Joseph Diaz Jr. could’ve taken what his handlers would’ve considered an easier title fight than the one Diaz demanded.
Robert Diaz, Golden Boy Promotions’ matchmaker, would’ve welcomed pitting Diaz against the winner of a November bout between Andrew Cancio and Rene Alvarado.
At the time, Cancio and Alvarado, like Joseph Diaz Jr., were represented by Golden Boy Promotions. Diaz already has beaten Alvarez and Cancio as well.
Diaz didn’t want the Alvarez-Cancio winner, though. The 2012 U.S. Olympian sought out IBF junior lightweight champion Tevin Farmer, with whom Diaz (30-1, 15 KOs) engaged in heated social media arguments.
They’ll fight for Farmer’s title in a 12-round encounter DAZN will stream Thursday night from Meridian at Island Gardens in Miami.
“He could’ve fought Alvarado,” Robert Diaz said during a recent conference call. “He could’ve fought any of the other [130-pound champions]. He’s rated [by] every organization. However, obviously it is personal. Him and Tevin have gone back forth, and he wanted that fight. He came in here, sat down and said, ‘I want Tevin Farmer. Get me Tevin Farmer.’ Thanks to the relationship that we have with Matchroom, we were able to do that fight.”
Philadelphia’s Farmer (30-4-1, 6 KOs, 1 NC) is co-promoted by Lou DiBella and Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing USA. Farmer, a 29-year-old southpaw, is a solid technical boxer who typically defends himself well.
Joseph Diaz Jr. is certain, though, that he will be the best opponent Farmer has faced during his nine-year pro career. The 27-year-old Diaz has lost only to WBC featherweight champ Gary Russell Jr. (30-1, 18 KOs), who defeated Diaz by unanimous decision in May 2018 in Oxon Hill, Maryland.
“Jo Jo’s fought every style out there,” Robert Diaz said. “There’s not a fighter out there that I wouldn’t like for Jo Jo. And the second part is he came in here, and that’s the fight he wants. And you have to listen to the fighters. I mean, it might not have been my first choice. And I told him and the team, ‘Look, there’s other fights that are easier to make.’ There was a time when Cancio was gonna fight Alvarado, and I said, ‘You could fight the winner. You’ve already beaten both of them.’
“He said, ‘I want Tevin Farmer.’ When you hear and see that determination from a fighter, that gives you the confidence to say, ‘OK, he’s seen something.’ He’s learned, like he said earlier, the experience he didn’t have in that first fight [versus Russell], he now has it. He knows what he didn’t do or what he did do that worked. I know and I’m confident that come [Thursday night], he’s gonna put it all into play and come out victorious.”
If Diaz defeats Farmer, who is listed as a 2-1 favorite, the Downey, California, resident could fight Alvarado again later this year. Nicaragua’s Alvarado (32-8, 21 KOs) upset Southern California’s Cancio (21-5-2, 16 KOs), who also had beaten Alvarado, by technical knockout November 23 in Indio, California, to win a version of the WBA’s 130-pound championship.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.