Devin Haney and Joseph Diaz Jr face off
Devin Haney retained his lightweight championship belt with a win over Joseph Diaz Jr. The match took place at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, on Saturday December 4, 2021.
Haney was looking for a big time win in his next WBC lightweight championship and he got it.
The Fight
Using his quickness and a long reach advantage, Haney got off to a good start. He hit Diaz with strong punches. Haney went to the body, constantly cracking Diaz at his ribs. Some of his punches were thrown low at times, earning him warnings from the referee.
Diaz got himself back into the fight in the fourth round. Battling tooth and nail, he began to throw his own solid punches at Haney. Diaz threw overhand lefts that clipped Haney on the chin.
For every round Diaz thought he won, he could never really maintain his momentum. Haney continued to fight his way back with continuous punches. It permitted him to end the fight with a 154-113 advantage in total punches landed.
Haney has frequently been questioned for fights lacking excitement. He felt that Diaz was the right opponent to help bring out a more dramatic portrayal of himself.
“Like Jojo said, he said he was going to bring the dog out of me and that’s exactly what he did,” Haney said after the fight. “I had to get the dog out”.
The dog had no choice but to show up in the last round with Diaz appearing to hurt Haney, as he went wild searching for a late knockout. This was two consecutive fights where Haney was hurt in the championship rounds.
All three judges clearly saw Haney winning after 12-rounds. By unanimous decision, Haney took the match, 117-111, 117-111, 116-112.
Why called the sweet science
In 1813, British sportswriter Pierce Egan started calling boxing the “Sweet Science.” Boxing is a sport which requires fighters to be tactical and cerebral. The term is still used in today’s style of boxing. An example of a modern day “sweet” scientist is Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Mayweather is very patient when he’s out there fighting. He slowly breaks down his opponents by going in with a powerful left jab. Mayweather is known by modern boxing fans as one of the world’s best defensive fighters.
The fight had Haney lined up for an upcoming four-belt unification fight with George Kambosos Jr. He won the IBF, WBO, and WBA lightweight championships last weekend, in an upset win over Teofimo Lopez, Jr. Asked if he would want to go to Australia to fight Kambosos in his home country, Haney was very vocal about his emotions:
“Come on, Kambosos. Let’s do it for all the belts,” Haney said. “The real undisputed. Let’s do it next. I’ll go up to Jupiter if I’ve got to.”
Results, Highlights
- Devin Haney (c) def. Joseph “JoJo” Diaz Jr. via unanimous decision (117-111, 117-111, 116-112)
- Montana Love def. Carlos Diaz via third-round TKO
- Jessica McCaskill (c) def. Kandi Wyatt via seventh-round TKO
- Filip Hrgovic def. Emir Ahmatovic via third-round TKO
- Marc Castro def. Ronaldo Solis via second-round knockout
Check out events happening at MGM Grand Garden Arena.