'Explosive progress': Palm Desert High’s Cayden Griffiths awaits pro boxing debut at age 17

Four years ago, boxer Cayden Griffiths was a 95-pound eighth grader at Desert Christian Academy with uncanny tunnel-vision, uncommon drive and unbelievable work ethic.

Now, as Griffiths readies for his professional ring debut, the 17-year senior at Palm Desert High is a rugged, 140-pound man-child . . . with uncanny tunnel-vision, uncommon drive and unbelievable work ethic. Now all he needs is an opponent.

Under the tutelage of trainer Antonio Diaz, Griffiths planned to enter boxing’s pro ranks at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas on Friday in a six-round bout as part of the Luis Lopez vs. Joet Gonzalez IBF featherweight title fight undercard.

But Griffiths was unable to find an opponent after reaching out to more than 20 different fighters. So that debut will have to wait a little longer.

"Minor setback but we're still staying in shape and staying ready for anything," Griffiths posted on Instagram on Wednesday. "Thank you to everyone for your support. Stay tuned."

As an early teen, Griffiths had his fight lens firmly affixed on the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Yet, amid his sport’s ever-changing qualifying process, the latest he could attempt to qualify for the upcoming Games is this December – five months shy of his 18th birthday, an age requirement for the qualifying process.  While respective state boxing commissions vary on minimum ages to professionally compete in contact sports, the Texas threshold where he was set to make his debut is 17 years, which required a release signed by both of his parents.

“I’m really excited. Over the last year-and-a-half, I’ve just noticed this explosive progress,” Griffiths said from the Indio-based Diaz Bros. Training Camp gym. “For a minute, I thought I was plateauing a bit. But over this past year or so, I just shot up and now I feel like I’ve never been faster, stronger, smarter.”

“I’ve always wanted to turn pro early,” Griffiths said. “Not being able to go to qualifying (for the Olympics) did kinda’ break my heart, because that’s been my dream since I was a little kid. And now, getting ready to fight grown men, a lot of people might think that I’m worried about it or that I should be nervous, but I’ve been getting in the ring with grown men since I was 12 years old.”

Across the journey, Griffiths’ accolades echo his enthusiasm as evidenced by an amateur mantle holding a gold medal from the Junior Olympics National Championship, a pair of National Qualifier titles and five California State crowns.  While occasional injuries have jabbed at his fight schedule over the years, Griffiths estimates that he’s authored a career amateur mark of 85-15.

For Diaz, who has worked with Griffiths since he was 9 years old, there was some initial hesitation about going pro prior to his 18th birthday. Across his vast stable of world champions and contenders, Diaz has never before had a fighter turn professional at the age of 17.

“When his dad first asked me if Cayden should turn pro at 17, I said that we should wait to see how his body develops,” says Diaz, the former IBA junior welterweight title holder. “You don’t want a weaker 17-year-old body fighting big, mature men. But Cayden has developed very well through the years, and I think he can go head-on with those big guys. He’s built up to a full-grown man.”

In concert with skepticisms about the politics of USA Boxing, Diaz is convinced that the timing is right for Griffiths to shed the amateur status.

“As I saw him mature and saw his body build, saw his power and skills improve, I said, ‘Why not go pro?’ He’s ready,” Diaz said. “He’s a kid that matured at a young age. Even back when he was 12 or 13, it was like speaking to a young man.”

Eschewing protective headgear and leaving behind the puffy, 10-ounce mitts of the amateur game is part of Griffiths’ transition.

“We have to let him know it’s not amateurs anymore; prepare him mentally and physically,” Diaz said. “In training and sparring, he’d usually be in there rolling with the punches, take a punch here and there. But we’ve told him he can’t do that anymore. Now, with the 8-ounce gloves, bigger hand wraps – it hurts. Even getting hit on the shoulders and arms, it hurts.”

The Running Turtle

In physical form, in personal presentation and with a dedication to craft which belies his years, Griffiths indeed presents the portrait of a pro. For a young man, if not ironically nicknamed “Turtle” (though he’s yet to lock that in as his official in-ring alias), the daily slate is anything but methodically paced.

