By Allan Fox: Former IBF super featherweight champion Joseph ‘Jo Jo’ Diaz Jr will be moving up in weight to take on #2 WBC Javier Fortuna at 135 on July 9th in the co-feature bout on DAZN. Mike Coppinger is reporting the news of the Diaz-Fortuna fight.
Diaz Jr will substitute for Fortuna’s original opponent Ryan Garcia, who had to bow out due to mental health issues that surfaced recently.
Diaz Jr is a good substitute for the 32-year-old Fortuna, but now we’ll see if he can make the 135-lb limit. If he misses weight for this fight, it would be a signal there’s something wrong with Diaz’s training, and more importantly, his diet.
Will Jo Jo Diaz make weight?
The Diaz Jr vs. Fortuna fight will be the chief support for the light heavyweight clash between former WBO super middleweight champion Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez and Sullivan Barrera.
‘Jo Jo’ Diaz Jr (31-1-1, 15 KOs) recently lost his IBF 130-lb title last February when he failed to make weight for his title defense against #1 IBF Shavkat Rakhimov in a Golden Boy card at the Fantasy Springs in Indio, California.
Diaz came in a whopping 3 1/2 lbs over the 130-lb super featherweight limit at 133.5 lbs, and he performed poorly in the first half of the fight against Rakhimov. In the second half of the contest, Diaz was able to come on to salvage a 12 round draw, but it was far from scintillating stuff from him.
Diaz is just going up in weight for this fight with Fortuna, and he’s expected to return to the 130-lb division. However, we’ll have to see in the future if Diaz can make weight for the super featherweight division any longer.
It’s troubling that he missed weight by such a wide number for his title defense against Rakhimov on February 13th. One can understand a fighter missing by a pound, but not 3 1/2 lbs.
Diaz wasn’t much of a puncher at 130, so it could be difficult for him to deal with the power of Fortuna, who has a little bit of pop in his shots.
If Diaz decides to stay at 135, he could have problems if his power doesn’t improve over what it was when he was fighting at 130.
As I mentioned earlier, Fortuna (36-2-1, 25 KOs) was originally slated to face WBC interim lightweight champion Ryan Garcia in the main event, but the fight had to be canceled.
Gilberto Ramirez vs. Sullivan Barrera
It’s good that Fortuna will remain on the card, albeit in the co-feature rather than the headliner position. Diaz vs. Fortuna isn’t a big enough fight for it to be the main event.
In the main event, former WBO super middleweight champion Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez takes on 39-year-old light heavyweight ringe contender Sullivan Barrera (22-3, 14 KOs) in a match at 175.
This will be the 29-year-old ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez’s third fight at light heavyweight since moving up in weight in 2019. Thus far, Ramirez has taken two easy matches against Tommy Karpency and Alfonso Lopez. Barrera will be a considerable step up for Zurdo.