Joseph Diaz Jr. didn’t initially want to be an Olympian. He first got into boxing as an 11-year-old to learn self-defense, then later dreamt of one day boxing in front of millions on HBO pay-per-view, being interviewed by renowned ringside commentator Max Kellerman and flinging a world championship belt over his shoulder.

Diaz never considered the Olympics until he sat down in his parents’ Los Angeles area home and weighed the pros and cons with those closest to him.

At 17, he was one of the top amateurs in the United States and desired to turn professional. But the 2012 London Olympics were two years away and USA Boxing had targeted Diaz as a candidate to represent the country. After the sit-down meeting, he opted to delay turning pro, and split a pair of bouts in London.

Being around the top athletes in the world, and the things he learned from them, he says, ended up being one of the most beneficial things for his professional career.

“I honestly feel like being in the Olympics made me the fighter that I am today,” said Diaz, who’s widely known by the nickname JoJo. “Just as far as my work ethic, as far as me being very, very disciplined, being motivated and grinding to the fullest and me pushing myself to the limits.”

The experience showed the southpaw (28-1, 14 knockouts) what it took to be elite. He’d watch athletes from every sport congregate with a singular focus, with no distractions, and he adopted a maniacal motivation and preparation that helped him to 26 consecutive wins to begin his pro career.

At some point, though, the drive and measured approach that once defined him became more difficult to summon as difficulties arose in his career. He lost his first bout to unbeaten world champion Gary Russell Jr. in May 2018, then he was unable to claim his first world title, despite beating champion Jesus Rojas, because he was four ounces over the sanctioned 126-pound weight limit.

So, toward the end of 2018, he and his team once again convened for another sit-down meeting to discuss inevitable changes he felt were needed. The decision was made to move his camp from the Los Angeles suburb of South El Monte out to the California desert to work with Joel and Antonio Diaz in Indio.

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Following his first camp with both his dad and the Diaz brothers earlier this year, JoJo moved up to the 130-pound division and dominated Charles Huerta to win by unanimous decision at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino. And on May 4 in Las Vegas, on the undercard of the Canelo Alvarez-Daniel Jacobs championship bout, he’ll fight Freddy Fonseca for the chance to fling the World Boxing Association gold featherweight belt over his shoulder.

The opportunity to again fight for a title may not have immediately been possible, he says, if he hadn’t moved his camp out to the desert at the most crucial time of his professional career.

'I could've won that fight'

After the Gary Russell fight, Diaz knew he needed a change. It wasn’t just that he had lost for the first time in his pro career, but it was the belief that he could’ve won the fight if he had been better prepared in camp.

He maintains a year later that it wasn’t an ideal leadup to the biggest fight of his life.

“I felt like it was very unprofessional as far as my side, my team’s side, my coach’s side, my manager’s side, everything was all unprofessional,” he said. “It wasn’t like how it should’ve been as far as a meaningful title fight, where we had guys all lined up to come out, we had sparring lined up, we had a strict, day-to-day basis camp.”

Getting to the fight at MGM National Harbor, on the outskirts of Washington, D.C., added to the frustration of the camp. Diaz and his team missed their fight to Reagan National Airport and arrived two days before the weigh-in instead of four. He was still 6-7 pounds over the sanctioned weight and only finished shedding the weight minutes before the official stepping onto the scale, in front of thousands in attendance.

“It was like right before the weigh-in,” said Joseph Diaz Sr., JoJo’s dad. “That’s how crazy it was.”

Diaz said that despite just six weeks to prepare for the fight, the messy training schedule, the missed flight and struggle to make weight, he still felt ready entering the fight. But the outcome of the bout suggested otherwise.

He was not himself during the 12 rounds. He was too reserved, waiting for the perfect opening instead of keeping his hands loose and wearing Russell down, as Diaz is known to do to opponents.

“After that fight,” he said, “I still have no doubt, I was still 110 percent. I was still ready to go for that fight, I just didn’t perform the way I should’ve performed. I could’ve won that fight.”

Just three months later, though, Diaz was given another opportunity to fight for a world title. Though his body had growth and he was unsure if his body could get back to 126 pounds, he didn’t want to reject the opportunity. So, he took the fight, but this time he didn’t quite make the weight.

'Devastated'

Diaz arrived at the weigh-in to the championship bout in Los Angeles with Rojas six ounces over the sanctioned limit. He had done all he could, he said, to drop the weight, but his body couldn’t do any more.

He’s fought in the 126-pound division since he was 16, but over the last decade his body had grown and matured and getting to that weight for a fight had proved to be impossible for someone who had never missed weight for a bout in his pro career.

Hours before the weigh-in, instead of going to the sauna, Diaz tried an Epsom salt bath, which typically flushes 8-12 ounces of weight off. In this case, though, it made his already weak and dehydrated body become even more depleted.

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“My muscles were just like spaghetti,” he recalls. “I tried to get up; I collapsed. It was really, really bad to the point that I couldn’t stand up. I was fainting. My dad was trying to wake me up. They carried me out of the bathroom, and I checked my weight and I was still a couple pounds overweight. I was devastated, man.”

Diaz went to the weigh-in at 126.6 points and was given an hour to shed the remaining six ounces. Most of the time, that’s easy for a boxer. But Diaz couldn’t get more than two ounces off.

“People didn’t realize how much I had already been through,” he said.

