Joseph Diaz Jr lost weight on Friday and failed to retain the IBF junior lightweight title, but Shavkat Rakhimov also failed to make the judges take his place, leaving the 130-pound belt vacant after a majority tie in DAZN.
The judges had the fight 114-114, 114-114 and 115-113, Diaz’s last card. Bad Left Hook scored the fight 116-112 and 116-112 on separate cards, both giving the fight to Diaz, for what it’s worth. Chris Mannix of DAZN was 114-114.
Diaz (31-1-1, 15 KO’s) was almost four pounds overweight on Friday, but that didn’t seem to really affect his performance in the ring, although it is often the case, especially when the fighters don’t try to gain weight a second any additional drainage over a few hours. (In this case, as Diaz was more than a kilo over the limit, the commission does not allow a subsequent weighing attempt.)
Diaz checked the weight of the IBF on the second day as normal, so it’s worth it, as well as Rakhimov (15-0-1, 12 KO), the 26-year-old Russian getting his first chance at a world title.
The fight was fought at a solid pace, although perhaps with less sustained action than would be expected. A good fight, but it never really took off, and it was even in the statistics, for what it’s worth. Nobody did much damage, the fight didn’t have much drama, but it was well fought and both proved their quality, although Diaz comes out with the asterisk here no matter what.
Diaz hit 233 of 740 (32%) of his total hits compared to CompuBox, and 193 of 468 (41%) of his power hits. Rakhimov hit 213 out of 951 (22%) overall and 169 out of 536 (32%) hard punches, so Diaz was more correct, while Rakhimov played more. Diaz seemed to hit most of the fight’s strongest shots as well, the most revealing blows.
Diaz, a challenger in the ring and looking to put the best foot forward he could, was also challenging in his post-fight interview with Beto Duran of DAZN. He said, of course, that he felt he had done enough to win, but he also discussed his problems outside the ring – he called it “bullshit” from “Don King’s greedy motherfuckers” – and he didn’t say he was disappointed either. for not gaining weight, complaining about editing in Fantasy Springs.
“I am not at all disappointed. I know who I am. I work a lot, man, I’m a hard worker. I am a disciplined fighter, ”said Diaz.
“It just wasn’t my night. I couldn’t do the weight like before. They don’t have a sauna here, they made me walk around the room with the fucking heater on. It was completely different from what a professional world title fight should be like. I had to try to adapt to that, but my body was weak and I couldn’t. My health is more important. I still came here and fought, and I’m not going to risk my life trying to gain weight, exhaust myself a lot and get hurt in the ring. There is no need to please anyone. I am doing this for me and my family. This is the person I need to care for, myself and no one else. “
It must be said that Rakhimov had the same conditions as Diaz in the last few days, and gained weight without problems, just like the other fighters on the card. What you take from Diaz’s statements will depend on you, but my guess is that he won’t have become dear to fans – I also think he doesn’t care about that.
Brian Castano UD-12 Patrick Teixeira
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Tom Hogan-HoganPhotos / Golden Boy Promotions
Castano (17-0-1, 12 KO) was the challenger here, but a big favorite, and the reasons why he played in the ring. With due respect to Teixeira (31-2, 22 KO), who is hard as hell and had the WBO belt, he was one of the weakest players in the sport, winning a provisional title against an opponent also unproven in 2019, then being elevated when Jaime Munguia went up in weight.
Castano simply overcame Teixeira here, winning with scores of 117-111, 119-109 and 120-108, and Bad Left Hook had 119-109 on two separate cards, me and Wil giving Teixeira the first round and nothing after.
Castano may now be heading for an undisputed title fight in 154 against WBC, WBA and IBF champion Jermell Charlo, because they are both PBC fighters, with Castano fighting on the Golden Boy card here because he was a mandatory challenger, and Golden Boy won the scholarship bid. He’s probably underdog against Charlo, but this is as good a fight as you can make now with 154, and not just because of the belts. Castano is a very good fighter, undoubtedly had a bit of bad luck to only get a draw with Erislandy Lara in 2019, and also has a strong victory over Michel Soro from 2017, where he went to France and won in the decision against a good fighter, not easy to do.
Teixeira put a lot of effort into this fight, and was trying everything, but he just wasn’t in the Castano championship in general. Both guys were busy, but Castano was busier and more accurate, and he hit much more powerful punches. CompuBox saw Castano hitting 373 of 1,136 (33%) of his total hits, and 344 of 927 (37%) of his force shots, with Teixeira in 197 of 972 (20%) overall, and 149 of 588 (25%) ) in his punches of power.
Ronny Rios UD-10 Oscar Negrete
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Tom Hogan-HoganPhotos / Golden Boy Promotions
It was a bit of a disappointing fight for me as a fan, I thought there could be more fire, more exchanges in this one. But it was a good, consistent and well-executed fight by Rios (33-3, 16 KO’s), who really came back strong in his career and is now very relevant in the 122 pound division, a guy who could easily fight for a title again.
Negrete (19-3-2, 7 KO) was gaining weight here, and the 33-year-old Colombian-American was in good shape, going 0-1-2 in three fights with Joshua Franco and then beating Alberto Melian about a year.
But Rios controlled this fight from front to back, winning by 99-91, 100-90 and 100-90. Bad Left Hook also had 100-90 for Rios, who defeated Negrete almost 2-to-1 (290-150) overall, and more than 2-to-1 (268-118) on powerful shots. Rios did an excellent job on the body, hitting 125 shots in total, compared to Negrete’s 29.
Rios didn’t smile only after the fight, however, feeling that he could have done better.
“I want to improve myself,” said Rios. “Today I give myself a C, I am hard on myself and I could have done much better. Negrete is so difficult, but I have to review the tape. No one is more difficult with himself than me! “
Asked where he wants to go next, Rios appointed the unified WBA and IBF title holder Murodjon Akhmadaliev, who is with Matchroom and DAZN, and it could be a relatively easy fight to do.
“It’s a fight that I want,” said Rios. “If we can do this, we will go ahead, but if not, who has the belt. Who is considered the most difficult. “
Undercard Results
- Shane Mosley Jr TKO-5 Cristian Olivas: This was interrupted after the fifth round, as referee Thomas Taylor had seen enough, and Olivas’ corner was ready to stop him too, as Olivas clearly could no longer see with his injured left eye. Olivas (20-8, 17 KO) gave the best effort he could in a short time, replacing Jason Quigley, but he was unable to do much. He did well in the first few rounds, but once Mosley (17-3, 10 KO) warmed up and did some damage, he zeroed out and ended up strong. Olivas, 29, is a tough guy, he had never been stopped before, and he wasn’t going to give up or fall easily, but the 30-year-old Mosley just destroyed him. Good performance of the second generation fighter, who – if we are honest – will never be confused with his father, but he is a fighter, tough and hardworking guy who fought against adversity and became a better fighter learning the job as a professional.
- Bektemir Melikuziev TKO-3 Morgan Fitch: Easy working night for Melikuziev (7-0, 6 KO’s), who was supposed to fight Sergey Kovalev in late January in Russia, before Kovalev failed a PED test. So Melikzuiev, the 24-year old super middle / light heavyweight from Uzbekistan, took a drastic step in relevance to his debut fight in 2021, compared to Fitch (19-5-1, 8 KO), who took it in the short term. This is Fitch’s fifth loss in his last six fights, and when he started to feel the power of Melikuziev, it was everything. Fitch, 37, had already hit a knee in the third, and another hit after a body shot that may have come low, but he also did not argue with referee Jack Reiss about the stoppage. It was a blast, which was expected.