Joseph Diaz vs. Javier Fortuna - July 9, 2021

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Double-Header Announced

Months after nearly ruining one show, Joseph ‘JoJo’ Diaz has arrived to salvage another.

The former junior lightweight titlist has agreed to next face Dominican Republic’s Javier Fortuna on July 9 at a venue to be determined, two sources with knowledge of the situation informed Boxing Scene. Diaz accepted the fight in place of unbeaten lightweight contender Ryan Garcia, who withdrew due to personal reasons.

Also on the show, Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez (41-0, 27KOs) will make his Golden Boy Promotions debut. The former WBO super middleweight titlist—who now campaigns at light heavyweight—will face veteran contender Sullivan Barrera, with the fight having been in development for nearly two months.

The Athletic’s Mike Coppinger was the first to reveal the development, via social media.

Diaz (31-1-1, 15KOs) went on record in late April of his intentions to next face Fortuna (36-2-1, 25KOs) once the opportunity and date became available. The 2012 U.S. Olympian and former IBF junior lightweight has remained in the gym in the weeks following his latest fight, a 12-round draw with Tajikistan’s Shavkat Rakhimov in a fight that cost him the title one day prior after badly missing weight for their February 13 DAZN headliner.

The show moved forward, with Rakhimov accepting an undisclosed financial compensation package in agreeing to the new terms. Rakhimov was unable to claim the title that night, though will have a second shot when he faces Japan’s Kenichi Ogawa also in July on a separate show.

Meanwhile, Diaz will test the 135-pound waters against a dangerous foe.

Fortuna is a former junior lightweight titlist who has waited more than a year for a shot at the WBC lightweight strap, watching at least one title fight and two interim title bouts fall through all during and since the pandemic. The lone ring appearance for the Dominican southpaw in that time came last November, scoring a 6th round stoppage of Antonio Lozada last November, three months after plans for an August showdown with Jorge Linares fell through after the former three-division titlist tested positive for COVID-19.

Ramirez now has a new home for his first fight with Golden Boy, which was originally targeted for June. The Mexican southpaw—who turns 30 on June 19—was initially slated to appear on the Triller Fight Club Pay-Per-View featuring lineal lightweight champion and WBA/IBF/WBO titlist Teofimo Lopez (16-0, 12KOs), but was pulled to instead enhance the July 9 show.

Miami’s Barrera (22-3, 14KOs)—originally from Guantanamo, Cuba—has not fought since a 10-round points loss to Jesse Hart in their June 2019 crossroads bout.

A location has yet to be finalized for the event. The card was originally due to take place at a venue in the greater Los Angeles area when Garcia was due to headline. Such plans remain in discussion as this goes to publish.

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Diaz is building up some nice names on his reaume

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Announced

“I’m stepping in for Ryan Garcia to challenge Javier Fortuna,” Diaz confirmed. “I wish him nothing but the best. Mental health is a very important matter that people should deal with. I’m excited and ready to go out there and redeem myself to all my fans.

“I’m extremely focused and locked in. Fight night is going to be a movie. I’ll be putting the whole 130 and 135-pound division on notice.”

“I’m very happy that Jo Jo Diaz has accepted the challenge to face me, as long as after the fight he makes no excuses for getting knocked out”, said Fortuna. “I give Diaz credit for having the balls to fight me. Devin Haney doesn’t have those balls. But after I win this fight, Haney will have 90 days to find them. Haney can run but he can’t hide. Fight me or give up the WBC title!”

Per Golden Boy’s announcement, venue and ticket information are expected to come in the coming days.

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Good competitive fight. Better match than Garcia.

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Press Release | Venue Announced

Golden Boy is delighted to once again deliver world-class boxing to the Los Angeles area as the light heavyweight showdown between Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez (41-0, 27 KOs) and Sullivan Barrera (22-3, 14 KOs) heads to the beautiful Banc of California Stadium in Downtown Los Angeles, home of the Los Angeles Football Club. The event will take place on Friday, July 9 and will be streamed live on DAZN.

“We are ecstatic to be bringing this huge card to the Banc of California Stadium,” Oscar De La Hoya, Chairman and CEO of Golden Boy.

“Fans in Los Angeles are eager to attend a live event of such magnitude, so we are pleased to be able to deliver that with ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez, Joseph Diaz Jr. and a spectacular undercard that will be announced next week. Golden Boy boxing returns home on July 9.”

Tickets for Zurdo vs. Barrera will go on sale Wednesday, June 2 and are priced at $150, $100, $75, $50 and $35, not including applicable service charges. In an effort to promote social distancing, tickets will initially be sold in pods/groupings of 2, 3, 4 and 6 people only, subject to change with local and state guidelines. Tickets will be available for purchase at www.bancofcaliforniastadium.com or www.ticketmaster.com. The Banc of California Stadium is located in historic Exposition Park, 3939 S. Figueroa St, Los Angeles, CA 90037.

