Former Boxing Champ Juan Diaz One Step Closer To Becoming a Lawyer

Former three-time lightweight boxing champion Juan "Baby Bull" Diaz will join the very few elite ranks of boxing champions who have earned a college degree this Sunday when he will graduate from the University of Houston with a  bachelors degree in political science.

Diaz has been juggling the intense stress of both training camps for his world champion title fights, as well as the stress of cramming for midterms and finals for the last four years.

Diaz has been considered one of the most exciting, dominating young fighters who fights with high stamina and constant pressure. Diaz has only two losses on his record against great champions Nate Campbell and the top ranked pound-for-pound champion, Juan Manuel Marquez.

Juan's ultimate goal is to go on to law school and become a lawyer.

With Juan's unique accomplishment of becoming a world class champion prize fighter with a college degree, it makes one want to take a look at other world class champion boxers who also hold college degrees. So lets take a look shall we?

WBC light middleweight champion Vernon "Viper" Forrest holds a business administration degree from Northern Michigan University.

Former WBA heavyweight champion James "Bone Crusher" Smith acquired a bachelor's degree in business administration from Shaw University.

Calvin Brock, who in the last few years was a top heavyweight contender who defended his Continental America title, was actually a former banker who holds a degree in finance from the University of North Carolina and manages his own portfolio.

Brock was probably one of the last American top contender hopefuls that America was hoping could dethrone the ever dominating Klitschko brothers and bring the championship belts back to America, but his quest for the belts ended quickly via a seventh round stoppage at the hands of Wladimir Klitschko.

Both Wladmir and Vitali Klitschko are the current heavyweight champion belt holders, holding four of the major title belts. Both Klitschko brothers hold Ph.D.'s in Sports Science from Kiev University. Hence their nick names: Dr. Steel Hammer and Dr. Iron Fist.

It is refreshing and inspiring to learn about these great boxing champions, who we look up to, making room by pushing aside their trophies and title belts for their diplomas.

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"Nine tenths of education is encouragement."—Anatole France

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