By Ian S Palmer
Unbeaten WBC Lightweight Champion Devin Haney of San Francisco will be defending his title for the fourth time this Saturday December 4th when he takes on former IBF Junior Lightweight Champion Joseph Diaz Jr of Downey, California. The fight from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas can be seen live in most nations on DAZN. Haney last fought in May when he beat former world champion Jorge Linares by unanimous decision while Diaz beat Javier Fortuna by 12-round unanimous decision in July. Haney originally won the interim WBC belt when he stopped Zaur Abdullaev after four rounds in September, 2019.
The 23-year-old Haney has evolved from being a can’t-miss prospect to a world champion following his excellent 138-bout amateur career after getting into the sport as a seven-year-old. He won a silver medal at the USA Junior National Championships in 2013 and reached the quarterfinals of the World Juniors the same year. He then won a gold medal at the 2014 US Junior National Championships and the 2015 USA Youth National Championships.
He was the youngest boxer ever to win the Youth World Championships and captured a total of seven national titles along the way. Haney, who was born in San Francisco and fights out of Las Vegas, then turned pro in December of 2015 as a 16-year-old and has a perfect record of 26-0 with 15 Kos and has 150 rounds under his belt. He’s also won several regional and minor titles along the way including the WBC Youth World, USBA, IBF North American, WBC International, and WBO Inter-Continental Lightweight Belts.
Haney stands 5-feet-8-inches tall with a 71-inch reach and possesses tremendous skills and speed. He’s not the most powerful puncher out there but has a current knockout ratio of 57.7 per cent. His first four pro fights took place in Mexico since he was too young to box professionally in America at the time. He’s beaten everybody in front of him so far with his toughest opponents being Linares, Yuriorkis Gamboa, Alfredo Santiago, Antonio Moran, Mason Menard, Juan Carlos Burgos and Xolisani Ndongeni.
The 29-year-old Diaz Jr. lost his first world title shot when he dropped a unanimous decision to WBC Featherweight Champion Gary Russell Jr. in May, 2018. He then beat WBA Titleholder Jesus Rojas by unanimous decision three months later but came in overweight for the fight and wasn’t able to win the belt. It was third time lucky for him though when he beat Tevin Farmer for the IBF Super Featherweight Title via unanimous decision in 2020.
Diaz will climb through the ropes with a mark of 32-1-1with 15 Kos with his ;lone draw coming over 12 rounds against Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov in February. He was a member of the U.S. Olympic Boxing Team at the 2012 Games in London, England where he went 1-1 as a bantamweight. He also reached the quarterfinals of the 2011 World Amateur Championships. Diaz turned pro in December, 2012 and has fought 251 rounds since. He has average power with a current knockout ratio of 44.1 per cent.
Diaz stands 5-feet-6-inches tall with a 64-inch reach which means he gives up two inches in height and a big seven inches in reach to Haney. Since turning pro he’s also captured the NABF and WBO-NABO Featherweight Titles and the WBA Gold Super Featherweight Crown. Along with meeting Fortuna, Rakhimov, Russell Jesus Rojas and Farmer his toughest opponents have been Jesus Cuadro, Freddy Fonseca, Victor Terrazas, Rafael Rivera, Manuel Avila, Horacio Garcia, Jayson Velez, Hugo Partida, Rene Alvarado, Roberto Castaneda and Ruben Tamayo.
Prediction…
Diaz is a tough, aggressive customer who possesses good boxing skills while Haney is quicker, younger and owns better boxing skills. That being said, Diaz will give Haney all he can handle in this fight but I think the champion will do just enough to defend his title, the same way he did in his last fight against Jorge Linares.
