When one door closes another door opens. Word of the previously scheduled fight between Tavoris Cloud and Jean Pascal, which was the biggest fight of August, is off due to a hand injury sustained by Pascal. Which could only means great things for the red hot prospect Joel Diaz Jr., who is one fighter not to be missed. Power punching prospect Joel Diaz Jr. will fight for the 5th time this year on August 18th. Diaz is staying busy and gaining a reputation for a fan pleasing style by never hindering the excitement in one of his fights. The opponent that night will be Guillermo Sanchez (13-6-1, 5 KOs).Sanchez is there to be a barometer of sort, in order to test the young Diaz Jr.
Sanchez has faced good opposition sharing the ring with names like Adrien Broner, Ronny Rios, Dominic Salcido, and Edner Cherry; with only 20 fights under Sanchez’s belt, he is still far more experienced than Diaz.
Diaz has shown that he’s on nothing short of the fast track to the top of the 130 pound Division, racking up wins all over the country. The Junior Lightweight sensation made his mark on the boxing world on the Rico Ramos vs. Guillermo Rigondeaux undercard. Joel Diaz and Guy Robb were a late replacement fight for ShoBox card, but they gave us one hell of a war, the type of war that fans don’t have problems paying for. Diaz scored a stoppage victory in the seventh round after a great fight (some felt it was an early stoppage). Since then, Diaz hasn’t stopped bulldozing every opponent they place in front of him, earning knockouts in his last three fights including veteran Emmanuel “The Butcher” Lucero.
In the third round, he knocked Lucero down with a short left hand. In the fifth, Diaz punished him with a right hook and knocked him down with a blinding flurry. Finally in the fifth, Diaz hit him with another right that caused Lucero to drop; Lucero turned toward his corner and ran his glove across his throat, signaling that he was done.
We spoke to Abel Sanchez, trainer of Diaz Jr., here on ThaBoxingVoice.com briefly and he had this to say, “I’m ecstatic I’ll tell you why, the kid that you see on TV, the fighter that you see on TV is the young man that he is, and he’s such a pleasure to work with, seriously.”
We asked when we will be seeing Diaz Jr. in with contenders.
“The one thing you have to understand about this young man is that he’s managed by Mike Criscio, he’s the type of manager that’s going to move these kids real quick. So we’re doing the work in the gym so the next three or four fights from now he’ll be in that position for a TV fight versus a known name, some kind of a youth belt, he’s only 20 years old,” Sanchez said.
After Diaz explosive performance on ShoBox, we all expected to see him back on the network and rumor has it he was invited back, we discussed that topic with Sanchez.
“He got invited but we were supposed to fight a young man from Puerto Rico I forget his last name, but he was like 17-0, he turned us down. They turned us down and ended up fighting but not against us. He’s [Diaz Jr] ready I’m sure, Mike [Criscio] is on the horn trying to get a fight on Showtime or HBO and we’re ready, he’s ready. He’s that type of fighter with [only] ten fights he’s ready to be on those networks.”
The 10-round main event attraction will take place at Ballys Park Place Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, NJ, and is promoted by Pound for Pound Promotions in association with Boxing 360. My advice is if you live in the east coast take the trip down to A.C. to witness pure power and talent.
