Joseph Diaz warns the boxing world of overlooking him against Devin Haney
In boxing, overlooking an opponent is a natural part of the sport. Anytime a fighter feels the challenger is inferior, they start looking down the road towards bigger opportunities. WBC mandatory lightweight challenger Joseph “Jo Jo” Diaz (32-1-1, 15ko) is warning the boxing world, and WBC champion Devin “The Dream” Haney (26-0, 15ko), they better be careful of following this trend.
Haney is going to be defending the title against Diaz live on DAZN on December 4. It will be the toughest test of his career as Jo Jo is a former IBF junior lightweight champion. He brings a lot of experience on the championship level. So any movement in the division is undoubtedly being watched like a hawk by both fighters.
DO NOT LOOK PAST DIAZ
Immediately following the upset victory of newly crowned unified lightweight champion George “Ferocious” Kambosos over Teofimo “The Takeover” Lopez, DAZN took to social media with a list of possible future opponents for the Australian unified champion. What made this even more interesting was one of the names on the list was Haney. Adding extra drama to the situation was the WBC champion calling for undisputed with Kambosos.
“Congrats @georgekambosos, well deserved victory. You worked hard for it! Let’s make it happen for all the belts! #RealUndisputed.”
WBC Champion Devin Haney
Feeling a little disrespected, Diaz quickly responded, hinting that Haney may not make it out of the ring with the title.
Diaz is more than capable of winning the title, if Haney loses focus on the task at hand. Jo Jo will be extra motivated to win and become a two-division champion.
WHEN WILL WE LEARN, NOTHING IS GUARANTEED
By now, the boxing community should know there are no guarantees. Hell, this year alone, we had several high-profile upsets in boxing where fighters were looking past their current opponent to bigger fights down the line. Gabe Rosado destroyed rising prospect Bektemir Melikuziev. All in one night, Kiko Martinez shocked the world by knocking out Kid Galahad for the IBF featherweight title, and Alycia Baumgardner made Terri Harper a former WBC junior lightweight champion.
Nobody envisioned relatively unknown Sandor Martin defeating four-divisional champion Mikey Garcia, Luis Arias halting the plans of Jarrett Hurd, and Leigh Woods taking the WBA ‘regular’ feather title away from Can Xu. Of course, Yordenis Ugas defeating Manny Pacquiao is arguably the biggest upset of the year. With the future of the division at stake, all eyes will be on Haney versus Diaz.
Reading time: 3 minutes
By: Garrisson Bland
