How Iran Diaz Is Preparing For The Biggest Match Of His Life

Iran “MagnifiKO” Diaz has an enormous opportunity ahead of him.

He is set to challenge WBC Super Flyweight World Champion Srisaket Sor Rungvisai for the belt at ONE: KINGDOM OF HEROES on Saturday, 6 October.

The boxing contest at Bangkok, Thailand’s Impact Arena is the marquee attraction of ONE Championship’s biggest martial arts event ever, which also features high-stakes matches in kickboxing, Muay Thai, and mixed martial arts.

Diaz has an opportunity to impress a global audience, capture the gold, and etch his name into boxing history.

For those reasons, he is preparing like never before. Every second of the 28-year-old’s time is being put into his training camp so he can return to Mexico with the belt.

This is how he is training for this main-event clash with the key players who are helping him in his world title quest.

The Temoaya Training Camp

The mountain training camp in Temoaya, Mexico – roughly 85 kilometers from Mexico City and 4600 meters above sea level – serves as the base for Diaz’s preparation, and offers several benefits for his challenge. 

Firstly, it allows the challenger to focus. Away from his family, his friends, and the big-city attractions, he has no distractions. The altitude also helps to boost his physical conditioning.

At around 5am, Diaz hits the road for a 10-kilometer run, working hard in the low-oxygen air to increase his production of red blood cells.

“At the moment of combat, that helps you to have more strength, more resistance, and a much better physical condition than at sea level,” the man from Sonora says.

Diaz is following in the footsteps of giants by basing his training camp there. Mexican boxing legends Julio Cesar Chavez and Erik Morales have done the same, so “MagnifiKO” is among elite company, and he hopes to obtain similar success.

Jorge Parra Villalba

Jorge Parra Villalba has been Diaz’s coach in his hometown of Ciudad Obregón for almost 15 years, as he has taken the young man from his formative days in the sport to world title contention.

He has been crucial in turning a tough, yet unruly youth into a disciplined pugilist.

“My relationship with Jorge is more like a friendship,” Diaz explains.

“We have been together for many years. He’s an honest and sincere person. He has helped me so much with my boxing career.”

When he stepped into Villalba’s gym as a teenage tearaway, Diaz had the necessary attributes to get started.

However, the 28-year-old needed to learn boxing intelligence and technique, and in the time they have worked together, he has become a world-class operator.

José Alfredo Caballero

In their mountain training camp, it is José Alfredo Caballero who heads up the boxing work for “MagnifiKO.” He is the strategist, working day-to-day on refining Diaz’s game to challenge the reigning titleholder.

Caballero has trained world champions like Juan Francisco Estrada and Miguel Berchelt, proving his tactics have been tested at the elite level.

“He’s a good friend. I have known him for several years now,” Diaz says.

“Working with his champions has helped me gain more experience, and the gym always has a good vibe, which makes me more confident.”

Caballero helped to train Estrada for his closely-contested 12-round bout against Srisaket earlier this year, and though his team came up short that night, he now has an intimate knowledge about the hard-hitting Thai.

Juan Manuel Marquez

Juan Manuel Márquez needs no introduction to fans of the sweet science.

“Dinamita” was a four-weight world champion, and he is regarded as one of the all-time greats. The boxing community took notice when he was named as an advisor to the Diaz camp.

Marquez is a man “MagnifiKO” has always looked to for inspiration as an athlete, and now he gets to work alongside him to prepare for the biggest match of his career.

“Every boxer had someone that we admired when we grew up. I always dreamed I would meet [Marquez],” Diaz says.

“His courage and technique was an example for all of us as fighters.

“Rungvisai is a difficult, hard fighter, so Juan Manuel Márquez is always giving us advice on how to work against him. Having him next to me as an advisor is something that motivates us a lot to develop and, more than anything, to crown us as world champion.”

Diaz has all the bases covered, and he is leaving nothing to chance when he steps up to face the reigning, two-time WBC Super Flyweight World Champion.

Marquez is an added string to the bow, as the team hopes to cause a colossal upset inside the Impact Arena this Saturday.