Notebook: Diaz, Rakhimov bring contrasting styles to ring for jr. lightweight title fight

Commey, Marinez eye rebounds; Broner card official

Feb 12, 2021

While junior lightweight world titlist Joseph Diaz Jr. – better known as “JoJo” – has not boxed for a year, in part due to the coronavirus pandemic, he used some of his time away from the ring to relax and take his mind off boxing. But he said that does not mean he isn’t fully prepared for his upcoming defense.

“It’s been a year-long layoff, but it’s been a great year-long layoff,” Diaz said this week. “I was able to witness the birth of my son and I was able to spend some time away from boxing. I was able to enjoy life as a normal person.

“But now I have this tough challenger ahead of me. We’ve taken this fight very seriously. We know exactly what he is all about. We know what he’s capable of doing, and we know he is a serious threat, but we know we’ll be able to adapt to anything.”

Diaz, who has been idle since winning his 130-pound title by unanimous decision from Tevin Farmer on Jan. 30, 2020, will make his first defense against mandatory challenger and fellow southpaw Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov on Saturday night (DAZN, 8 ET) at the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, California.

“I’m focused on going out there and performing at my best,” said Diaz, a 2012 U.S. Olympian from South El Monte, California. “I want to entertain fight fans and show them what I am all about. I want to show that I am the best at 130 pounds. I don’t feel like I get the respect that I deserve in this division. In my career in general, I haven’t gotten the respect that I deserve. But it’s all good. I’ve already dealt with so much adversity in my life. I’m already immune to it. I just focus on training as hard as I can to get the job done that night.”

Diaz (31-1, 15 KOs) has won five fights in a row since a decision loss challenging Gary Russell Jr. for his featherweight world title in 2018.

“I faced a bit of adversity in the Gary Russell Jr. fight,” Diaz said. “I learned a lot that night. But I won’t let anything else prevent me from being what I want to be and doing what I want to do in the ring. If (Rakhimov) thinks he will come in here and overwhelm me with his power -- that is not going to happen. I’m strong and I’m big just like him. I will be able to take his shots and give them back. I worked my ass off to get this belt, and I'm not letting go.”

Rakhimov (15-0, 12 KOs), 26, a Tajikistan native fighting out of Russia, will be boxing in the United States for the first time and for just the second time outside of Russia. But he is filled with confidence that his power will lead him to victory.

“I have been waiting for this moment for a long time. My dream has finally come true, so I am very glad,” Rakhimov said. “Our game plan this Saturday is to do anything possible to win the fight. The key is to do anything that needs to be done to win. Diaz is going to be in for a big surprise on Saturday. ‘JoJo’ is a good boxer, but he will not be able to handle my power.”

In the co-feature, junior middleweight world titlist Patrick Teixeira (31-1, 22 KOs), 30, a southpaw from Brazil, will make his first defense against mandatory challenger Brian Castano (16-0-1, 12 KOs), 31, a former secondary titlist from Argentina.

Commey, Marinez hope to rebound

Former lightweight world titlist Richard Commey and Jackson Marinez, both coming off losses, hope to put themselves back into the title hunt with a win over the other on Saturday night inside the bubble of the conference center at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Their fight was elevated on Thursday from co-feature status to the main event of the Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card (ESPN and ESPN Deportes, 10 p.m. ET) when Maxim Vlasov tested positive for Covid-19 and his fight against Joe Smith Jr. for a vacant light heavyweight world title was postponed.

Commey (29-3, 26 KOs), 33, of Ghana, has not fought since Teofimo Lopez Jr. knocked him out in the second round of his second defense to take his 135-pound title in December 2019. He is anxious to shake that defeat off.

“It’s been over a year since I fought. I lost my (title) to Teofimo. It was a little bit hard for me to take it,” Commey said this week. “It’s done, and I learned what I had to learn from it. I learned my lesson. It’s redemption time for Commey because I still got a lot in there, and I want to be a two-time world champion.

