Joel Diaz Excited By Early Progress With Provodnikov

By Steve Kim

Trainer Joel Diaz, who recently got hired by hard-hitting junior welterweight contender Ruslan Provodnikov (24-4, 17KOs) - who had been under the direction of Freddie Roach the past few years - is pleased by the early progress he's made with his newest client.

"Today he walked in, right now he's ready to work and he's happy," said the veteran trainer, who was in the opposite corner against 'the Siberian Rocky' when he was working the corner of Tim Bradley (with whom he just split with) in 2013.

"You can see how happy he is, now he's learning more defense. Now I'm having him go to the liver, the body work, to me you kill the body first and then you go to the top. I'm teaching him how to move his head more, defense, offense, not standing too tall. attacking to the body more.

"And another thing he wasn't doing before, he needed to learn how to cut the corners, cut the ring. He didn't know how to move to the right. Now I'm having him attack but a smart attack, moving in, moving in, closing the gap, attacking at the right and he's learning really well. I'm just going over it and over it so it can kick in instantly from now now."

Diaz, who's been working with the feared hitter for the last month at his gym in Coachella, California, guarantees that Provodnikov will be a superior body puncher from this point forward.

"Definitely. Yesterday that guy that he sparred with told me - 'Man, he killed us to the body.' He said - 'I'm going to be pissing blood the next couple days. I can tell you that.'"

And there's one other wrinkle that Diaz would like to see implemented into Provodnikov's attack - "I want him to constantly use the jab and throw more punches down the middle."

Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.