Haney & Diaz Jr Agree To November Fight
WBC lightweight champion Devin Haney and Joseph Diaz Jr exchanged some words on social media and scheduled a fight in November. Diaz Jr defeated Javier Fortuna by a unanimous decision last Friday night in LA, California, and locked himself as the mandatory fight for the current champion Devin Haney. At this moment, Diaz Jr must decide, which fight makes more sense for him. Fighting for the WBC lightweight belt against Devin Haney or fighting against rising star Ryan Garcia.
If the clash between Diaz Jr and Ryan Garcia will happen, both fighters will make lots of bucks, and the winner of this clash will fight against the WBC champion with lots of hype around.
Ryan hasn’t said anything about fighting with Diaz Jr, but if Garcia will decide to fight him, Diaz Jr should use this opportunity.
Devin Haney said that it’s funny that Diaz is calling out Ryan [Garcia] when Diaz is Haney’s ‘mandatory’ now. “What’s the point of calling out Ryan when he’s my mandatory?”- Haney said.
Diaz said that he can fight both of them – “I think both of them (fights) can be made. “Me and Ryan Garcia are with the same promotion. I think that fight is likely to happen. I know that Ryan Garcia will want the opportunity because it’s such a big fight here in LA, so I think we can make that happen.” – Said Diaz Jr. -“But also the Devin Haney fight too. So whichever fighter agrees to fight me next, I’m with it.”As Diaz said, he will fight for the title if Haney is ready to take this fight, too, but if Haney wants to wait and “play games”, he will fight with Ryan Garcia.
Haney made a smart move, by making Diaz agree to fight him first. Otherwise, he would lose the big fight for him. Haney is more likely Favorite against Diaz Jr because, unlike Haney’s last opponent Jorge Linares, Diaz isn’t Big puncher and doesn’t have fast hands.
Diaz Jr said that it was a very tough fight and Javier Fortuna is a tough mother f*****.
“He’s strong, he kept applying pressure, and he kept throwing those shots and tried to hurt me.”- Diaz said.
Diaz Jr talked a lot about his previous fight-
“His power, I told you guys I was going to be able to take his power. It wasn’t going to be effective like how he hurts other guys.”
“I’m able to take shots; I’m a big 135-pounder and a big 130-pounder. I just had to battle it through. I’m a fighter” I’ve been through wars already with injured hands and with cuts. I was able to battle through, and I did it once again.
He also mentioned that he felt like a title fight. He had an injury on his left hand, and he was trying to save his hand for the future fight.
It was a very close and tough fight; boxing fans are calling it a “life and death” kind of fight.
Judges scored the fight: 117-110, 116-111, and 115-112, but it was much closer than it looks on the judge’s scorecard.