Should Juan Diaz move down to the super featherweight division?

By Scott Gilfoid: After watching Juan Diaz (35-3, 17 KO’s) get schooled by former International Boxing Federation light welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi on December 12th, I think it might not be a bad idea if the 26-year-old former lightweight champion Diaz to skip the lightweight division altogether when he moves back down in weight. Diaz is planning on moving back down to lightweight after looking dreadful in two fights against Malignaggi, one of the weaker punching fighters in the top 15 in the light welterweight division.

However, after looking at the rolls of fat around Diaz’s midsection and the jellyroll on his sides, Diaz looks like he can stand to lose at least a good 15 to 20 pounds of blubber around his middle to get down to super featherweight.

If you take off all the lard on his physique, I think Diaz is really a super featherweight underneath. It makes a lot of sense for Diaz to move down to the super featherweight division where he’d at least have a good chance of being a major force in the division. I can’t say that he’ll be the main guy in the lightweight division. He was already beaten by Juan Manuel Marquez and Nate Campbell, and because of his limited 5’6” height, I can see more problems ahead for Diaz if he elects to stay at lightweight rather than a lower weight.

I know if it was me, and I had a jellyroll around my midsection, I’d take that weight off in a month and move down to a weight class that better suited me. Diaz looked way too small for a light welterweight against Malignaggi and looked like a slow plodder against the taller fighter. Not much will change by going down five pounds to the lightweight division I’m afraid.

If Diaz moved down to super featherweight, he’d have to contend with the likes of Humberto Soto, Roman Martinez and Robert Guerrero, all good fighters no doubt. However, as long as Diaz didn’t eat his way out of the division, he would probably do well against those guys. I can see him beating one or two of them as long as he doesn’t drain himself burning the blubber around his midsection. But seriously, Diaz looks like he could stand to lose at 20 pounds of jelly around that gut area. Super featherweight shouldn’t be a problem for Diaz once he burns the lard from his gut area.

Food is the enemy, Juan. Diaz needs to stick with a nice meal of carrots, green peas and half a can of tune per meal. Nothing more than that. Then he should be on triple day training sessions to burn away the blubber. I would say double days but I think Diaz might need a little extra work to get rid of the stubborn fat on his sides.

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