From ESPN
Joseph Diaz Jr. and Tevin Farmer traded a lot of harsh words in the lead-up to their fight on Thursday night, but it was Diaz who had the last laugh.
Diaz, in the finest performance of his career, overcame a horrendous cut over his left eye suffered in the second round to win a junior lightweight world title on the Demetrius Andrade-Luke Keeler undercard at the Meridian at Island Gardens in Miami, where the show was one of the events surrounding Sunday's Super Bowl.
Diaz, in his third shot at a world title, won
116-112, 115-113 and 115-113 to take Farmer's 130-pound belt. He had come up empty in two previous shots at featherweight world titles. He suffered his only loss by decision when he challenged Gary Russell Jr. for his featherweight belt in May 2018. A second title shot went by the wayside when Diaz failed to make weight for a title fight with Jesus Rojas in August 2018.
"I was focused and determined and I got the W this time," an overjoyed Diaz said.
The 27-year-old Diaz, a 2012 U.S. Olympian from South El Monte, California, won his fifth fight in a row since the loss to Russell -- and it was the biggest victory of his career.
"I'm very excited I won this. I have waited for this moment for a long time," Diaz said.
The fight had been much anticipated by hard-core boxing fans since Farmer and Diaz nearly came to blows in May at the Canelo Alvarez-Daniel Jacobs undercard news conference in Las Vegas. Diaz fought on the card while Farmer was simply in attendance, and the two southpaws went nose to nose in a shouting match after the news conference and had to be separated. More words followed in the months that followed, culminating in the eventual bout.
The first round was fairly uneventful, but between rounds, Farmer (30-5-1, 6 KOs), 29, of Philadelphia, told trainer Chino Rivas that he hurt his right hand.
An accidental head-butt in the second round opened a terrible cut over Diaz's left eye. It was long, deep and bloody, and in a terrible spot. The blood was smeared all over Diaz's face and he continually dabbed at the wound with his glove to wipe it away.
"It didn't change the fight at all," Diaz said of the cut.
"I just pretended it wasn't there. I knew it was pretty bad but I knew it was a championship fight. I'm a warrior. I got to go out there and get the W. This was my opportunity. I had to take advantage of it."
Despite the cut, Diaz pressured the defensive-minded Farmer and landed combinations and forced him back to take control of the bout after a few rounds.
While Diaz (31-1, 15 KOs), whose cutman Ben Lira did a magnificent job containing the cut, had a spring in his step from the outset, Farmer appeared tired. His mouth was open, he continually blinked his eyes and his body language was poor. Farmer is typically a consummate boxer, but he fought more on the inside than usual, perhaps because he was tired and unable to move as well as he usually does.
The ninth round featured a lot of back-and-forth on the inside, but Diaz landed many combinations and body shots while Farmer barely landed anything solid.
Diaz shook Farmer in the 10th round with a left hand and continued to fire combinations. After the round, Rivas told Farmer he needed to win the final two rounds.
Farmer, who was making his fifth defense, came out with urgency in the 12th round, but Diaz met him in the center of the ring and they exchanged for much of the first minute, as well as down the stretch of the round.
Because it was an optional defense for Farmer, he had a rematch clause, so Diaz and Farmer are likely to meet again.
"He put up a hell of a fight," said Farmer, who went to the hospital after the fight to be examined as a precaution.
"That's all I can say. I did hurt my hand in the first round but I don't think it played a big part in the fight. I couldn't use my jab how I wanted to, but he got the job done tonight. There's no excuses. He won the fight. We'll be back and we'll do it again. We definitely got the immediate rematch clause."
Diaz said he will be happy to face Farmer again.
"Tevin Farmer is a hell of a fighter. He's been through everything. I respect him," Diaz said.
"I just thank him for giving me the opportunity, and I knew we're going to have a rematch. So we will run it back."
Code: Select all
Boxer Total landed Total thrown % Jabs landed Jabs thrown % Power landed Power thrown %
Farmer 147 649 23% 26 243 11% 121 406 30%
Diaz 170 660 26% 23 152 15% 147 508 29%
