Devin Haney was just a bit too much overall for a game and tough Joseph “JoJo” Diaz Jr in tonight’s DAZN main event, winning a clear and deserved unanimous decision to retain his WBC lightweight title.
Haney (27-0, 15 KO) took the fight and kept his belt on scores of 116-112, 117-111, and 117-111. Bad Left Hook had it 116-112 on two separate unofficial score cards.
Diaz (32-1-1, 15 KO) had good moments of success in this fight, particularly in the fourth, seventh, 11th, and 12th rounds, the last of which he was definitely going for broke and aiming for a knockout, which he clearly needed, and he did buzz Haney a bit in that round, too.
But on the whole, Diaz just wasn’t able to produce the sort of work rate he would have needed to overcome the large difference in natural size — Haney is a true lightweight, Diaz is really a natural featherweight — and the fact that Haney is just faster than Diaz, with the hands but particularly with the feet.
At times, Diaz did some really good body work, but Haney should be credited for doing even better body work, as well as fighting better at distance, which was expected.
And while it may have been a clear and deserved victory for Haney, Diaz was competitive throughout, too. He was never fully dominated outside of the first round, where he seemed to be feeling Haney out a bit, and he didn’t let Haney coast at all. Diaz may not have thrown enough, but maybe that should be credited to Haney more than blamed on Diaz.
“The plan was to keep him at bay, work my combinations off my jab, and that’s what I did,” Haney said after the fight. “I knew he wasn’t going to go away. I hit him with some good shots, and he kept picking it up as the fight went on. He’s a true champion, and he gave me a good fight. He said he was going to bring the dog out of me, and that’s exactly what he did.”
“He hit me with some good shots. They say I don’t have a chin, but I guess I showed it in this fight,” Haney added when asked if he was hurt in the fight.
