Haney retains title vs. Diaz; Kambosos could be next for undisputed crown

Plus: Love, McCaskill, Hrgovic, Castro win on undercard; Davis shoves Cruz but both on weight for Sunday's showdown

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Devin Haney saved the best performance of his career for the best opponent he has faced so far.

Haney controlled the pace and distance of the fight and outboxed Joseph Diaz Jr. in impressive fashion in a unanimous decision to retain the WBC lightweight world title on Saturday night in the Matchroom Boxing main event on DAZN at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Haney won 117-111, 117-111 and 116-112 to retain his 135-pound title for the fourth time and set up a potential undisputed championship with newly crowned unified champion George Kambosos Jr., who was ringside one week after his huge upset of Teofimo Lopez in New York to win the rest of the belts in the division. Fight Freaks Unite also had it 116-112 for Haney.

Diaz, who came in as the interim titleholder, had his moments. He landed several sharp left hands, but he could not sustain his attack against the smooth-boxing Haney, who also landed many clean shots and responded to criticism of having a boring style with an entertaining performance. With a seven-inch reach advantage, Haney kept Diaz at bay with his long jab and landed numerous right hands and body shots, and regularly beat Diaz to the punch.

“I knew I was fighting a tough competitor,” Haney said. “’JoJo’ Diaz makes it hard for anybody he’s been in the ring with. He’s only had one (previous) loss (to Gary Russell Jr. in a 2018 featherweight world title fight). He’s got a lot of experience, but I went in and got the job done, that’s all I can say.

“The game plan was keeping him at bay with my jab, my probes and working my combinations off of it. That’s what I did.”

Former junior lightweight world titlist Diaz (32-2-1, 15 KOs), 29, a southpaw from Downey, California, tried to get on the inside and force Haney to the ropes, but even when he could, it was only briefly before Haney quickly spun away from danger.

“I thought it was a good fight,” Diaz said. “I hope we put on a great show. I’m living my dream and I want to thank everyone for coming out and watching me do what I love to do. Dreams come true if you put your mind to it. I thought it was a closer fight then what it was. I thought I was dictating the pace nicely and hitting some nice body shots, but it is what it is. I’m going to go back to the drawing board and get stronger.

“This is what I do — I challenge the best and if I come short, I’m just going to progress and get better. He had a good game plan.”

Haney won the first three rounds on all three scorecards before Diaz found any kind of offense. He tried to rough up Haney in the fourth and began to get his left hand going. But Haney stayed steady and continued to bank rounds.

In the ninth round, Haney (27-0, 15 KOs), 23, of Las Vegas, rocked Diaz with a right uppercut, but Diaz also landed several clean punches.

“He hit me with some good shots,” Haney said. “They say I have no chin, but I showed it in this fight. I showed my power in this fight. ‘JoJo’ Diaz is a tough competitor. He kept coming, but I hit him with some big shots and slowed him down.”

In the 12th round, Diaz went after Haney in search of the knockout he needed in an exciting, action-filled round, but he could not do any real damage.

“I felt like I had him hurt in the 12th, a little rocked and stunned in the last round,” Diaz said.

Said Haney: “I knew he wasn’t going anywhere from the very beginning. I hit him with some good shots, and he was picking it up as the fight went on. He’s a true champion. He went in there and gave me a good fight.

“He said he was going to bring the dog out of me, and that’s exactly what he did. I had to bring the dog out and I had to dog it out to get the win. I’ve got to go back and watch the fight. It was a good fight. I know I learned a lot from it, but I’ve just got to go watch the film and see how I can get better.”

According to CompuBox statistics, Haney landed 164 of 614 punches (27 percent), including 71 body shots, and Diaz landed 140 of 573 (24 percent).

After the fight, the conversation quickly turned to the prospect of Kambosos (20-0, 10 KOs), 28, and Haney meeting in their next fight, potentially in Kambosos’ home country of Australia. Both said they want it.

“Come on Kambosos let’s do it, for all the belts, the real undisputed. Let’s do it next,” Haney said, adding he would have no problem traveling to Australia for the showdown.

“I’ll go to Jupiter if I’ve got to. It’s a great fight, it’s for all the belts. He went in there and put on a great performance against Lopez. I think the fans would love to see it.”

While Haney is the WBC world champion and Kambosos holds the organization’s “franchise” title among his other hardware.

“There would be no more dispute on who’s the WBC champion, so let’s do it next,” Haney said.

Kambosos said before the fight that he wanted to see not only a good performance from the Haney-Diaz winner but also an entertaining one. He got both.

“Great win and now we can talk,” Kambosos said during a joint DAZN interview with Haney at ringside. “I give him his props. At times, he looked very sharp. He boxed brilliant. That’s his game.”

Asked if he saw weaknesses, Kambosos said he did, but remained respectful.

“Many holes. I see the holes straightaway, but I’m not gonna outshine his moment,” Kambosos said. “This is his moment. Full respect. Great win, great victory. You handled your business, I handled my business last week and let’s get to the business side of things and now we can talk.”

Haney said he is ready to do just that to get a deal done, one that has no promotional or broadcaster barriers in the way.

“Let’s just do it. That’s all I care about,” Haney said. “Let’s make it happen. Fans want to see it, he wants to make it happen, I want to make it happen. It should be a very easy fight to make happen. I’ve never been (to Australia) but I’m looking forward to going to pick up some belts out there.” 

Love blitzes Diaz

Junior welterweight Montana Love (17-0-1, 9 KOs), 26, a southpaw from Cleveland, who was nearly four pounds overweight for his first fight since signing with Matchroom Boxing, destroyed Carlos Diaz (29-2, 14 KOs), 26, of Mexico.

