Joseph Diaz Jr. missed weight on Friday and was unable to keep his IBF junior lightweight title, but Shavkat Rakhimov also failed to get the jury to take it for himself, leaving the 130-pound belt vacant after a majority draw on DAZN. .
Judges had the fight 114-114, 114-114 and 115-113, the last card for Diaz. Bad Left Hook scored the match 116-112 and 116-112 on separate cards, both of which gave the fight to Diaz for what that is worth. DAZN’s Chris Mannix had it 114-114.
Diaz (31-1-1, 15 KO) was nearly four pounds overweight on Friday, but it didn’t seem to really affect his performance in the ring, although it often does, especially when fighters aren’t trying to gain weight. a second time with some further drainage for a few hours. (In this case, since Diaz was more than two pounds over the limit, the commission will not allow a later attempt to weigh in.)
Diaz made the IBF’s second day weight check as normal, for what it’s worth, as did Rakhimov (15-0-1, 12 KO), the 26-year-old Russian who got his first crack at a world title.
The fight was fought at a brisk pace, though perhaps with less sustained action than would have been hoped at the start. A good fight, but never quite got off the ground, and it even stood on the stats, for what it’s worth. No one did any major damage, the fight was low on drama, but it was fought well and both proved their worth, although Diaz will leave here with the asterisk anyway.
Diaz landed 233 of 740 (32%) of his total punches compared to CompuBox, and 193 of 468 (41%) of his power shots. Rakhimov landed a total of 213 of 951 (22%) and 169 of 536 (32%) powerful punches, so Diaz had more of a profit, while Rakhimov threw more. Diaz also seemed to land most of the harder shots of the fight, the more telling blows.
Diaz, defiant in the ring and looking for the best foot he could bring forward, was also defiant in his post-fight interview with DAZN’s Beto Duran. He said, of course, that he felt he had done enough to win, but also discussed his reported troubles outside the ring – calling that “nonsense” from “greedy Don King bastards” – and didn’t say he was disappointed with it. not making weight, complain about the setup at the Fantasy Springs.
“I am not at all disappointed. I know who I am. I work hard man I’m a hard worker. I am a disciplined fighter, ”said Diaz.
‘It just wasn’t my night. I couldn’t make the weight like I used to. They don’t have a sauna here, they let me walk around my room with the damn heating on. It was completely different from what a professional world title fight should be. I had to try to adjust to it, but my body just felt 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 get the weight off, really exhaust myself, and get hurt in the ring. There is no need to please anyone. I do this for myself and my family. That’s the person I need to pay attention to, myself and no one else. “
It must be said that in the last days Rakhimov had the same conditions as Diaz, and arrived without any problems, just like the other fighters on the map. What you get from Diaz’s statements is up to you, but I suspect he won’t have endeared himself to fans – I don’t think he cares about that either.
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 all due respect to Teixeira (31-2, 22 KO), who is rock hard and had the WBO tie, he was one of the weakest titleholders in the sport, winning an interim title against an equally unproven fringe contender in 2019, and as he got higher when Jaime Munguia gained weight.
Castano just outpaced Teixeira here, winning with scores of 117-111, 119-109 and 120-108, and Bad Left Hook had it 119-109 on two separate cards, both myself and Wil gave Teixeira the first round and then nothing more.
Castano could now be heading for an undisputed title fight at 154 against WBC, WBA and IBF titlist Jermell Charlo, as both are PBC fighters, with Castano fighting the Golden Boy map here for being a mandatory challenger, and Golden Boy won the purse bid. He’s probably an underdog against Charlo, but that’s about as good a fight as you can get at 154 right now, and not just because of the seat belts. Castano is a very good fighter, arguably had a bit of bad luck only to get a draw with Erislandy Lara in 2019, and also has a strong win over Michel Soro from 2017 where he headed to France and won a decision against a good fighter, not at all easy to do.
Teixeira definitely gave this fight a gaming effort and tried it all the way, but he just wasn’t in Castano’s overall competition. Both guys were busy, but Castano was busier and more accurate, getting a lot more power punches. CompuBox saw Castano land 373 of 1,136 (33%) of his total punches, and 344 of 927 (37%) of his power shots, with Teixeira on 197 of 972 (20%) overall and 149 of 588 (25%) on its powerful thrusts.
Ronny Rios UD-10 Oscar Negrete
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Tom Hogan-HoganPhotos / Golden Boy Promotions
A bit of a disappointing struggle for me as a fan, I thought there might be more fire, more exchanges in this one. But this was a good, consistent, well-executed fight from Rios (33-3, 16 KO), who has come back really strong in his career and is now very relevant in the 122-pound division, a man who could easily fight again for a title.
Negrete (19-3-2, 7 KO) came in weight here, and the 33-year-old Colombian-American had been in good form himself, going 0-1-2 in three fights with Joshua Franco and then Alberto Melian about a year ago.
But Rios controlled this fight from front to back and won with scores of 99-91, 100-90 and 100-90. Bad Left Hook also had it 100-90 for Rios, who almost outperformed Negrete 2-to-1 (290-150), and over 2-to-1 (268-118) in power shots. Rios did an excellent job on the body, landing 125 total body shots compared to Negrete’s 29.
However, not all of Rios smiled after the fight, as he felt he could have performed better.
“I want to improve myself,” said Rios. “Today I give myself a C, I am strict with myself and I could have done much better. Negrete is so hard, but I have to review the tape. No one is harder on themselves than me! “
When asked where he wants to go now, Rios pointed out unified WBA and IBF title holder Murodjon Akhmadaliev, who is with Matchroom and DAZN, and could be a relatively easy fight.
“That’s one fight I want,” said Rios. ‘If we can make that happen, let’s keep going, but if not, anyone with a belt. The one considered the strongest. “
Undercard Results
- Shane Mosley Jr TKO-5 Cristian Olivas: He was stopped after the fifth round, as referee Thomas Taylor had rightly seen enough, and Olivas’ corner was also finished, as Olivas clearly could no longer see out of his battered left eye. Olivas (20-8, 17 KO) went out of his way to replace Jason Quigley in the short term, but didn’t really get much going. He did well in the first few rounds, but once Mosley (17-3, 10 KO) warmed up and did some damage, he focused on zero and finished strong. Olivas, 29, is a tough guy, had never quit before, and he wouldn’t stop or go down easily, but 30-year-old Mosley just broke him up. Good performance from second generation fighter who – if we’re honest – will never be confused with his dad but is a tough, hard working dude who has fought through adversity and become a better fighter learning about the job as a professional.
- Bektemir Melikuziev TKO-3 Morgan Fitch: Easy night work for Melikuziev (7-0, 6 KO), who had to fight Sergey Kovalev in Russia at the end of January before Kovalev failed a PED test. So Melikzuiev, the 24-year-old left-handed super middleweight / light heavyweight from Uzbekistan, took a pretty drastic step back in relevance to his 2021 debut fight, with regards to Fitch (19-5-1, 8 KO), who took this short term. This is Fitch’s fifth loss in his last six fights, and when he started to feel the power of Melikuziev, that’s about it. Fitch, 37, had already taken a knee in the third and took another after a body shot that might have strayed low, but he also didn’t argue with referee Jack Reiss over the stoppage. This was a blowout, which was expected.