Said Thurman, “I felt the body shot (to Diaz). I felt he was going to go down. I wondered if I hadn’t landed it clean enough. He’s a tough guy. He showed up to fight. You saw what he was doing in the ring. His rib… he had eight more rounds to go so he did what he had to do.
Julio Diaz (40-10-1, 29 KO’s) suffered a rib injury in the 3rd round tonight against interim WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman (23-0, 21 KO’s) that caused the fight to be stopped at the end of the 3rd round a the StubHub Center in Carson, California. We didn’t learn anything from the fight other than the fact Thurman fights a lot better when he’s coming forward than he does when he’s being backed up and pressured.
It was clearly a huge mistake to make Thurman-Diaz the main event, because the fight was one-sided and not nearly as interesting to watch as the Lucas Matthysse vs. John Molina bout.
This Saturday night from the fan friendly StubHub Center in Carson California, yet another Golden Boy Promotions Tripleheader will broadcasted by Showtime Sports.
The card has recognizable names in what some boxing fans, many media members, and all the betting websites, have labeled as showcase type action fights that will surely be a boom or bust on social media Saturday night.
As a team in 2013, Richard Schafer, Stephan Espinoza, and who else Al Haymon, saw increased ratings, huge PPV numbers, and quality fights that produced a banner year. Showtime has put all their chips in fueling the sport of boxing and creating real competition with HBO.
LOS ANGELES (March 26, 2014) – StubHub Center in Carson, Calif., has rapidly become known amongst boxing aficionados as the place to be to see world-class fights and fighters. On Saturday, April 26, that reputation continues to grow as Golden Boy Promotions and SHOWTIME Sports® team up for an all-action tripleheader featuring some of the top fighters in the sport today. In the 12-round main event, Florida power-puncher Keith “One Time” Thurman defends his interim WBA World Welterweight Championship against former World Lightweight titleholder Julio “The Kidd” Diaz.
Julio Diaz (40-9-1, 29 KO’s) will be facing interim WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman (22-0, 20 KO’s) next on 4/26 at the StubHub center in Carson, California in a fight that will be broadcast by Showtime. It looks like Al Haymon and Golden Boy Promotions don’t want to take any chances that Thurman, 25, doesn’t get beaten before he gets his title shot against the WBA welterweight champion.
Thurman gets an easy fight against Diaz, who is coming off of back to back losses to Amir Khan and Shawn Porter. That’s rare to have a fighter with two straight losses fighting against a champion, even an interim title holder like Thurman. I wonder how many more times Diaz will get used in this fashion, because at some point it’s going to look really bad having him brought out to face Golden Boy’s fighters with so many consecutive losses.
LAS VEGAS, NEV. (August 22, 2013) – It’s boxing’s biggest week, an opportunity for the stars of entertainment and sports to descend on Las Vegas for “THE” fight of 2013, the championship showdown between unbeaten icons Floyd “Money” Mayweather and Canelo Alvarez. However, before the world turns its eyes to the MGM Grand Garden Arena to watch these two warriors collide Saturday, Sept. 14, Mayweather Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions kick off festivities two days earlier, on Thursday, Sept. 12, with a special three-and-a-half hour, action-packed broadcast on FOX Sports 2 and FOX Deportes from MGM Grand Las Vegas’ Premier Ballroom.
Amir Khan (28-3, 19 KO’s) had to get up off the deck to defeat former IBF lightweight champion Julio Diaz (40-8-1, 29 KO’s) by a 12 round unanimous decision on Saturday night at the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield, UK. Khan was hurt five times in the fight, and knocked down in the 4th by a left hook. In rounds 8 though 11, Khan was badly staggered by heard shots from Diaz. It was only through the use of Khan’s holding and pulling down on the back of Diaz’s head that he was able to survive those rounds. The final judges’ scores were 114-113, 115-113, 115-112. I had Diaz winning rounds 3, 4, 8, 9, 10 and 11. In other words, I had Diaz winning the fight.>
Khan controlled the action in rounds one and two. Diaz fought well in rounds three and four in landing heavy shots. After Khan was knocked down in the 4th, he came back to fight well in the 5th through 7th rounds, albeit using a lot of questionable tactics like pulling down on Diaz’s head and holding his left arm out far in front of him so that Diaz couldn’t get close. From the 8th round to 11th, Diaz had Khan hurt in each of these rounds, but Khan did a good job of holding on and running.
By Michael Collims: Former IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (27-3, 19 KO’s) only has to win one fight against Julio Diaz (40-7-1, 29 KO’s) next month on April 27th to find himself waiting for the winner of the four-fighter 140 pound tournament put together by Golden Boy Promotions.
Khan, 26, will face the winner of a set of matches in November involving WBA/WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia (25-0, 16 KO’s) facing Zab Judah (42-7, 29 KO’s) on April 27th at the Barclays Center, in Brooklyn, New York, USA, and Lucas Matthysse (33-2, 31 KO’s) vs. IBF light welterweight champion Lamont Peterson (31-1-1, 16 KO’s) on May 18th at the Boardwalk Hall, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA.
The winner of the Judah-Garcia & Peterson-Matthysse will face each other in a fight that could take place in the summer. The winner of that fight will then face Khan in November. In other words, Khan only has to fight one each opponent in non-top 15 ranked welterweight Julio Diaz, whereas the fighter that meets him in the finals will have to have gone through two tough fights to get to Khan.