Akin to his training schedule from four years ago, he starts his days before sunrise with a 4:30 a.m. wakeup and a morning run on Rattler Road in Rancho Mirage. The road work charts at about six miles as his fight nears.

“It’s just me, and it’s peaceful. It’s a time for me to relax,” Griffiths said of his pre-dawn runs. “When I’m at home, I don’t really watch TV. I just watch boxing or play guitar. But the morning runs, that’s really where I give my mind a rest.”

Palm Desert High has allowed for flexibility to accommodate the boxer’s regimen.

“After the run, I’ll get ready for school and I do a ‘Zero Period’ every morning, so I can get out (of school) earlier,” the boxer said. “Then, right after school, I’ll come here to train for an hour or two. Then go home, rest up a bit, and then come back to the gym at night.”

The growth of Griffiths is something that Diaz not only sees – but feels.

“I feel it in my hands,” smiles the trainer. “Before, it was pitty-pat, pit-pat, and now, when I go home, my elbows, my shoulders, my arms, they hurt from the impacts (of his punches). Even when I put the body shield on, (working with him) it’s much harder on my body now because of the strength he’s built up.”

Griffiths’ ascent can be further attributed to both a worldly purview and world-class training partners. In September of 2022, he and his father travelled to Uzbekistan to train for three weeks, where brothers Joel and Antonio Diaz have long had a training pipeline.

“It was crazy,” Griffiths said. “Nobody spoke English. And because there was no internet, except at the hotel, we had to pre-write all our questions on Google Translate. Everything we’d have to ask for the whole day, we’d have to type out a screenshot in advance.”

The language of the ring, however, was more seamlessly understood.

“It was a real eye-opener to see how kids from these other countries train,” Griffiths said. “We thought that we were doing an excessive amount here, but after that trip it was about learning to push just a little harder. I learned a lot from that trip; learned a lot of new tricks that I’m implementing into my style now.”

From Griffiths’ corner, Diaz continues to see the benefits of the added exposure.

“He’s built very good relationships with all these Uzbeks, all these Russian guys; and these guys – Olympic medalists, No. 1 ranked fighters, world champions – they’ve been very good role models for him,” Diaz said. “When he went to Uzbekistan to train, he learned their regimens, learned a little bit here, little bit there, learned from different styles – and that’s what makes a good fighter.”

Whether globally or in the desert, Griffiths’ style has been influenced and informed by a master class of sparring partners, including world champions Murodjon Akhmadaliev and Brandon Figueroa. In addition, Griffiths has had light sparring sessions with rising stud Brandun Lee of La Quinta, who is 28-0 and fighting in the same 140-pound weight class as Griffiths.

“He’s a great fighter, and one of the better fighters I’ve stepped in the ring with,” Griffiths says of Lee. “The hype is real. Getting in there with him, and not even at full pace, it was really amazing to see the skill level, how he controlled things inside the ring so effortlessly.”

Observed Diaz: “Brandun’s bigger, more experienced, but Cayden looked good, did good. He didn’t get beat up or anything. He did his thing.”

Planning to ink a promotional deal with Top Rank following his maiden pro bout, the fighter has carefully, confidently charted his own progression.

“I think I’ve developed, mentally and physically,” Griffiths said.  “And I think I’ve matured in a lot of ways, become a much smarter fighter. And it might sound cocky, but I know that I’m good at this. I’ve never felt like, ‘I can’t do this.’”

For Cayden Griffiths, the enclosure of boxing’s square circle is a confine, but rather a window of opportunity toward which he’s been working for as long as he can recall.

“Yeah, there have been times that have been tough, and I’ve taken a few losses that have been discouraging. But I’ve always known that I’ve done all this for a reason,” Griffiths said. “I started this journey for a reason, and to give up would be an insult to everybody who has been there for me. And it would also be an insult to myself, because I know how much I’ve sacrificed to get to this point.”

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Cayden Griffiths awaits pro boxing debut at age 17