The bout was for the World Boxing Council title, streamed across the world, so he gave it another run. He went to the sauna, then to the steam room to shadow box for a few minutes, then back into the sauna. His body began to tingle. He started screaming for his dad and members of his team pulled him out.

Diaz returned to the official scale at 126.4, and Rojas only agreed to fight him if Diaz gave him half of his purse and if it wasn’t for the world title.

“I took it, dude,” Diaz said. “I took the L. I took the L of not winning the world title and I took the L by the 50 percent of my purse I lost.”

He won the bout but said that he again felt unprofessional about the process and knew that something needed to change for his career to continue.

'Extra motivation'

Diaz and his team sat down again last September and decided to reach out to the Diaz brothers about relocating his camp to the desert. The sit-down is a process Diaz has used to make big decisions in his life, going back to when he came to the excruciatingly difficult resolution as a freshman in high school to give up a promising baseball career in order to pursue boxing more intensely.

Indio seemed to be the perfect place. It was close enough to home that he could easily get back if he needed to, but secluded and quiet enough for him to block out any distractions and refocus.

The Diaz brothers also had other professionals with world championship experience, such as Francisco Vargas, and others with title aspirations — Diego De La Hoya and a hoard of European boxers among them. Being around others of that caliber was appealing to Diaz.

“The environment really helps a boxer,” said unbeaten welterweight Vergil Ortiz Jr., who will fight in the May 4 co-main event in Las Vegas. “There’s nothing in Indio. You’re in a house full of other boxers, especially in that camp, a lot of other Golden Boy boxers who are going to do big things, and when you surround yourself with people like that you become one of those people.

“You’re going to have competition and you’re going to want to be the best. When you’re at home, yeah, you do get distracted a lot. You have more friends, (they) want to go do more stuff, want to go out. But when you’re away from home, it’s easier to keep your mind focused.”

Antonio Diaz added that boxers appreciate the quiet, relaxing atmosphere of the Coachella Valley, and that in the desert they can block out all distractions.

“You’re there to concentrate and train hard,” Antonio Diaz said. “That’s what you’re there for. You’re not there for having fun, to visit friends or girlfriends. You’re there to work, and that’s what JoJo has been doing here.”

JoJo Diaz arrived in Indio toward the end of last year and opted to fight at 130 pounds. He said it was a great decision, as he was able to make the weight without issues and that relieved much of the stress he had encountered entering his two previous fights.

He dominated Charles Huerta in 12 rounds at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino on Feb. 9 and began preparing for another title shot, this time at 130 pounds.

“I’m comfortable,” he said. “I’m not stressed about making the weight anymore. I’m not second guessing myself.”

Part of that, he said, is the training environment. He said that each day when he goes to the gym, he’s competing with the accomplished boxers he’s around. They share tips and tricks with each other and support one another, but they also compete with each other and push each other to be the best.

Diaz said the atmosphere is similar to when he was in London, when he marveled at how dedicated and focused each Olympic athlete was to being the best. And he said it’s rejuvenated him.

“I’ve always been self-motivated,” Diaz said. “I’ve always been self-dedicated and always push the limits of myself. But I felt like I needed that extra motivation to actually go out and be isolated inside a camp and inside a gym, where there’s nothing but professionals there — people who have the same goals and vision as me who want to be world champion, just like me.”

He runs four to five miles in the mornings. On Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays he does sprint intervals and strength training to work on his endurance. Then he hits the gym for boxing specific training in the afternoons and heads to 24 Hour Fitness at night for low-impact cardio training.

With Joel and Antonio Diaz, he’s learned to cut the distance on his punches, which allows him to get the full arm extension and more power. They are also introducing him to training methods that’ll help him get into the best shape of his life.

In his last fight, he showed improved head movement, better lateral quickness and appeared to be more assertive in the ring.

“The thing is, he knows boxing, he’s a professional, but there’s things that he can still learn,” said Antonio Diaz, a former world champion. “Anybody can still learn from anybody. His last fight, he showed that.”

'Sink or swim'

When he isn’t training, Diaz says he goes to bowling or to the movies. Not that he has a lot of time. Most days he’s so exhausted that he goes home to his place in Indio and his dad cooks a small meal for him.

He’s kept a low profile the last two months he’s been in the desert and said he can’t wait to show the world how he’s prepared for his May 4 bout.

“I feel really, really good in there. I’m able to showcase everybody my skills because this time my body isn’t depleted. I’m able to show them my slickness, my speed, my power, everything.”

The plan is for Diaz to take a couple months off after this bout, then return to Indio in the late summer for a potential unification bout with featherweight champion Tevin Framer later this year.

For now, that’s just talk. Diaz understands that he needs to win Saturday for that to happen.

“I’m at the point in my career where it’s sink or swim,” he said. “I’m fighting the really elite fighters, I’m fighting fights that are really meaningful and I’ve got to shine and I’ve really got to showcase to everybody that I’m the real deal.

“Last year was difficult, but I came out here and I’m very confident in the work that I’ve put in, knowing what I needed to do, so that when it comes fight night there’s no worries. I’ve now just got to go in there, enjoy myself and do what I do best.”

Andrew John covers boxing for The Desert Sun and beyond for the USA TODAY Network. Email him at andrew.john@desertsun.com and find him on Twitter: @Andrew_L_John