By Rick Reeno
Willie Savannah, manager of IBF/WBO/WBA Juan Diaz (33-0, 17KOs), tells BoxingScene.com that money is not the issue with making a fight against WBA mandatory Nate Campbell (31-5-1, 25KOs) on March 8 in Cancun, Mexico. Diaz wants to defend his title against Campbell, and he's willing to take a purse cut to do it - IF there is no further obligation to promoter Don King.
The fight will be showcased as the co-feature to Oleg Maskaev's defense of the WBC heavyweight title against Sam Peter. The offer made to Diaz is lower than his contract minimum per fight, but he's willing to move forward to become a promotional free agent. One fight remains on Diaz's contract with King, which expires on March 31.
"The issue is not the money, we just want to make sure that everyone understands that there are no further obligations to Don King after this fight. We are willing to give up some financial gain to make sure there are no further obligations to Don King after this fight," Savannah said to BoxingScene.
Diaz was previously scheduled to face WBO mandatory Michael Katsidis (23-0, 20KOs) on February 9. After a contract dispute over Golden Boy Promotions winning the purse bid and King sending a legal letter to HBO, the network pulled the plug on the fight. Katsidis, the WBO's interim-lightweight champion, is tentatively scheduled to fight former champion Joel Casamayor on March 22.
Katsidis' manager and trainer, Brendon Smith, wants the WBO to strip Diaz of the title and recognize Katsidis as the full champion. Smith is willing to use a legal remedy to make Katsidis the champion because the WBO had ordered Diaz-Katsidis to take place by the end of February. Savannah doesn't see a reason why Katsidis should have a beef.
"I don't know what Katsidis' beef is. We wanted the fight. We signed for the fight. We had a deal with HBO and King to fight Katsidis next. We didn't cause the fight to fall apart, Don King did. It's not Juan's fault, King threatened to sue HBO. Everybody wanted to see this fight," Savannah said. "If Katsidis does what he has to do, the fight can be bigger. Based on what Casamayor looked like in his last fight, Katsidis will beat him. Hopefully Juan beats Nate and Katsidis does his part and beats Casamayor. Then the fight will be bigger."
