When he last spoke with MMAjunkie.com (
www.mmajunkie.com), boxing promoter Don Chargin said he had contracted Nick Diaz to box Jeff Lacy in the fall and expected the fighter and his representatives to act in good faith.
He's had a change of heart since then.
While he's disappointed that Diaz won't be boxing anytime soon, Chargin said he'd rather step aside to let the Strikeforce champ take a fight of another kind – against Georges St-Pierre.
"That's something he wanted with St-Pierre," Chargin said. "He wants to box, too. But what if he lost to Lacy? It would kill the [St-Pierre] fight."
Conversations with the Diaz camp have led Chargin to believe a fight between the Diaz and St-Pierre is currently on the table for December.
"That's what they told me," he said.
Diaz's manager, Cesar Gracie, was unreachable for comment. UFC president Dana White wasn't – he threw cold water on the notion that the superfight is all but a done deal by telling MMAjunkie.com there are "still a lot of hurdles" to making it a reality.
Boxing could be one of them. Diaz has a clause in his Strikeforce contract that allows him a professional boxing match in 2011. White had said he would honor the contract at the same time he expressed confidence in his ability to make a Diaz vs. St-Pierre superfight happen. He reportedly met with Diaz this past week in Las Vegas.
So while boxing appears to be on hold, Chargin expects that Diaz will someday enter the ring – perhaps as early as next year.
"We're still going to do something, but after this fight," Chargin said. "Let him get his chance at that title. He still wants to box. That's all they talk about."
Whether MMA fans share Diaz's enthusiasm is another matter. In the past year, the fighter has built tremendous momentum by defending his title three times in dominant fashion. His momentum hit fever pitch this past month when he defeated Paul Daley by TKO in the first major Strikeforce event since the promotion was purchased by UFC parent company Zuffa.
The Strikeforce champ was on the tip of many a tongue as a potential challenger to St-Pierre after a tepid response to the UFC champ's most recent title defense against Jake Shields at UFC 129.
White has said he would not co-promote between Strikeforce and the UFC, even after buyout. If Diaz were to migrate, his current contract would likely need to be revised or replaced by one bearing Zuffa's name. That could jeopardize a move back to boxing; standard to all Zuffa contracts is a championship clause that prevents fighters from leaving the promotion in the event that a title is won.
That's just one of the hurdles to which White likely alludes.
For now, Chargin said he's being patient.
"Those guys work hard enough that if he's got a chance – and the way they explained it to me, it's a heck of an opportunity," Chargin said. "I'd feel terrible if he didn't get that chance because of something in the boxing thing. If it was just a fight and not a major MMA fight, I would have tried to talk him out of it.
"But with this, and with what people are telling me, it would be a big fight."
(Pictured: Nick Diaz)
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