By Rick Reeno
Two of the more happier individuals to hear the news of Nate Campbell breaking away from promoter Don King, had to be Juan Diaz and his manager Willie Savannah. This past March, Campbell (32-5, 25KOs) upset Diaz (34-1, 17KOs) in Cancun, Mexico to capture the WBA, WBO and IBF lightweight titles.
For several weeks prior to the Campbell fight, Diaz and his team were embroiled in a nasty, public war of words with King [Diaz‘s promoter of record at the time]. After the Campbell loss, Diaz signed with Golden Boy Promotions and vowed to never consider a rematch with Campbell, as long as Florida native was being promoted by King.
Last week the news broke of Campbell filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. According to Terry Trekas, Campbell’s co-promoter, part of the bankruptcy voids the promotional contract with King, which of course opens up the door for a rematch with Diaz.
Going into the September 13th pay-per-view bout between Juan Manuel Marquez and Joel Casamayor, Savannah was convinced that Diaz would be lined up against the winner. For reasons to be determined later, talks to stage a fight between Marquez and Diaz have stalled. There have been rumors that Marquez has opted to take an easier opponent, like a Carlos Hernandez, and other rumblings that Marquez doesn’t want to make a decision until the aftermath of December’s fight between Oscar De La Hoya and Manny Pacquiao, still holding hope that a third fight with Pacquiao can be made in the first half of 2009.
“I also heard about Carlos Hernandez. Listen, maybe Marquez doesn't want to fight Juan. I thought it was almost a sure thing going into the Marquez-Casamayor fight, that we would fight the winner. I don't know if that's going to be the case now. For some reason I just don't think that he wants to fight Juan, that's just my gut feeling," Savannah said.
“I told Richard Schaefer [Golden Boy Promotions CEO] the other day that we want to fight no later than January. We had two fights last year and two fights this year. Next year want to step it up and fight at least three to four times. The one thing we are not going to do is sit around and wait, and chase a guy like Marquez is doing with Pacquiao.”
Marquez is indeed chasing Pacquiao, almost obsessing with some of his antics like flying out to the Philippines to confront the Filipino fighter during a live television broadcast in the country. Savannah doesn’t see the logic in Marquez sitting around for a fight that may never happen, but he doesn’t plan on holding Diaz back from other possible opportunities, like a rematch with Campbell.
“He is obsessed like Glenn Close in the movie Fatal Attraction. That's one of the reasons why I don't think he wants the fight with Juan. I think he would sit around for two years if he thought he had a 1% chance of fighting Pacquiao. There is something wrong for a guy to be that obsessed,“ Savannah said.
“We are not going to sit around and wait for him to decide if he wants to fight Diaz. If doesn’t want the fight and Nate Campbell is available, then we'll fight Nate. I told Richard the other day, if it's Marquez fine, and if it's Nate fine. If Marquez wants to wait, that fine with us. We'll just move on down the road. We have no problem fighting Nate, now that he’s a free agent. The only problem with fighting Nate before was him being with Don King.”
“The best fight in the lightweight division would be Juan Diaz with Juan Manuel and if we can’t make that, then Juan Diaz vs. Nate Campbell. There is nothing else that can come close to those two fights in the lightweight division. Nate is a definite possibility. I know Juan is comfortable fighting with Nate, and I know Nate is comfortable fight with Juan.”