Juan Diaz returns on August 17, headline bout on Solo Boxeo Tecate

Juan "Baby Bull" Diaz will get back into the ring on August 17 for his second fight of 2013, as he continues his comeback against Adailton De Jesus. The fight will headline a Solo Boxeo Tecate card on UniMas, which will take place in Laredo, Texas.

Diaz (36-4, 18 KO) returned to the ring on April 13, just shy of three years since his last fight, a loss to Juan Manuel Marquez in Las Vegas. The 29-year-old Diaz says he's aiming to get back to the top of the 135 pound ranks eventually, and then take another crack at 140.

Diaz will be promoted by Top Rank for this next fight, but it's only a one-fight deal. For now, he's happy working on short-term agreements, but admits that to get back to the top, he'll have to sign with Top Rank or his old promoter Golden Boy sooner than later:

"I'm not signed to either one of these top promoters, but I know if I want to take the road to become a world champion again that I will eventually have to sign with someone. We have to be honest here - they are the two promoters who have the fighters I would like to fight. I want to become a lightweight world champion once again but that is not my end goal. I feel a little older, a little stronger, so in the future give it another shot at 140. But I know I have to prove myself again."

Talk is talk, but I do like the attitude that Diaz has here. He's being realistic, he's not getting in over his head, and he's finding out what he can do physically and taking it fight-by-fight. The good news is, that tells me he's not back in the ring because he's desperate for money. As Carl Moretti of Top Rank says, this is a college graduate who owns a trucking company. He's got other things in his life. He's boxing now because he wants to do it, and I get the feeling if he comes up short, he won't be delusional and keep trying to force his way back in. He's got time, since he's still young, and the layoff may have done him much more good than it did harm.

We'll see long term, but right now, I do like what Juan Diaz is doing.