Stars like Argentinas Lucas Matthysse to UFCs Cub Swanson have walked through the doors of the gym that is run like the United States Marine Corps recruiting depot. Photos: Boxing trainer Joel Daz to open new gym in Indio Skip to main content The boxer, a 2016 Olympic silver medalist from Uzbekistan named Bektemir Melikuziev -- everyone calls him Bek The Bully -- nods. The sense of urgency every boxer lives with was replaced by uncertainty. I can imagine what its going to look like when were done.. The gym is clattering with noise from the various boxers working in the different stations. Diaz, 47, said he expects the new gym to open in March. Work!" Indio Joel Diaz Boxing Academy. But that would just a short-term solution and Diaz had until July 1 to move into a new facility. Munguia stopped by Los Angeles to meet with the media last week and spoke about Bennett and his upcoming first world title defense. Thats what Im doing.. It's Friday and that means it's sparring day for his pros. Recently former WBC super featherweight champion Francisco El Bandido Vargas has become part of the team and is preparing for a showdown against Englands Stephen Smith at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas on Dec. 9. With his right eye gone, so too went his dreams. His job was irrigation. He says he will because next time he just might cut off Acosta's finger. Diaz is back in the dressing room and back to joking with Gracia. To know that a kid from Coachella was coaching, Timothy Bradley and so many others to win world championship belts, it just brought a lot of pride, you know? World champions are not supposed get battered like that but when someone packs that kind of power those can be the terrifying results. But Cole insisted that the match continue and then, after another knockdown that he ruled a slip, let it continue for another 35 seconds before Velascos corner mercifully threw in the towel. Needing a space to traintheir boxers, including professionals and young amateurs, Joel and Antonio moved their operation to KBX Fitness, the North Indio gym of UFC featherweight Cub Swanson and his brother, Steve, also a mixed martial artist. Representative Ruiz and Diaz grew up in the same neighborhood in Coachella and were only a couple of years apart at Coachella Valley High School. The list goes on. More recently, Cole worked the 2014 fight between Vasyl Lomachenko and Orlando Salido at the San Antonio Alamodome. Fighters who, for a variety of reasons, reached their level here, among the desert's drab colors, instead of the bright lights of places like Los Angeles, Las Vegas and New York. How good will the promotion be? He could have left, opened a gym somewhere else, but he didn't. It's the stomach pain from hunger while trying to make weight. "It's a different place, and a different world, within the same community." He put them in his truck and they drove the long way home out by the fields. Hemet District Office. The crowd was divided between Brazilian fans and those from Argentina. Later, Freitas tarnished his image with a No Mas against Diego Corrales, but he had gone down three times and knew there was no way out. That side is where most of the Coachella Valley's tourist industry is centered. Last March, as the ongoing pandemic surged throughout the country, Diaz was told by Indio Boys & Girls Club administratorsthat hecould not continue to train professional boxers at thepublic facility that would remain closed for a fewmonths. he shouts at no one and everyone at once. When the anger got too much, he'd drive to the mountains, as if trying to find answers. . On October 19, 1996, Joel lost a twelve-round decision to undefeated IBF lightweight champion Philip Holiday in Wembley Indoor Arena, Johannesburg. Sometimes things happen for a reason, Diaz said on a weekday in early January, inside a gutted 6,250-square-foot building on Indio Blvd. ACOSTA LOST. Laurence Cole is the son of Richard Dickie Cole. Email him at andrew.john@desertsun.com. The film not only showcases coach Diazs accomplishments as a professional boxer and trainer but also his fight to build a life for himself and his family. The anonymous architect of In Boxing We Trust, a web site that went dormant in 2010, wrote this description: Near the end of round 11, about a milli-second before the bell rang, Freitas landed a ROCK HARD right hand shot flush on Barrios chin. Hes still working to complete the entryway and his office inside the gym, off Indio Boulevard, but the rest of the 6,250-square foot space has been transformed from a gutted building to a gym that will soon host current and future world champions. But Diaz said he couldnt be more excited about eventually having a training facility of his own, after 18 years of training boxers, including several world champions, at the Indio Boys & Girls Club. Other fighters like Argentinas Matthysse have arrived too and will be living and training in the remote desert gym. So, this is my land, my property. Coach Diaz is one of the top boxing trainers in the world who has worked with many top boxing and MMA fighters. Theyve built relationships with several youth boxers whose dads are either plumbers, painters or work with concrete and have offered their services. As a pro Diaz brought him down to lightweight. He became a professional boxer. Diaz, 48, said he plans to open the gym up to the community for a grand opening in September. Bradley was groomed by the Diaz brothers into a professional style that was pleasing to boxing fans in the Southern California area. "If Arely knew about this, she'd drop you with a punch to the liver," Diaz tells Gracia. ON A THURSDAY night in early April, when the valley's mornings and evenings are still cool, there's a growing tension in the last place where Diaz fought as a professional. It's a stepping stone to potential greatness in the profession. Inside there's a plaque from when Garcia was mayor, listed beneath "Lee Espinoza Coachella Valley Boxing Club." Indio's Diaz Brothers Have Built a Fight Club on the Coachella Desert He served 27 months and never fought again, retiring with a record of 50-4-1. "No, it's OK," Gracia says, trying