Juan Diaz Releases Public Statement on Retirement
by Scott Christ on Jun 13, 2011 6:16 PM EDT
in Boxing News Analysis
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Juan "Baby Bull" Diaz has released a public statement on his retirement from boxing. Diaz, who turns 28 in September, was set to return after a one-year layoff on July 29 with a fight on ESPN's Friday Night Fights, but recently decided against it and decided to head to law school instead. Here's part of his statement:
After 110 amateur fights, 39 professional fights, and 19 years of sparring, training, and everything that comes with being a competitive athlete, I am announcing my retirement from boxing. This is not a decision that I take lightly. However, after extensive consultation with my family and team, we agreed that is time for me to hang up my gloves and transition into the next stage of my professional life.
I am blessed to have won 13 National Gold Medals, two National Silver Medals, four World Championships - which I successfully defended six times – and fought in the 2009 Fight of the Year. I also was awarded a spot on the 2000 Mexican National Olympic Team. Along the way, I competed against many of the top fighters in the lightweight division, and I always put my heart into every fight. I could not have asked for a better career.
While boxing, I maintained a full-time academic schedule, graduating from high school and earning my college degree from the University of Houston. I’ve always thought of myself as a student first, and a boxer second, and I am just as proud of my academic achievements as I am of my boxing accomplishments. Along the way, I promised my family and myself that I would retire from boxing as soon as the time was right. So, even though my heart still has the fire to compete, the wars in the ring have taken their toll and it’s time for me to make good on that promise.
Diaz retires with a record of 35-4 (17 KO), and has several plans outside of his education, too. He has a radio show on ESPN Deportes in Houston, he has a trucking company with his brother -- I think he's going to be OK outside of boxing. Bad Left Hook wishes the "Baby Bull" all the best with this decision.
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It's nice to see a boxer make a move like this.
But I hope he’s aware of the utterly dismal job prospects for new lawyers. But he’ll also need to be okay with the “permanent temp” jobs that are becoming more and more common in law firms (case-by-case employment with no chance of advancement or permanent partnership), and prepared for a long job search and massive debt.
I’m at the University of Massachusetts/Amherst, and we tell all our pre-law hopefuls be be very aware of the enormous surfeit of lawyers, and all that this means for a career.
Yea, don’t want to be cruel……….but the world doesn’t need more lawyers. My friends fiancee is a lawyer……………. it’s a VERY competitive field with only the best making the big $$$$$.
But good luck to Juan. He had a boxing career to be proud of.
Tread lightly there buddy
There are a couple of lawyers who are BLH regulars and they are all very nice…..mostly.
"The bell that tolls for all in boxing belongs to a cash register."
-Bob Verdi
by Waldo Rastel on Jun 13, 2011 11:08 PM EDT up reply actions
it’s true. In most parts of the country – there are way too many lawyers – shit’s getting outsourced to India.
TX ain’t really one of those places, thankfully – and crim def (my arena), isn’t really something that’s easily outsourced – it’s also not something most people make big bucks doing.
But those so-called “big law” people – those folks are endangered species.
The school Diaz is going to is part of the problem, in my opinion. It’s an unaccredited school – law school’s are profit machines for colleges, but as stated, we don’t need anymore lawyers and this conversation isn’t really for this website.
"You can't search me without probable cause Or that proper ammunition they call reasonable suspicion Listen while I bring friction to your whole jurisdiction" - Fugees
Where is he going?
Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."
Oh goodness
U Mass Dartmouth. They’ll probably be accredited before he graduates, but still. I would have thought he’d stay in Texas. Plenty of decent law schools there, and even if he didn’t get great grades in college, he’s Juan Diaz. He should have been able to get in somewhere locally. Plus, staying local actually matters if you want to stay close to home, which I always thought that he does.
Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."
and I’m surprised Houston wouldn’t let him in – c’mon Houston – the kid’s something of a Houston icon – and he’s probably footing the bill himself.
"You can't search me without probable cause Or that proper ammunition they call reasonable suspicion Listen while I bring friction to your whole jurisdiction" - Fugees
It is different for him.
He is a mini star in Houston and he wants to go into politics more then law. I doubt he ever has a hard time finding employment and he will not need to go into debt if he doesn’t want to bc of his boxing purses and other already successful businesses.