“Banc of California Stadium and LAFC are excited to welcome Golden Boy to the Heart of Los Angeles,” LAFC Co-President and CBO Larry Freedman said. “This is going to be an incredible night of world-class boxing at our world-class venue.”

As previously announced, the co-main event will feature Joseph “Jo Jo” Diaz Jr. (31-1-1, 15 KOs) of South El Monte, California taking on Javier “El Abejon” Fortuna (36-2-1, 25 KOs) of La Romana, Dominican Republic in a 12-round lightweight bout.

A full undercard of action will be announced shortly.

[hypnos96]

so nice

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Diaz officially moving to lightweight further shakes up an already talent-rich division. Makes for intriguing fights whether he wins or loses this one.

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Javier Fortuna vs. Joseph Diaz is Sanctioned For WBC Interim-Title

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Here is how the WBC explained striping Garcia:

"Recently, WBC interim lightweight champion Ryan Garcia notified the WBC that he was taking a leave from boxing to address ongoing health issues. The WBC fully and unconditionally supports Garcia. The WBC will stay close to him during his process, and the WBC Board of Governors will assess his situation once he is ready to return to the ring. [BUT] The WBC has received a request to sanction the bout between the #2-rated lightweight Javier “El Abejon” Fortuna (36-2-1, 25 KOs) against the #5-rated super featherweight contender Joseph “Jo Jo” Diaz (31-1-1, 15 KOs) for the WBC interim lightweight championship. The Fortuna v. Diaz bout is scheduled to take place on July 9th in Los Angeles, California.

"A recount of the backdrop that led to Javier Fortuna’s request puts that request into the proper context. In December of 2019, Fortuna reached the #1 position in the WBC lightweight ratings. The then WBC lightweight champion Devin Haney became unable to defend his title due to a shoulder injury, which prompted the WBC to name him WBC champion-in-recess, thus rendering vacant the WBC lightweight championship. [Editor's note: Boxingtalk considers Haney a secondary champion because undisputed world chamion Teofimo Lopez defeated Vasiliy Lomachenko but was converted by the WBC to "franchise champion]. The WBC then ordered a bout between Fortuna and then-#2 Luke Campbell for the vacant WBC lightweight championship. That bout was contracted and scheduled to take place in April of 2020.

"Due the COVID-19 pandemic, the Fortuna vs. Campbell bout did not take place, which gave champion-in-recess Devin Haney sufficient time to recover from his injury. Haney petitioned to the WBC to be reinstated as champion in light of his recovery. The WBC granted that petition as well as a voluntary defense of his title. The WBC also agreed to sanction the Fortuna vs. Campbell bout for the WBC interim championship, due to the fact they had entered into a contract to fight for the WBC championship. Subsequently, Campbell’s promoter, Matchroom, requested that the WBC sanction Haney’s voluntary defense to be against #2 Luke Campbell. That bout never took place. Fortuna was then scheduled to face former multi-time world champion and #3-rated Jorge Linares. That bout was supposed to take place in August of 2020. Linares who contracted Covid-19 a few weeks before his bout against Fortuna, which resulted in that bout being cancelled.

"In November of 2020, Fortuna stopped Antonio Lozada in six rounds. Fortuna was then scheduled to fight the then WBC interim champion Ryan Garcia. That bout would have taken place in July of 2021, but was cancelled due to Garcia’s ongoing medical issues. In light of the fact that Javier Fortuna has not been able to compete for a WBC Championship due to reasons outside his control, and based on the merits of his request, the WBC has decided to grant it. Accordingly, the WBC will sanction the Javier Fortuna v. Jo Jo Diaz bout for the WBC interim lightweight championship. The winner will fight the winner of Haney vs Linares."

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Javier Fortuna: Devin Haney has to find some balls after I beat Joseph Diaz Jr

Javier Fortuna’s had a run of big fights falling through, from Luke Campbell and Jorge Linares last year to Ryan Garcia this year, but he’ll finally have a chance to force a WBC title bout with Devin Haney if he beats Joseph Diaz Jr on July 9.

Diaz (31-1-1, 15 KOs) offered to step in for Garcia when “Kingry” pulled out of the Fortuna fight, and has been granted the chance. “JoJo” will be coming up from 130 to 135 lbs, and looking to put the criticism of missing weight before his draw with Shavkat Rakhimov in February behind him.

