By Dan Ambrose: Lightweight contenders Ryan Garcia and Joseph ‘Jo Jo’ Diaz Jr. have reached a deal for the two to fight next month on November 27th in the main event live on DAZN in Los Angeles, California.
With Ryan and Jo Jo Diaz Jr. signed with Golden Boy Promotions, it was a logical fight for them to make rather than challenge a world title against WBC lightweight champion Devin Haney.
Ryan and Diaz Jr. have taken a lot of flake from boxing fans for winning WBC 135-lb title eliminators and then choosing NOT to challenge Haney for his title.
It’s an oddity that you don’t see too often, but Ryan and Jo Jo Diaz Jr. have a ton of fans in Southern California, making it less essential for them to hold world titles.
Jo Jo Diaz Jr = Risky fight for Garcia
It’s a dangerous fight for unbeaten 23-year-old Ryan Garcia, as he’s giving away a lot of age and experience against the 28-year-old former IBF super featherweight champion Jo Jo Diaz Jr (32-1-1, 15 KOs).
Mike Coppinger reports the news of the ‘King’ Ryan Garcia vs. Jo Jo Diaz Jr. fight having been agreed upon for November 27th.
This is a big step up in class for Ryan in taking on the harrowing 2012 U.S Olympian Jo Jo Diaz Jr, and he may not be ready for this level of opponent.
It was recently reported that Ryan would face 40-year-old Yuriorkis Gamboa next than Jo Jo Jo Garcia, but that fight won’t be happening.
There was a substantial negative backlash in response to that news, as the boxing public saw that as ANOTHER weak opponent for the Golden Boy promoted Ryan. Due to an anxiety problem, he’d already backed out of a July 9th fight with former WBA 130-lb champion Javier Fortuna.
Jo Jo Diaz Jr. stepped in and took care of Fortuna for Ryan, beating him by a 12 round unanimous decision in the headliner for the July 9th card on DAZN.
Diaz Jr. to end the Ryan Garcia hype train
“I’m stopping him and ending the hype train once and for all,” said Jo Jo Diaz Jr. to ESPN on Ryan Garcia. “I’m going to take it to him. Everything I’ve been through in and out of the ring will be shown that night. He’s finally in with a live dog.”
Ryan will be coming off a long ten-month layoff since his last fight against Luke Campbell in January.
In the second round, Garcia had to get up off the deck to come back to stop Campbell in the seventh.
There was a lot of criticism from boxing fans of Garcia from that performance, as he could have easily have been knocked out if Campbell had gone for the stoppage after putting him down.
Rather than go for the finish, Campbell let Ryan off the hook, believing that he had a lot of time to stop him later.
Ultimately, that proved to be a mistake on Campbell’s part because it allowed Ryan to stick around long enough to hurt him with one of his powerful left hooks in the seventh.
As this writer mentioned earlier, Golden Boy Promotions intended to bring Garcia back on July 9th to fight for the interim WBC lightweight title against the always tough Fortuna. Still, he bowed out of the contest due to an anxiety issue.
Ryan trains out of Eddy Reynoso’s gym in San Diego, alongside the famous Canelo Alvarez, Oscar Valdez, and Andy Ruiz Jr. Despite rubbing shoulders with those fighters, Ryan hasn’t taken their lead to fight quality position.
Nevertheless, Ryan Garcia has still made a ton of money in his short five-year professional career.
Ryan has already made massive money
King Ryan Garcia’s net worth is estimated at $10 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. Like YouTuber Jake Paul, Ryan has a massive following on social media with 8.8 million followers on Instagram and 1.06 million subscribers to his YouTube channel.
With that large of a following, Ryan can reach many potential viewers each time he fights. He doesn’t need to be a world title to bring in a lot of eyeballs for his matches.
Garcia has made that money, and these are the best guys he’s fought:
- Jayson Velez
- Carlos Morales
- Luke Campbell
- Francisco Fonseca
- Romero Duno
Garcia has talent and much power in his left hand, but he’s failed to face A-level opposition to prove himself. Although Ryan has wanted to fight Gervonta Davis, Manny Pacquiao, and Devin Haney, none of those fights have transpired.
Sadly, Ryan has developed a reputation with some boxing fans as being flighty and erratic, with him unable to stay the course of fighting the names he’s calling out
“Since he came out and beat Fortuna, I took the opportunity to beat JoJo,” said Ryan Garcia to ESPN. “Now it ends the questions of whether I was scared to fight Fortuna.
“I’m ready to continue my momentum where I left off. I missed the sport of boxing,” said Ryan.
Diaz Jr. must start fast
Jo Jo Diaz Jr. had to move up to 135 recently after being held to a 12 round draw last February against Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov in a title defense of his IBF super featherweight belt.
Diaz Jr. lost his IBF title on the scales after weighing 3.5 lbs over the 130lb limit at 133.5 lbs.
Although Diaz Jr. fought well in the second half of the contest after Rakhimov faded late, he struggled early with the hand speed and combination punching from the Russian southpaw.
Diaz Jr. cannot afford to fight like that against Ryan Garcia if he wants to beat him on November 27th.
Last year, Diaz defeated IBF super featherweight champion Tevin Farmer by a 12 round unanimous decision in January 2020 to briefly become a world champion at 130.
Three years ago, Diaz Jr. lost in a world title bid against WBC featherweight champion Gary Russell Jr. by a 12 round unanimous decision in May 2018. In that fight, Russell Jr. was too fast for Diaz Jr, piling up an early lead, and coasted the rest of the way.
Fight announcement coming real real soon
— Joseph Diaz (@JosephDiazJr) October 7, 2021
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