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By Thomas Gerbasi - “Come on Dad, let’s go home.”
David Diaz, not even a teenager yet, wasn’t thinking about world championships as he stood at the bus stop during another typically brutal winter day in Chicago. He just wanted to be back where it was warm.
“Nah, let’s just wait a little bit longer for the bus,” said his father, Anselmo. “If it doesn’t get here in ten minutes, then we’ll go home.”
The father knew what it took to be a champion in the hardest game. What happened in the gym was one thing; what happened outside of it would be what molded you. It would have been easy to walk home through the snow and back home. To wait for that bus in the cold, and then go to the gym and hone your skills – that would separate the men from the boys.
Father and son waited for that bus.
Flash forward to June 28, 2008. David Diaz, now 32 and the WBC lightweight champion of the world, was in a fight many saw as unwinnable. Facing the pound for pound king, Manny Pacquiao, Diaz was seen as not being fast or powerful enough to stop the onslaught of the Filipino icon.
And as the rounds piled up, the critics were proven to be right. Diaz didn’t have the one-punch stopping power needed to get Pacquiao’s respect, and being slower than him didn’t help matters either. But what the naysayers forgot was Diaz’ heart.
Built in his house, on the street, and in the gym in Chicago, Diaz learned that when you stop trying, the fight is already lost. So he kept trying, kept moving forward, and kept hoping. [Click Here To Read More]
David Diaz, not even a teenager yet, wasn’t thinking about world championships as he stood at the bus stop during another typically brutal winter day in Chicago. He just wanted to be back where it was warm.
“Nah, let’s just wait a little bit longer for the bus,” said his father, Anselmo. “If it doesn’t get here in ten minutes, then we’ll go home.”
The father knew what it took to be a champion in the hardest game. What happened in the gym was one thing; what happened outside of it would be what molded you. It would have been easy to walk home through the snow and back home. To wait for that bus in the cold, and then go to the gym and hone your skills – that would separate the men from the boys.
Father and son waited for that bus.
Flash forward to June 28, 2008. David Diaz, now 32 and the WBC lightweight champion of the world, was in a fight many saw as unwinnable. Facing the pound for pound king, Manny Pacquiao, Diaz was seen as not being fast or powerful enough to stop the onslaught of the Filipino icon.
And as the rounds piled up, the critics were proven to be right. Diaz didn’t have the one-punch stopping power needed to get Pacquiao’s respect, and being slower than him didn’t help matters either. But what the naysayers forgot was Diaz’ heart.
Built in his house, on the street, and in the gym in Chicago, Diaz learned that when you stop trying, the fight is already lost. So he kept trying, kept moving forward, and kept hoping. [Click Here To Read More]
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