At last Saturday’s post-fight press conference, Joseph ‘Jojo Diaz Jr. was already calling out Ryan ‘Kingry’ Garcia following his 12 round unanimous decision loss to WBC lightweight champion Devin Haney at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Jojo Diaz (32-2-1, 15 KOs) had been scheduled to fight Ryan, but the young 23-year-old Kingry pulled out with a hand injury. Diaz, 29, says he’d still be interested in facing Ryan, as long as he signs the contract.
For Ryan, it’s a great fight that could open the door for him to challenge for the undisputed lightweight championship against George Kambosos Jr.
Currently, promoter Eddie Hearn hopes to line up a fight between WBC lightweight champion Devin Haney and Kambosos.
If Ryan and his promoters at Golden Boy Promotions move fast, they can steal the Kambosos fight right out from under Haney’s nose by starting negotiations right away.
Jojo Diaz will be perfect for him if Kambosos is serious about wanting Ryan to take a tune-up first in early 2022.
The way Jojo looked against Haney, he’s incapable of throwing enough punches to beat Ryan or any quality lightweight. From looking at Jojo’s lackluster performance against Haney last Saturday, he can’t carry the weight for the 135-lb division.
Jojo Diaz calls out Ryan Garcia
“I want to continue fighting the best, and if Ryan wants to fight, we can make that fight happen,” said Jojo Diaz Jr at the post-fight press conference last Saturday night after his loss to Haney.
“But we’ll see what he says. Ryan Garcia is a drama queen, so we don’t know what he’s up to and what he’s going to do. So we just got to play it by ear and trust my team.
“If he wants to fight, I got to make sure that contract is already signed because I don’t want him pulling out again,” said Jojo Diaz on him wanting to fight Ryan.
This would be a good comeback fight for Ryan, who hadn’t fought since lat January when he stopped Luke Campbell in the seventh round. Ryan needs a proper name to get him ready to challenge for a world title in 2022, and Jojo Diaz would be perfect.
Diaz wants to continue fighting the best
“I don’t think it was a huge factor, but it was a factor,” said Diaz Jr. when asked if Haney’s height and reach were a factor against him. “He kept me out at bay at certain times when I felt I could close the distance a little more, which I was trying to.
“That reach advantage and that step back that he was doing were pretty smart, and he’s good counter-puncher too, so I didn’t want to get caught like all these other fighters.
“Popping in and throwing in, and then he can just sit back and land an uppercut or a straight right,” said Jojo Diaz. “I wanted to apply that pressure but smart pressure so that I could break him down. As I said, he had a great game plan.
“I feel like this doesn’t define me,” Jojo said of his loss to Haney. “This is my career, and I want to continue fighting the best.
“I’m the type of fighter if I lose, I’m going to take my loss like a champ. If I win, I’m going to take it like a champ as well. Always just progress and get better.
“Until the end of my career, I want to continue fighting the best fighters. I hope I inspire these fighters to make sure that they know that if you take a loss, it doesn’t matter.
“As long as you’re putting on great fights and putting on great performances for fight fans, that’s what they want to see.
“They don’t want to see these baloney type of fights knocking out people in the first round or anything like that. They want to see fun, exciting, entertaining with the elites fighting the elites.
“That’s what I’m trying to do, and I hope everybody continues on doing that,” said Jojo Diaz.
Jojo hardly looked “great’ against Haney. If anything, he looked like someone that didn’t belong in the weight class. Jojo needs to move back down to the 130 or 126-lb divisions because he doesn’t have the frame to be fighting at 135.