrera’s religion in Diaz – first following their assembly at a purchasing centre in San Diego, the place Diaz then lived, then when he fought Cesar Najera in Fantasy Springs – led to an invitation to hitch his coaching camp in Big Bear, California, for his unforgettable first combat with Erik Morales. The dedication Diaz confirmed contributed to him later being so instrumental in the direction of the timing of the third combat of their trilogy – Barrera secured his second victory over his biggest rival – Diaz’s fame rising, and ultimately the supply to be the assistant matchmaker to Eric Gomez.
“In probation I worked a week and rested a week, so I’d go up for a couple of days and spend it in camp; run with them; eat with them,” he recollects. “Eventually, from being a fan; a buddy, [Barrera] says, ‘Why don’t you go in with the flag for my subsequent combat?’. They went on to have a tremendous trilogy.
“‘I’m gonna signal with Oscar De La Hoya; Golden Boy Promotions.’ Golden Boy was simply beginning; [outside of De La Hoya] Marco was their largest title. ‘We’ve bought our first combat, in opposition to Manny Pacquiao.’ We’re in Big Bear, and what I noticed was a quick, younger fighter that had lots of hassle with the jab. Marco had a fantastic jab – an influence jab, as a result of he’s a southpaw transformed. ‘I don’t see something higher than Naseem Hamed. Naseem was extra awkward; punched tougher.’ Fast ahead, a hall-of-fame, large fighter – wonderful fighter – and one thing that comes round as soon as each 100 years. But at the time he didn’t appear something particular.
“He loses this combat, and I’m considering ‘It’s over’. Oscar didn’t minimize him; Golden Boy didn’t minimize him. Brings him again. From that time on, it was me. I noticed Erik Morales have two of his hardest fights the following 12 months and I say, ‘Marco, you need to fight the third fight now’. I didn’t doubt myself in that combat. That win mainly put Golden Boy on the map.
“Stepping again, the majority of the followers will inform you [Juan Manuel] Marquez was primary, they’ll most likely say Barrera, as a result of he beat Morales twice, was quantity two, and Morales was quantity three. Even although the outcomes converse for themselves, I’d actually nearly say Morales was primary, Marco quantity two, and Marquez quantity three.
“Remember, I’m with Marco. ‘Let’s call it a day.’ He’s a partner at Golden Boy. ‘Let’s focus on the promotion and the young kids.’ He had other plans [he again fought, and lost to, Pacquiao in 2007]. That’s a fighter always being who they are.”
There began the even-more-transformative decade and a half with Golden Boy – and the evolution of the promoter’s fame from one which labored with confirmed champions to at least one who guided them from the begin. Diaz relocated to LA from Sacramento, the place his household remained, to simply accept the supply of working with Gomez, however he thought of quitting after every of the first two promotions he oversaw.
“Oh my god,” he says. “They expanded; from in the future to the subsequent, and that’s why it was like a crash course. You’re gonna sink or swim. Bernard Hopkins beating [Kelly] Pavlik; it was a tremendous time. Everybody wished to be with Golden Boy. There was a knock on Golden Boy earlier than I bought there that when you had been a star, already made, that’s the place you’d go. ‘But don’t go as a younger fighter, as a result of they don’t know construct fighters.’ They had Mosley; Hopkins; Marquez; Barrera; established fighters, possibly near retirement, however had by no means produced a world champion. That knock, just a few years later with sufficient time and progress, was gone, as a result of of Abner Mares; [Daniel] Ponce de Leon; Danny Garcia; Adrien Broner; Deontay Wilder; [Jermell] Charlo. That knock rapidly went away. I take lots of delight in it, as a result of I began the careers of lots of them. I did nearly 99 per cent of Wilder’s fights.
“Don’t take it that it was all gravy – I bear in mind a nasty e mail coming in blaming me for Victor Ortiz’s loss in opposition to [Marcos] Maidana. That’s once I discovered you gotta have a thick pores and skin. When they win it’s the fighter; the crew; the promoter; by no means the matchmaker. When they lose it’s the matchmaker. It was very intense; enjoyable. But it wasn’t made for the common Joe. There had been instances there have been three reveals on the weekend. That’s how busy the time was.
“Richard did a hell of a job. In retrospect I see possibly what Richard noticed at the time. Maybe I didn’t see it as clear. ‘Maybe that’s what he noticed that he didn’t like.’ But I don’t suppose Richard and Oscar splitting is why the firm modified. The Yankees had an period the place they had been the number-one crew. It’s half of evolution; it’s half of progress. It occurs in boxing much more.
“There’s no such thing as the perfect show – there’s always going to be something that goes wrong. You’ve gotta go on with the show.”
“Richard [Schaefer] did a hell of a job” says Diaz. (Action Images/Andrew Couldridge)
Through Garcia, and doubtlessly Munguia and [Vergil] Ortiz, Golden Boy are rebuilding. There beforehand was heartache for Diaz – “The Mayweather loss was devastating, because I really believed [Hatton] would beat Mayweather”; a since healed fallout with Barrera; watching Frankie Gomez’s expertise go to waste – after which, much more considerably for he and every of his colleagues, the withdrawal from boxing of HBO.
“When the split [between De La Hoya and Schaefer] happened, it really slows down, because the big name you have is ‘Canelo’,” says the Mexican, whose son Bobby stays with the promoter and in addition works for DAZN. “He sticks with Golden Boy; all of your different fighters are gone. Quite a bit of them weren’t underneath contract; they go away; together with them leaves networks; Canelo stays; HBO indicators Canelo to a long-term deal; that saves us for a time.
“HBO all of a sudden decides to get out of boxing – a huge blow to everybody. Fighters; promoters; boxing in general. You still go back and reminisce and watch some old fights on HBO. They were the best. ‘Okay. What are we gonna do?’ I was a lot to do with the fighters, one-on-one. Not that anyone else wasn’t, but they knew that they could pick up the phone anytime. I wanted to be involved; I wanted to be close to them. You’ve got champions you’re going to have to let go. ‘But you gave me your word.’ I never foresaw Covid and where all this was going.”
Since Alvarez’s departure, Golden Boy have been working with DAZN. Had Diaz not refused to vow Dmitry Bivol a combat with Alvarez, he believes that they’d be selling the Russian, whose potential he recognized. Diaz was in Las Vegas to look at Bivol-Alvarez in 2022; when he watches Alvarez-Munguia he shall be removed from dispassionate; as not too long ago as June 2023 he was answerable for Danielito Zorrilla changing the injured Liam Paro as the opponent for Regis Prograis.
“Fifteen years,” he says. “It wasn’t straightforward – folks grew to become accustomed to my title getting tagged together with Golden Boy. But my contract ended – each starting has its finish. It was time for either side to go their method; possibly down the line issues will begin popping out little by little. How issues ended possibly weren’t the finest, or a minimum of carried out the proper method. I don’t remorse the 15 years – the 14.5 had been wonderful.
“Only a matchmaker understands the different matchmakers. I wish to keep in boxing. That’s my ardour. I’m good at it – it’s what I wish to do. But in a special position. Let me sit again; advise; do right here and there.
“I can see both sides now; it’s not just being a manager that says, ‘You gotta pay more’. I know where the middle is.”
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