Joseph Diaz Jr. Open To Going Back To 126 Pounds For Title Fights, Prefers Boxing At 130 Pounds
Joseph Diaz Jr. was victorious in his first fight moving up to super featherweight, but is still open to the idea of going back down in weight only for title fights.
After Diaz defeated Charles Huerta on the undercard of the February 9 Golden Boy Promotions card streamed on DAZN, Diaz spoke on what weight class would he prefer to compete at. The former world title challenger called out several featherweight champions, but said he would prefer to fight as a super featherweight if he doesn’t get a title fight at 126 pounds.
Diaz previously challenged for the WBC featherweight title, but was unsuccessful. Diaz would go on to defeat then-WBA “Regular” featherweight champion Jesus Rojas in a non-title bout last year due to Diaz missing weight the day before their fight. This prompted Diaz to make the move up to 130 pounds.
“If big names at 126 like Leo Santa Cruz, Xu Can, or Oscar Valdez call me out then I’ll go down to 126 and fight. If none of those fights are going to be presented then I’d rather stay at 130,” Diaz said.
As far as which super featherweight title Diaz would want to challenge first, the once-beaten fighter named WBA “Super” champion Gervonta Davis, WBC champion Miguel Berchelt and IBF champion Tevin Farmer as examples of top fighters he would like to face.
“Oh absolutely I know Gervonta Davis is fighting on [Showtime], I’d love to challenge him. I’d love to challenge Miguel Berchelt. I’d love to challenge all the guys at 130, even Tevin Farmer,” Diaz said.
The super featherweight division has undergone some changes on February 9. Not only did Diaz win his 130-pound debut but Andrew Cancio also became the new WBA “Regular” champion after stopping Alberto Machado on that same card, ending Machado’s title reign which started in October 2017.
