It was Sept. 1, 2001, and Juan Diaz was in a war. The undefeated teenager from Houston, appearing on a nationally televised card from the Don Haskins Center in El Paso, Texas, was being tested by tough veteran Ubaldo Hernandez, 15-7-1.

The heralded “Baby Bull” was hit. He was hurt. And he was cut – his young, handsome face wearing a look of exasperation at the end of eight hard rounds.

Diaz, appearing in his 12th pro fight and just two weeks shy of his 18th birthday, won – but by split decision. Judge Ray Hawkins actually gave the fight to Hernandez, by a score of 76-74.

And many at ringside agreed with him.

As Diaz sat in the postfight press conference – blood trickling down his face some 45 minutes after his fight’s conclusion – you got the feeling that, as tough as he was, he’d never quite amount to much.

He had a heart as big as Texas. But it didn’t seem as though he had the tools to match.

Six years later, you wonder how you could have been so wrong.

Today, the same Baby Bull – now 24 and the WBA and WBO lightweight champion - is on the brink of stardom, as he prepares for a 135-pound unification showdown with WBC counterpart Julio Diaz Saturday in Chicago.

His workrate is frenetic. His stamina is incredible. And his courage is obvious.

Just as scary, his game – specifically his power and speed and boxing ability – is improving with each fight.

And he is quickly becoming one of the more exciting practitioners in the sport.

This, despite a body that is more Butterbean than Holyfield.
Juan Diaz is thick around the middle – similar in shape to former junior middleweight contender Tony Ayala Jr. (coincidentally, a fellow Texan, and a fellow “Baby Bull”).

At first glance, Juan is soft – a little pudgy, even.
But, you watch the student at the University of Houston fight, and you realize there’s probably more give in a block of concrete.

Juan, 32-0 (16 knockouts), is the epitome of a pressure fighter. He smothers his opponents with physical strength, speed and determination.
He never looks for a breather, and he is constantly in motion – a guy whose fists are forever pumping in front of him.

It’s a simple strategy Juan uses. Move forward, move forward, move forward. You would think that it would be easy for skilled fighters to overcome.
But it’s not.

Take his last outing, for instance, against former world champ Acelino Freitas – a fighter that had the skills, and definitely the power, to defeat a one-dimensional pressure fighter like Juan Diaz.

But no.

Juan swarmed Freitas with such a blistering, overwhelming attack that the
Brazilian was looking for the door by round five.

Freitas realized that he couldn’t hurt Juan – punches that paralyzed lesser fighters had virtually no effect on him. So “Popo” was forced to trade punches in bunches with the Mexican-American buzzsaw.

It was a fight he had no chance of winning. And by the end of eight rounds, Freitas wore an exhausted, beaten expression. It was a precursor of things to come.

Freitas quit in his corner, unable to ward off the Tazmanian Devil directly in front of him.  

Juan is one of those fighters, like Rocky Marciano, who is forever underestimated and underappreciated.

But those days are sure to come to an end.

Julio Diaz, 34-3 (25 KOs), a native of Coachella, Calif., is a fine fighter. He has some solid victories over Courtney Burton (KO 11) and Javier Jauregui (W 12). But, in his lone fight against an elite opponent, he was crushed by a prime Jose Luis Castillo in 2005 (TKO by 10).
Julio absorbed a fierce, thorough beating, and it is a tribute to his tenacity that he has won a world title.

But his IBF-title winning effort over Jesus Chavez in February was more a result of “El Matador’s” deteriorating physical condition than anything else (Chavez was unable to continue after suffering a serious knee injury in the third round - without a significant punch having been landed by either fighter).

It is easy to see Juan’s fearless attack dominating Julio as it did Freitas and Lavka Sim before him.

After a victory over 27-year-old Julio Diaz, the world will open up to the Baby Bull.

The most obvious option would be a showdown with the recognized lightweight champ, Joel Casamayor. It’s an intriguing matchup of young vs. old, boxer vs. puncher. For Juan, it would be yet another battle for legitimacy.

Then there’s another Diaz – WBC champ David Diaz. A native Chicagoan, David would like nothing better than to get a crack at Saturday’s winner. He won a decision over a faded Erik Morales in August, and his pressure style would make a fight with Juan a “Fight of the Year” candidate without a punch having been thrown..

And, of course, there’s the possibility of a Juan Diaz fight with 130-pound champ Manny Pacquaio, who announced his intentions of moving up to lightweight after last week’s decision over Marco Antonio Barrera.  What a battle that would be. And, for the first time in his career, you’d have to think that “Pac-Man” would be at a disadvantage in strength and durability.

Whatever happens, the Baby Bull has arrived. And, judging by the way he’s fighting these days, it’s amazing that we ever doubted him.

M

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