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Putting in work with Jesse Ochoa at Santa Ana's Boxing Club 2000 Gym, Juan is training hard for his date in the spotlight. Valenzuela looks forward to being the headliner for Boxeo De Oro. "My training is going good. I feel very happy, full of joy that I am in the spotlight. I am preparing to give my one hundred percent on that date."
Before the deal with Golden Boy, as most professional boxers, Juan fought with little attention and earned his share of losses. Through it all, Juan never thought of walking away from the sweet science. "I never lost my faith because of the losses I accumulated. I only consider two of them actual losses. The rest of them have been robberies against me. I always put a lot of effort into boxing."
On April 26, 2002, Juan's luck took a turn for the good during his show-off against then highly touted and ranked lightweight, Julio Diaz. Valenzuela quickly disposed Julio via a first round technical knockout, in a result that even surprised him. "In all honesty, my training for the fight, was one of my best preparations for any of my fights, but I never thought I was going to win with that punch. I never thought that would happen. I was very confident with myself, but I thought I would have won in seven or eight rounds. I was very confident, very well prepared."
After his knockout of Diaz, Juan returned to his previous struggles, dropping two fights in a row, before getting an opportunity to show-off his skills on Boxing After Dark verses Ricardo Williams Jr. Coming in as a late replacement, no one gave Valenzuela much of a chance to win as a late substitute. Juan won a clear decision that led to his promotional relationship with Golden Boy. "I came into that as a replacement and was not one hundred percent ready. Thanks to God, I had a lot of hunger to win, I had hunger to spare and my body responded well. I felt very good during that fight. That is what made me come out ahead."
Juan feels comfortable as a junior lightweight and like every man that puts on those gloves looks for an elusive world championship and a high profile fight. "I am going to campaign at 140 pounds, because I feel better at that weight. Like every boxer, I want to become world champion and maintain myself as champion. From what I hear, Floyd Mayweather Jr. is going to move up to the 140-pound division. I would love to have a fight with him."
Fight fans might wonder where Juan's nickname originated, being that pollo (chicken in Spanish) is not a moniker most boxers would appreciate. No, there is not a special breed of wild fighting chickens in Culiacan, Mexico, Juan Valenzuela's hometown. "Since I was four or five, my brother's friend used to call me pollo." Simple enough?
A special thanks to Jesse Ochoa for coordinating the article.