He dropped Diaz three times in the second round and then finished him with an onslaught in the third round as referee Raul Caiz Jr. stepped in at 1 minute, 21 seconds.

“I thought the referee was going to stop it before (when) I put him down three times,” Love said. “But I definitely agree with the stoppage. 2022, it’s going to be a very big year. This was just a wake up. We just woke up the world this year. Next year me and (promoter) Eddie (Hearn) are taking over the 140-pound division. Absolutely, I can still make 140 pounds. It was just a hiccup, and I learned a lesson.”

McCaskill batters Wyatt

Undisputed women’s welterweight champion Jessica McCaskill laid a beating on late replacement Kandi Wyatt en route to a seventh-round knockout.

McCaskill (11-2, 4 KOs), 37, of Chicago, was supposed to face former lightweight titlist Victoria Bustos, of Argentina, but she had problems getting into the United States related to her Covid-19 vaccination status and was replaced by former junior welterweight title challenger Wyatt (10-4, 3 KOs), 30, of Calgary, Canada, on Monday.

McCaskill pounded the very game Wyatt throughout the fight until referee Celestino Ruiz finally stopped it at 19 seconds of the seventh after McCaskill landed a pair of hard combinations.

“She kept coming, she kept coming with good punches too,” McCaskill said. “It wasn’t just charge you type of thing. She was throwing punches just like I said she would. Throwing punches with every step forward she took. She can definitely take some shots. She wasn’t an easy blow through at all but after a certain point you get concerned because you know what this sport does. I think it was the right call, she was taking a lot of head shots and had a lot of bleeding going on.”

McCaskill made her second defense since lifting the undisputed crown from Cecilia Braekhus in August 2020 and then beating her again in a rematch in March.

Heavyweight Hrgovic wins by TKO

Croatian heavyweight contender Filip Hrgovic, a 2016 Olympic bronze medalist, blew out Emir Ahmatovic in a third-round knockout victory.

Hrgovic (14-0, 12 KOs), 29, and his handlers would love to have him face a top opponent but they have had a no luck luring any into the ring, so he had to be content with blasting out Ahmatovic (10-1, 7 KOs), 34, of Germany.

Ahmatovic landed a few decent right hands but Hrgovic walked through them and dropped Ahmatovic twice in the second round with right hands and once more with a right-left combination in the third round before referee Allen Huggins waved it off at 40 seconds.

“I just felt from the opening bell that he wasn’t on my level,” Hrgovic said. “He didn’t have the power, speed and skills. I just knew it was a matter of time when he was going down. I didn’t rush. It was an easy first round. The second round he was already down and then I knew third or fourth he was finished.

“With this kind of opponent, I’m not super cautious and I just feel they don’t have power, they cannot make any threat to me and then I take unnecessary punches. It’s maybe not smart but it is what it is. This is why I want big, hard fights. Then you will see the real ‘El Animal.’ Tenth round, 12th round — I want a war.”

Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn has mentioned the prospect of Hrgovic next facing China’s Zhang Zhilei, whom he also promotes, in an IBF eliminator.

Castro crushes Solis

Blue chip lightweight prospect Marc Castro finished his first year as a professional with an impressive second-round knockout of Ronaldo Solis in their scheduled six-rounder.

Despite being under the weather for the past few days, Castro (5-0, 5 KOs), 22, of Fresno, California, dropped Solis (4-3-1, 3 KOs), 22, of Mexico, in the first and second rounds.

He applied immediate pressure and sent Solis to the mat with a heavy right hand midway through the first round. In the second round, it was another clean right to the head that dropped Solis again, prompting referee Robert Hoyle to wave it off at 43 seconds.

“I feel good, happy with my performance,” Castro said. “My dad (and trainer Tony Castro) is happy, my manager (Keith Connolly) is happy, we’re all happy. A lot of fans came out and it’s great to fight at the MGM.

“I’m happy with my 2021. I feel like it was a great year. I can’t believe it. You can’t even write it better. They want me active and in the ring, and I love to fight. I stay in the gym. Whenever they want me to fight, I’m ready to fight, wherever. I’m excited for 2022.

Davis-Cruz weigh-in

Gervonta Davis (25-0, 24 KOs), 27, of Baltimore, who defends his secondary lightweight belt against Isaac Cruz (22-1-1, 15 KOs), 23, of Mexico, on Sunday (Showtime PPV, 8 p.m. ET, $74.99) at Staples Center in Los Angeles, got things started a bit early at Saturday’s weigh-in.

After they both made weight and engaged in a long staredown Davis turned to the cameras to flex. When Cruz followed suit, Davis turned toward him and gave him a two-handed shove in the chest before they were quickly separated.

Here are the weights for the pay-per-view bouts: Davis 134.5 pounds, Cruz 134.25; Sebastian Fundora 153.25, Sergio Garcia 153.5 (WBC junior middleweight eliminator); Sergiy Derevyanchenko 159.5, Carlos Adames 159.5; Eduardo Ramirez 129.5, Miguel Marriaga 129.5.

Here are the official purses, per the California State Athletic Commission, although some fighters are guaranteed substantially more: Davis $1 million, Cruz $300,000; Fundora $75,000, Garcia $50,000; Derevyanchenko $200,000, Adames $50,000; Ramirez $30,000, Marriaga $20,000; Luis Arias $75,000, Vaughn Alexander $10,350; Malik Warren $6,000, Eric Manriquez $4,750; Jalil Hackett $2,500, Darynn Leyva $2,250; Carlos Garcon $2,500, Jason Soto $2,000; Ava Knight $10,000, Nancy Franco de Alba $4,500; Mia Ellis $2,500, Elizabeth Tuani $3,000.

Haney-Diaz card photos: Ed Mulholland/Matchroom Boxing; Davis-Cruz photo: Esther Lin/Showtime

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