By Ryan Burton
23-year-old Joseph 'Jo Jo' Diaz (20-0) returns to the ring on Saturday against Victor Proa in a bout televised by HBO Latino. The fight will serve as the co-feature underneath the Antonio Orozco-Abner Lopez headliner that will take place at the afantansy Springs Casino in Indio, Calif.
The 2012 U.S. Olympian is taking Proa seriously but has big plans before the year is over.
"After my fight in July if I don't get any cuts or hand injuries - I am looking to get right back in September. I know I am ranked #3 right now by the WBC so I want to fight the #1 so I can become the mandatory and hopefully fight for the WBC title in December," said Diaz.
The #1 ranked fighter by the WBC is Josh Warrington (23-0) of the U.K. who also fights on July 30th. If everything goes well on Saturday, Diaz wants to face him on the Canelo Alvarez-Liam Smith undercard on September 17th for the right to face the WBC champion Gary Russell Jr.
"If I don't get injured in my fight or any cuts and I don't get in an all out war on Saturday, then I am hoping to fight on that card if the opportunity presents itself. Hopefully I can get a guy from Britain as well. That would be a good little matchup and will set me up for a world title shot by the end of this year," Diaz told BoxingScene.com.
As for the Canelo-Smith fight, Diaz offered this fight breakdown, "The Canelo and Smith fight is a very tough fight for Canelo. A lot of people don't know who Smith is but he is a very tough fighter from Great Britain. He is strong and he knows how to counter punch and he likes to bang on the inside so it's a very tough fight for Canelo but I have Canelo winning because he is just on a whole other level. He knows how to bait you in and suck you in and then he lands his ferocious shots and he hurts you because he is very heavy handed and very slick as well."
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