"He's next on the hurt list and right now he's avoiding the inevitable

GL: What's the latest and greatest with Nate Campbell? "I'm just waiting to hear something on this Julio Diaz fight. I knew he didn't want to fight me and I was at his last fight, if you can call it a fight. Was that what they call that? I don't. He made a statement that he wasn't impressed with my last fight, well I damn sure wasn't impressed with his. One man was injured and other one was scared so you do the math."

GL: Are you trying to say Diaz was a scared fighter against Jesus Chavez?

Nate Campbell: "It wasn't his knee that gave out and boxing isn't a team sport, so I think the boxing fans can figure it out. The guy who got hurt wasn't the scared one. I have nothing derogatory to say about Julio Diaz, but after that last comment that he made about how he wishes Ricky Quiles would have me the same way that he fought him. I just want to simply say this, anyway these guys want to fight me at 135 pounds they can do only one of two things, try to hit me or hold me."

GL: You're the number one contender so he's going to have to fight you eventually.

NC: "These guys get these belts and I don't want to say he's afraid to fight me, but I do know that these guys get these titles and then hold the belt up for ungodly amounts of time instead of doing what they're supposed to do. A champion is supposed to defend his title against the very best people out there. He's not trying to fight the best he's looking for the best payday. I'm arguably the best lightweight in the world and I'm definitely one of the best. He's looking for a name guy that ain't going to happen and he's basically out in the cold. They're waiting for me to take a stay busy fight so they can run and tell the IBF that I'm unavailable so they don't have to make their mandatory, which I think is ridiculous. We're both coming off of relatively easy fights and his was so easy that it should have been against the law. Chavez's knee gave out and he had no control of that, but if he didn't get injured in his last fight why wouldn't he want to go out and get his mandatory out of the way before he looks for paydays? That's what I'm going to do as champion."

GL: So you feel he's sitting idle hoping you take another fight?

NC: "That's definitely what I feel like they're doing right now. I want to tell you the truth. The Kid Diamond fight was a fight with Julio Diaz at first, but he pulled out. I have the bout agreement with his name signed and scribbled off and replaced by Kid Diamond. He's running and he's been running."

GL: Have you people notified the IBF that the time has come to order negotiations and to schedule a date for a purse-bid?

NC: "We're in the process of doing that right now sir. The fact is this is a competitive fight and I want to fight the best in the world and test my skills against the best, so should he. I want the Diaz's and the Casamayor's. We've got a very experienced group of fighters at lightweight. This is the only other fight that makes sense for him right now because everyone else is tied up."

GL: Is there anything you'd like to say in closing?

NC: "I'm coming out to hurt people and right now Julio Diaz is next on the hurt list and he's avoiding the inevitable."

M

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