“I don’t have that much to prove to myself. I want to be a two-time world champion, so it's time for me. Once I win this fight, there will be a lot of doors open for me. The lightweight division is packed now. Winning this fight would put me back in the mix. I’m coming back off a loss, and he’s coming back off a loss. It makes sense. It's a great fight for me to come back.”

Marinez (19-1, 7 KOs), 30, of the Dominican Republic, was largely unknown until Aug. 15, when he faced Rolando Romero for a vacant interim lightweight belt on Showtime and lost a decision. Bu many thought he won. Marinez hoped for an immediate rematch but when it did not materialize he took the opportunity to face Commey in a meaningful bout.

“Regarding the experience of fighting Romero, the whole world saw what happened,” Marinez said. “Right now, I see myself as a king without a crown, and even though I lost in controversial fashion, it opened up bigger opportunities for me. I'm taking full advantage of them.

“I just want to make it clear that we never got offered the rematch. We were looking for it. We were in the media doing interviews looking for it. When they saw that after a couple of months I got this big opportunity against Commey, that's when they went to social media and were saying that I was ducking him and didn't want to face him again. Right now, I have a great opponent in front of me, a former world champion, and I'm ready to take advantage of this opportunity. I'm excited and proud to face someone like Commey.”

Broner card finally official

Although the card has been on the books for a couple of months and the lineup of bouts has been widely reported for weeks, Premier Boxing Champions and Showtime finally got around on Friday to formally announcing a tripleheader on Feb. 20 (Showtime, 9 p.m. ET) at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.

Main event: Former four-division titlist Adrien Broner (33-4-1, 24 KOs), 31, of Cincinnati, will return from a two-layoff filled with personal and legal drama to face unknown Jovanie Santiago (14-0-1, 10 KOs), 31, of Puerto Rico, in a 12-round junior welterweight fight. Broner has been out of action since being easily outpointed by Manny Pacquiao in January 2019 to drop to 0-2-1 in his last three bouts since 2017.

Broner comment: “I can’t wait to get back into the ring. It’s been a while. This will give me a chance to display my talents and show everybody what they’ve been missing. I’ve been training and working very hard and everybody will see all of that hard work come together.”

Santiago comment: “I’m very excited about the opportunity to step into the ring against Adrien Broner. I believe our styles are perfect for each other. But I feel like I have the skills that are necessary to beat him. I just fought a couple months ago so I feel good with the way my training has gone. I’m going to shock everyone.”

Co-feature: Heavyweights Otto Wallin (21-1, 14 KOs), 30, of Sweden, and Dominic Breazeale (20-2, 18 KOs), 35, of Eastvale, California, will meet in a 12-rounder. Both are best known for their losses. Wallin lost a hard-fought decision to lineal champion Tyson Fury in September 2019 and rebounded with a fifth-round knockout of Travis Kauffman in his Showtime debut in August. Breazeale’s two defeats came by knockout in world title bouts, in the seventh round to Anthony Joshua in 2017 and in the first round to Deontay Wilder in his most recent fight in May 2019.

Wallin comment: “I’m in a good place. Breazeale is a tough customer that’s always in firefights and is entertaining to watch. I believe it’s going to be a good fight. I’m pretty sure that he’s going to try and come out and go after me, so I don’t think I’ll have to look for him. I’m in great shape. I believe I’ll be able to break him down and take him out.”

Breazeale comment: “Camp has been great. I’m working with my new trainer, Abel Sanchez, up in Big Bear (California). Otto Wallin is going against a big guy who can punch and throws punches in bunches, so he’s going to be in trouble. I’m going to bring the pressure from the opening bell until the moment he hits the canvas.”

Opener: Former lightweight titlist Robert Easter Jr. (22-1-1, 14 KOs), 30, of Toledo, Ohio, and Ryan Martin (24-1, 14 KOs), 27, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, will meet in a 12-rounder. Easter is 1-1-1 in his last three fights, a decision loss to Mikey Garcia in a 2018 unification bout, a draw with Rances Barthelemy for a vacant secondary belt with in 2019 and a unanimous 10-round decision over Adrian Granados in October 2019. Martin has won two low-level bouts since getting stopped in the seventh round by Josh Taylor in November 2018 in the World Boxing Super Series and then getting suspended for testing positive for two banned substances in a post-fight drug test.

