There remains a healthy faction of the sport who’ve yet to look favorably upon the Floyd Schofield Jnr-Joseph “JoJo” Diaz Jnr crossroads bout.
It was a fair question to ask why “Kid Austin” would take this fight while coming off the biggest win of his career. The 23-year-old lightweight even managed to address the elephant in the room while asked what rides on their November 8 clash from Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.
“I feel like everything is (on the line),” Schofield told host Todd Grisham during a kickoff press conference Tuesday at Texas Live! in nearby Arlington, Texas. “I feel like people are overlooking JoJo, they say he’s washed and all that. If we be real, if I lose to a guy like that, I don’t know where I go.
“Everything rides on this fight – my ranking, my chance at a world title. I’m definitely coming in focused and am here to put on a good show.”
Schofield-Diaz will serve as the co-feature to the highly anticipated Vergil Ortiz Jnr-Erickson Lubin WBC interim 154lbs title fight. Both bouts will air live on DAZN.
The pairing was first suggested after both claimed wins in separate bouts on a July 2023 DAZN event from AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas. Ironically, Ortiz was due to headline the show in a challenge of secondary WBA welterweight titlist Eimantas Stanionis. Ortiz withdrew when he fell ill during fight week, at which point Schofield was elevated to main event.
Schofield and Diaz were open to the idea of a head-on collision later that year, but such plans never came close to materializing.
At least not until now.
Fast forward to present day, where Schofield, 19-0 (13 KOs) is coming off his best win to date. The 23-year-old Austin, Texas native scored a 78-second annihilation of former IBF 130lbs titlist Tevin Farmer on June 28 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
The bout came at the right time for both fighters. Farmer has been on the slide but went tooth and nail in a pair of narrow defeats to then-unbeaten and top-rated lightweight contender William Zepeda. Meanwhile, Schofield was in need of career redemption after he fell ill and was pulled from a Shakur Stevenson WBC 135lbs title fight earlier this year.
The knockout win over Farmer came on the undercard of the Jake Paul-Julio Cesar Chavez Jnr DAZN Pay-Per-View undercard from Honda Center in Anaheim, California. The event carried the right amount of profile for such a performance, which became an instant highlight reel moment.
Perhaps adding to the disappointment of this announced matchup with Diaz, 34-8-1 (15 KOs) isn’t so much who Schofield will next face, but the other rumored option. Reports suggested that he was in talks with unbeaten IBF 135lbs titleholder Raymond Muratalla, who remains without an opponent for his planned maiden title defense.
In comparison, the current version of the 32-year-old Diaz is a considerable step down.
The 2012 Olympian reached his career pinnacle in his own win over Farmer, who was the IBF 130lbs titlist at the time of their January 2020 meeting in Miami Gardens, Florida.
Diaz never managed a successful defense. The combination of the win coming just before the pandemic and an erratic lifestyle – not without its legal issues – saw Diaz lose the belt at the scales ahead of an eventual February 2021 draw with Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov. The stalemate sparked a steady decline for Diaz, who is just 3-7-1 in his last eleven starts.
His own redemption story comes through the significant lifestyle changes made beyond the ropes.
“I give my life to Christ and I’ve just been focused and determined and hungry again,” Diaz insisted. “I got that hunger and that drive back. I’ve been busting my ass.”
It has, in part, shown in the ring.
Like Farmer, Diaz saw his stock rise in defeat following his strong showing in a narrow defeat to former two-time 140lbs titlist Regis Prograis. Their August 2 slugfest saw Diaz deliver his most competitive performance in years, only to come up short on the three scorecards in their DAZN-aired battle from Chicago, Illinois.
“You guys have seen it against Regis. I fought him at 140 but I gave him two pounds because he couldn’t make the weight and I felt like I did good,” noted Diaz. “This fight I’m going back down to 135 and I’m gonna take back what’s mine. Take back the throne.”
Diaz increasingly rose in weight after a December 2021 points loss to then-WBC lightweight titlist Devin Haney in Las Vegas. He came in over the contracted limit in consecutive fights with Zepeda, Mercito Gesta and Jerry Perez.
A more disciplined effort was put forth in his past five starts, including his hitting the 135lbs limit for a stay-busy win on June 21 in Tijuana.
“I feel like it’s my time right now, man,” claimed Diaz. “I’ve been through a lot, I feel like I’ve seen everything inside that ring. I have all the experience in the world. I’ve fought top contenders for three to four years already and I feel like it’s my time.
“Kid Austin is gonna be taking his first defeat with me, but he’s gonna have to bounce back. He’s still young in the game, but he’s gonna take the L and that’s how it is.”
If nothing else, call this one unfinished business.
