by Matthew Rhodes
So, the next opponent for Amir Khan has been announced.
Let me start out by saying that Julio Diaz is a clear improvement on the limited Carlos Molina who Khan comprehensively defeated in his return to action after his brutal loss to Danny Garcia. Yet he, on paper, shouldn’t be a threat to Khan in his British return.
So who is Julio Diaz?
The headlines are he’s a 33 year old Mexican boxer based in California with a record of 40 wins, seven losses and one draw, 29 of those wins coming by stoppage. The highlight of his career so far was probably a period between 2004 and 2007 when he held the IBF version of the World Lightweight title two times. On paper that’s a solid enough record… but it’s worth looking behind it.
By Jeff Sorby: WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (41-0-1, 30 KO’s) has decided to pull out of the May 4th card on Showtime/CBS pay per view after failing to get Floyd Mayweather Jr. to agree to fight him on September 14th. That was the condition that the 22-year-old Canelo set for Mayweather Jr. in order to fight on his undercard and help pump up the PPV numbers.
By Marc Livitz: Washington, D.C. has experienced its fair sum of sporting heartbreak over the years. The hot air which surrounds the views of many concerning the home of United States politics can sometimes get in the way of a good night at the fights. Alas, heat rises and eventually settles. The same can be said for the state of a practitioner of the sweet science who is just a hanging chad away from eventual stardom in his own right and in his own light. Lamont Peterson recently made his case to get back on the road to a championship this past Friday in the little town on the Potomac. He had to wait over a year to get back into the ring after winning the light welterweight title from Amir Khan in late 2011.
By Jeff Sorby: Former IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (27-3, 19 KO’s) will be facing Julio Diaz (40-7-1, 29 KO’s) on April 27th as the co-feature for the Zab Judah vs. Danny Garcia fight in a split-site card on Showtime, according to RingTV. Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer came up with the idea to increase the strength of the two fights put lumping them together.