Easter comment: “My last fight against Adrian Granados helped me get used to fighting at 140 pounds. The time away from the ring has helped me to get comfortable at the weight. Martin has been active and he’s fought some good competition at 140 pounds, and I expect he’ll be at his best when we fight. But I’m going to be ready for anything that he brings to the ring.”

Martin comment: “It’s a great opportunity for me to redeem myself for a bad performance overseas against Taylor. That experience is going to help. I’m coming to fight and to win.”

Quick hits

The WBC announced that light heavyweight contender Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez (41-0, 27 KOs), a former super middleweight titleholder, has pulled out of negotiations for an interim title bout against Marcus Browne (23-1, 16 KOs). “The WBC has just received a communication from Gilberto Ramirez’s management withdrawing from the WBC ordered fight against Marcus Browne for the interim light heavyweight title,” the WBC said in a statement on Thursday. “It is unfortunate as Team Ramirez had asked for an extension to the free negotiations period only to back out at the last minute, consequently the purse bid scheduled for (Friday) has now been cancelled.” The purse bid was originally scheduled for Feb. 5 but the WBC granted a request for a one-week extension.

Matchroom Boxing announced it will put on a card featuring a pair of European title bouts on March 26 (DAZN) at the Pabellon de la Vall d’Hebron in Barcelona, Spain. Barcelona’s Sandor Martin (36-2, 13 KOs) will defend his EBU junior welterweight title against England’s Kay Prosper (14-1-1, 7 KOs) in the main event and Spain’s Andoni Gago (24-3-3, 7 KOs) will defend the EBU featherweight title against England’s Gavin McDonell (22-2-2, 6 KOs), a former world title challenger and former European champion, in the co-feature.

Montreal super middleweight David Lemieux (42-4, 35 KOs), 32, a former middleweight world titlist, will face Robert Talarek (24-13-3, 16 KOs), 37, of Poland, in the main event of an Eye of the Tiger Management card on April 17 at the Videotron Center in Quebec City. Lemieux boxed just once in 2019 and once in 2020 due to injuries and weight issues but has won four in a row since losing a lopsided decision challenging then-middleweight titlist Billy Joe Saunders in 2017.

Team Sauerland announced it has signed heavyweight Dusan Veletic (4-0-1, 2 KOs), 25, of Serbia, who was recommended by his friend and fellow Team Sauerland fighter Filip Hrgovic, one of boxing’s top rising heavyweights. “Long term I want to be fighting at the top end of the division, but to get there I have to get through many tests and fight in big fights,” said Veletic, who is co-promoted by Zeljko Karajica. “The expertise within Team Sauerland is perfect to help me achieve that. Filip is a good friend of mine and speaks really highly of the team. There is years of experience in house, experience I can learn from and allow to guide me. I’ve seen how they work with Filip and I’m excited to be a part of it.”

Show and tell

Floyd Mayweather, still known as “Pretty Boy” long before he dubbed himself “Money,” had been a pro for a few days shy of two years when, going into his 18th fight, he got a shot at the WBC junior lightweight world title on Oct. 3, 1998. Mayweather had not yet faced an opponent of remote note, but his talent was undeniable. Across the ring from him was veteran champion Genaro Hernandez, whose only previous loss had come three years earlier when he moved up to lightweight to challenge Oscar De La Hoya for his belt but suffered a shattered nose in a sixth-round stoppage loss. Many felt Mayweather was not yet ready to face a fighter of Hernandez’s caliber. But Mayweather dazzled and dominated against Hernandez, whose trainer and brother, Rudy Hernandez, stopped the one-sided fight after the eighth round. Hernandez, who died from cancer in 2011, retired after the loss. Mayweather would go on to all-time greatness, win titles in four more divisions and get elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Here’s a very scrarce program from the fight in my collection.

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