By Joe Harrison
This past Friday night, at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, all eyes were on Deontay Wilder, Daniel Jacobs, and Antonio Escalante, as they made quick work of their opponents. Each bout was featured on ESPN’s Friday Night Fights that evening. Also observing them, were two of Chicago’s favorite boxers who were at ringside to cheer the fighters on; former WBC lightweight champion David Diaz and heavyweight contender Mike Mollo.
Both Diaz and Mollo are coming off losses from last year. Diaz is mostly known for his defeat of Mexican legend Erik Morales back in 2007, but is now shadowed by the loss he suffered at the hands of Manny Pacquiao last June. Then there’s Mollo, who knocked out Tyson-conqueror Kevin McBride, but lost his last two bouts to Andrew Golota and Jameel McCline last year. Although Diaz and Mollo have been inactive so far in 2009, each look to bounce back in the near future.
In losing to Pacquiao, Diaz (34-2-1, 17 KOs) also lost his WBC lightweight title. Now he is anxious to get back into the mix and become a world champion again.
“I’m going back to the gym Monday. I’m going to stop messing around so that I can be back in June or July. I want to be champion again. I feel that if I did it once, I can do it again. There’s a great class of lightweights out there, so I would like to see what happens. I want to see if I still got it. I want a get a top ten fighter, someone who’s already ranked. Then my second fight could be a title shot. I’ll fight whoever they put in front of me.”
While Diaz is hoping to become a two-time world champion, 29 year-old Mike Mollo (19-3, 12 KOs) is looking to pace himself. In facing Golota and McCline, Mollo went the distance and lost both by close decision. Now, Mollo wants to get back into the form he had while scoring brutal knockouts over names like Art Binkowski and Kevin McBride.
“I’m back training in Chicago at Jabb Boxing Gym. I have a new management team and we’re putting some new things together. I will be back in the ring, but I don’t have a set date yet. I have some things I want to work out, I want to take my career down a notch and rebuild myself. Maybe fight on ESPN a couple times, and I believe that with my heart and determination things will happen for me.
“At this point in my career, I just want to get back in contention. The only way I can do that is to take things to a lower level and work back up. I need to show that I still got it, get people’s respect, and build myself up. It may take three or four fights before I’m back on a high level. I want to get back to my true level, and I honestly don’t think there’s a guy in America who is at my level and can hang with me.”
“Keep watching, I’ll be back soon. I’m going to bring that same excitement back into the ring.”
