Former IBF super featherweight champion Joseph ‘JoJo’ Diaz Jr. (33-5-1, 15 KOs) suffered a disappointing ten-round split decision against veteran Jesus ‘Ricky’ Perez (25-5, 18 KOs) on Thursday night on a Golden Boy promoted card on DAZN at the Commerce Casino in Commerce, California.
The scores were 96-94, 99-90 for Perez, and 95-94 for JoJo Diaz. The 99-90 score for Perez was way too wide, given how close the fight was.
The referee was obviously influenced by the volume punching that Perez was doing after the fourth round. He’d had problems with Diaz’s hard shouts through the first three rounds, but he switched things up from the fourth round, focusing on throwing sustained combos.
Perez outworked Diaz Jr. through most of the rounds, throwing shoeshine flurries in close and working him over against the ropes repeatedly. In the fifth round, a frustrated JoJo Diaz shoved Perez through the ropes, resulting in the referee penalizing him a point and warning him that he would disqualify him if he did it again.
Moments before that, Perez flurried on Diaz Jr. while he was against the ropes, missing most of the shots but connecting with a couple of clean shots. In reaction, Diaz Jr. lost his temper and shoved Perez hard while his back was turned, sending him through the ropes.
The loss for the 31-year-old ‘JoJo’ Diaz Jr. was his fourth in his last five fights and a signal that he might want to consider hanging up his gloves.
Perez came into the fight having lost three out of his last four fights, but against good competition. Still, it’s a bad sign that Diaz Jr. lost to this level of an opponent because this is someone he should have beaten.
If Diaz Jr. can’t return to the 130 or 126-lb divisions, which is where he was most effective, he’s not going to have success. The lightweight division is too good for him to compete with the top guys.
Tonight, he was fighting a light welterweight, and he didn’t have the natural size and power to beat these guys. Perez isn’t a major player at 140, but it didn’t matter against this version of Diaz Jr. He was too much for him tonight.