Fortuna (36-2-1, 25 KOs) has been in prime position to get a WBC title fight since 2019, and various eliminators and interim title bouts fell through for one reason or another. He was kind when Garcia withdrew, and to his credit as much as Diaz’s, he’s accepted a good opponent for the date anyway — and he respects Diaz stepping in, too.

“I give Diaz credit for having the balls to fight me,” Fortuna said. “Devin Haney doesn’t have those balls. But after I win this fight, Haney will have 90 days to find them.”

Diaz-Fortuna will be for the WBC interim title, and the winner will indeed get an order for a fight with Haney (26-0, 15 KO). Furthermore, the winner will be a good opponent for Haney, and given all parties will be DAZN-affiliated if not with the same promoter, should be an easy enough fight to make.

That said, it’s boxing, so who knows? Maybe Teofimo Lopez and Haney will actually fight, which is obviously much bigger. Maybe Ryan Garcia will come back in and Haney will fight him, which is still a bigger fight, too. If Haney fought Lopez, Devin could hilariously ditch the WBC title and fight for Lopez’s “franchise” belt — as well as the WBA, IBF, and WBO belts, obviously — and leave that to Diaz or Fortuna and, you know, somebody or other. That’d be very boxing.

First things first, Diaz and Fortuna have to fight, and then we go from there.

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Shame Diaz lost his belt to the scales.

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Check out what Diaz had to say below.

Diaz on facing Fortuna

“This is not an easy challenge that I’m accepting. I mean I’m going out there and facing a guy that a lot their favorite fighters are ducking and fearing like this guy is a boogeyman, but I’m going up to challenge him at 135lbs, his weight, and I’m planning on going out there and stopping him. I had a great, great training camp and I’m ready to go out there and make a statement.”

On Gervonta Davis’ latest win and if he’d be interested in facing him

“I mean Gervonta Davis is a helluva fighter, man. I think he can compete at 140, 135, even 130 just depending on the opponents that he wants to face and how big of a fight it is...of course after this Javier fight I would love to challenge Gervonta Davis, we already exchanged words in DMs before so I’m up for the challenge and I know that he will too, we just gotta build up the fight and build up the hype and hopefully we can get it on by the end of this year.”

On if he plans on remaining at 135 after facing Fortuna

“If the fights are right. I mean if I get the Devin Haney fight or if I get a Gervonta Davis or Ryan Garcia fight at 135 I’d love to take on those challenges...I want people to see how good I am at 135. I honestly think that this is the weight that I’m going to be comfortable at, where my power, my strength, my speed is all gonna be there.

“But like I said, I can move down to 130 too, it just all depends on the fights. I still want to fight Oscar Valdez, Jamel Herring, there’s Shakur Stevenson as well that’s making major noise at 130lbs and he’s a good friend of mine, he’s a good fighter and it’s a good fight for all the fight fans. So if those opportunities arise and were to be made up, shit, let’s make it happen.”

On which one name he wants most

“I want Devin Haney next, man. I want Devin Haney next, especially because we’re fighting for the WBC interim title and Devin Haney’s at his prime right now, and I’m in my prime...Devin Haney was saying ‘Jojo Diaz’s a bum’ (on Twitter) because he was probably seeing all the interviews that we were doing. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a good fighter but I don’t speak nothing but truth.

“Devin Haney’s one helluva fighter but he hasn’t beaten anybody to be a top, top #1 fighter at 135lbs. Jorge Linares is a good fighter and a good step up, but Jorge Linares was already getting out of his career, man. Jorge Linares is not in his prime anymore and I feel like guys like myself should actually get that recognition and if he fights me I know he’s gonna get the respect but I’ll beat him.”

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Zurdo a 10:1 favorite; Jo Jo 2:1 against Fortuna

Friday’s DAZN card from Los Angeles has some pretty good match-ups on it. The fight that could steal the show is the WBC interim lightweight title collision between Jo Jo Diaz and Javier Fortuna. Diaz is a -200 favorite, but Fortuna has to be considered a very live underdog. Another can’t miss fight is the clash between unbeaten lightweights Hector Tanajara and William Zepeda. Sportsbooks have that one dead even. In the main event, light heavy Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez is a 10:1 favorite against Sullivan Barrera.

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[Cent0089]

Diaz gained some solid muscles for someone who fought at 122

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Diaz weighed 134.4 pounds.

Fortuna tipped the scale at 134.8 pounds.

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Where should Diaz go next?

When are we gonna see Garcia vs. Diaz?

Not anytime soon I take it.

[DrDuke]

Where should Diaz go next?

When are we gonna see Garcia vs. Diaz?

Not anytime soon I take it.

Diaz will whoop Garcia. Maybe Campbell? Haney won't be fed up either.