Devin Haney and Joseph ‘JoJo’ Diaz Jr. are headlining this Saturday, December 4th, on DAZN at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The action starts off at 8:00 p.m. ET LIVE on DAZN.
This is a must-win fight for the 23-year-old Haney (26-0, 15 KOs) because he needs a victory over WBC interim champion JoJo Diaz Jr. (32-1-1, 15 KOs) for him to potentially take on newly crowned four-belt 135-lb champion George Kambosos in the first quarter of next year.
The money and the acclaim that Haney will get by beating the 28-year-old Kambosos Jr. will be huge. There are obviously better fighters in the lightweight division than Kambosos. Still, he has four titles, and those will give Haney a tremendous boost in building his popularity should he capture those straps.
Although ‘The Dream’ Haney has bragged about having fought former world champion, he’s left out that the guys he’s beaten were older past their prime fighters in 40-year-old Yuriorkios Gamboa and 36-year-old Jorge Linares.
JoJo Diaz Jr. isn’t old, and he’s not going to let Haney off the hook if he hurts him in the same way that Linares did last May. Haney was staggered over and over again by Linares in their fight earlier this year on May 29th, forcing him to hold to escape with his WBC 135lb title still in his possession.
The former IBF super featherweight champion JoJo Diaz Jr. is coming off a thrilling 12 round unanimous decision win over former WBA 130-lb champion Javier Fortuna on July 29th in a WBC lightweight title eliminator.
Diaz Jr. surprised many boxing fans by announcing after his win over Fortuna that he was going to face Ryan Garcia next, but an injury for ‘King Rey’ ruined those plans.
Once that fight fell through, JoJo Diaz Jr. turned his attention back towards Haney, who holds the devalued WBC lightweight title given outside of the ring by the World Boxing Council.
The WBC has lowered the value of their lightweight title by creating a Franchise strap for the division, which is currently in the hands of Australian George Kambosos Jr. following his 12 round decision win over a Teofimo Lopez last Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in New York.
ANOTHER LIGHTWEIGHT TITLE FIGHT THIS WEEKEND 🔥#HaneyDiazJr pic.twitter.com/skvxxCNqpK
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) November 29, 2021
Haney vs. JoJo Diaz Jr. undercard:
- Filip Hrgovic vs. Scott Alexander
- Montana Love vs. Carlos Diaz
- Jessica McCaskill vs. Victoria Bustos
- Austin Williams vs. Quatavious Cash
- Alexis Espino vs. Roldolfo Gomez Jr.
- Marc Castro vs. Ronaldo Solis
The A-side of those fights are talented, but their opposition leaves a lot to be desired, unfortunately. Heavyweight Filip Hrgovic should be fighting better guys at this point in his career, but it appears he’s being matched carefully to ensure that he gets a big payday fight.