As Jrok alluded to below, I think he will have no trouble getting into Sports Law, and particularly boxing promotion, once he gets his J.D. He certainly has contacts in the industry, and has name recognition.
Yeah, a law degree can lead to many things. Lots of politicians have them, and so do lots of people in the entertainment and sports industries. Even if you don’t practice, it opens a lot of doors.
I would really like to see more ex pro boxers get involved on the promotion and distribution side of things, and not just in a figurehead capacity. I think that would be good for the sport.
Bad Left Hook
"My God, kids today think that the laces are for tying up the gloves."
-- Fritzie Zivic
law degree--
it’s expensive (I don’t think Juan is starving), but it’s a good trick to have in your bag, a very good trick. Help you wherever life takes you, and would stand him in good stead in politics, local/state at least. I can see him having an edge at that with his local sports hero/law student image.
There is no safety in numbers, or in anything else--James Thurber, 1939
I don't want to understate the value of the degree,
But I don’t want to overstate it, either. A law degree is just that: a degree. It is true that many successful people have degrees in law, but it is not true that people with law degrees all become successful. If the latter were the case, there would be no struggling law schools graduates.
There was a New York Times article of some months ago (I will try to find a link for you) that encapsulated the dilemma of law schools courting prospective students, enticing them into debt, and then releasing them into a job pool with few prospects.
It is entirely possible to earn a degree, even an advanced one, as a physicist, biologist, or what-have-you, without having any prospects.
I very strongly suspect that becoming a politician, even at a local level, is not simply or even necessarily a result of having a degree in law. There is almost certainly a significant personality factor involved.
All this is not to say that he will not be successful; I just want to point out that traditional “hot-ticket” degrees are necessarily as they may seem.
I’ll find that link. And maybe, as lcollins1 mentioned, I just contributed too much non-boxing stuff.
Here it is: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/business/09law.html?_r=1
He's Juan Diaz. He'll do just fine.
Name recognition is very important. This coming from a practising biglaw attorney. Besides, I suspect his actual future lies in politics. I’d be surprised if he’s not in some prominent office a decade from now, whether it be Mayor of Houston or a US Representative.
Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."
He had a fine career and took on tough challenges. I think history will be kind to him. At the very least he can look back with pride on his accomplishments. I think his future will be very bright. Maybe he can even parlay his law degree into the business side of boxing.
Bad Left Hook
"My God, kids today think that the laces are for tying up the gloves."
-- Fritzie Zivic
He will go down in my personal houston hall of fame alongside earl campbell, clyde drexler, and hakeem.
I hate the Texans
by battle axe of doom on Jun 13, 2011 8:24 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
And Beyonce...
:-P
Mike Goldberg: "You know Joe, When Matt and his brother Mark Hughes were growing up, they would pound each other behind the barn."
by xFenixKnightx on Jun 13, 2011 9:20 PM EDT up reply actions
Big George
born in Marshall – but really a Houston kid.
"You can't search me without probable cause Or that proper ammunition they call reasonable suspicion Listen while I bring friction to your whole jurisdiction" - Fugees
as ridiculous as this sounds, i completely forgot about george foreman when i posted that.
probably a shit ton more that i’m forgetting, but the point remains. baby bull gave me many thrilling fights as both a fanboy-of-everything-houston & as a fight freak. his war with JMM will go down in boxing lore as one of the greats of that decade, and the baby bull name will live on forever
I hate the Texans
by battle axe of doom on Jun 14, 2011 12:31 AM EDT up reply actions
This stinks. Ronnie Shields should never have convinced him of retirement after the marquez fight if he “loses”. he has more to give, and ronnie stopped using his strengths (his pressure, volume and relentless) and tried to mold him into a boxer, something he is not. Diaz! Come back! Give us the baby bull! Just not a bunch of bull! Holler!
"According to all the laws of aerodynamics the bumble-bee should not fly, but the bumble-bee does not know this and so flies anyway."
Juan Diaz was done after the Malignaggi fight
The Marquez KO completely changed him. And yes, it’s mostly Ronnie Shields’ fault.
Canucks Cup Countdown: 1
In-Progress: Operation Bruins in Ruins
by SSreporters on Jun 14, 2011 12:06 PM EDT up reply actions
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