to keep the doctor away. He admitted to being in the middle of a whirlwind that is spinning beyond his expectations. The Diaz brothers want to use the building for more than just boxing. Diaz doesn't know of the tension in the dressing room shared by three of his boxers on the Thursday night card. Phone: (760) 424-8888. He was the first and only inductee into the inaugural class of the Texas Boxing Hall of Fame, an organization founded by El Paso promoter Lester Bedford in 2015. Until then the Diaz boys had been raised by their grandparents. Word was spreading that there was something going on in that desert gym in Indio that was making champions. Though Bradley had speed and agility and could easily fight 10 rounds without getting touched, he was being sculpted into a fan friendly action packed fighter. Barrios got up at the count of 4, he didnt know where he was as he looked around towards the crowd like a kid separated from his family at a theme park, but Barrios turned to the ref at the count of 8 and signaled that he was okay, SAVED BY THE BELL. They aren't sure yet whether they'll go to Mexico or Puerto Rico first. Another donated an ice machine. That night the cruiserweight southpaw Usyk bored audiences with his slap happy style until lowering the boom on South Africas Thabiso Mchunu in round nine at the Inglewood Forum. Not all prizefighters can adapt to the remoteness and solitude and end up moving on to urban locations like Jessie Magdaleno did recently. The pain of losing a child during pregnancy. But it's just not the reality of the working families.". After seeing those fields, the man drove them home where the Diaz brothers met their mother, sister and another brother. Welcome to the world of Mexicos Jaime Munguia (29-0, 25 KOs) the WBO super welterweight world titlist who meets Englands Liam Smith (26-1-1, 14 KOs) at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas on Saturday, July 21. Hed write down his plans, his goals, his schedule to make it happen, and would occasionally put his head down on the tableand rest for a few minutes. "Let me go grab my gun," he says, "I'll shoot that thing off.". But not before a full day of training. More: The pandemic shut down his boxing club. As a couple, one of Mucino and Acosta's goals was to be world champions at the same time. Maybe by showing them those fields, that'd help explain why he and their mother left and were apart for so long. "I got to get these guys ready," Diaz says. In this age of PEDs there was no mention of testing for the Pacquiao/Matthysse fight. "You're going to lose your eye," the doctor warned. But most promotion companies were not interested. Everything happens for a reason.. He doesn't go. This used to be a junkyard. A painter offered to paint the inside for free and others offered to handle the plumbing at no charge. More. During the fight, Salido made a mockery of the Queensberry rules for which he received no point deductions and only one warning. He's showing fighters how to pivot their feet to maximize their leverage. Monroe St Indio CA 92201. Acosta walks down the hall, surrounded by about a dozen people. Not far from an abandoned gas station with a fading sign for cold beer and cheap motels with pools that've been filled in with sand and covered. (Marquez elected to continue and stopped Jaca in the next round.). You will not want to miss this class. The bout was televised live on ESPN. As soon as the doctor says all's well, everyone's able to joke. He's talking about where his gym is, on the eastern side of the Coachella Valley. Click below for an exclusive look at the first trailer for Joel Diaz: A Hard Knock-Life by Newman Studios. So he made the best of it, and built a life with his wife and four kids. Russian boxer. It's a welcomed distraction from the importance of this fight. Its a small venue near East L.A. and the fight was attended by numerous boxing celebrities such as James Lights Out Toney, Mauricio El Maestro Herrera and Gennady GGG Golovkin. Instructions are yelled in four languages; English, Spanish, Uzbek and Russian. Bradley won world titles as a super lightweight and welterweight and ultimately became one of the best pound-for-pound prizefighters in the world. "GET UP, I want to meet you guys," a man told Joel and his brother, Too, then aged 11 and 5. A well-known figure in the Coachella Valley, many have approached Diaz and asked how they can help. Coles agency is purportedly in the top two nationally in writing these policies. where the gym will be located. I want to make history.. The reach for glory finally within their grasp. Whatever sense of peace they find, it comes from knowing they've done all they can to prepare. Freitas looked out of shape coming in to the Diaz fight and that proved to be the case as he was so gassed at the end of the eighth round that he quit on his stool. he sings. It's his father's birthday; the victory is part of his gifts. Trainer extraordinaire Joel Diaz looks on as two boxers engage at his world-renowned gym in Indio, California. When Mucio fights and Acosta watches, he feels the same. I know you from the heart. His opponent hung on for dear life. He's on the main ring, next to the banner with his logo on it, a gamecock wearing boxing gloves, circled by the gym's name: Joel Diaz Training Camp. Were going to do that with this gym.. Theres so many memories at the Boys & Girls Club, and I hope were all still a part of their annual things because I think what they do is great, Swanson said. Celebrities such as Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra and William Powell had homes here. He's sitting in a foldable metallic chair, getting his post-fight medical examination. He won another fight in 2015 and though by now he was visibly paunchy, he still managed to go 10 rounds to beat Gabriel Martinez in 2017 with occasional flashes of his old explosive volleys. On top of supporting his longtime friend, Congressman Ruiz awarded Coach Diaz a Certificate of Congressional Recognition for all the work he has done providing underprivileged kids in the valley with an outlet like boxing.
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